5. CAR SHOW AWARD!

Having never participated in a car show before, we were hesitant to accept Philippe Lanier's invitation to attend the "Wheels Across the Pond" event at Jupiter's beach-front  Carlin Park on May 4, 2026. It sure sounded like fun: 150-200 assorted exotic sports cars expected to attend, divided into several classes for  exhibiting throughout the park, and prizes to be awarded  based on votes cast by the show participants. Charlotte was already almost show-ready, after all the work we did to prepare her for the Formula E race exhibit in Miami back in January. All that remained was a thorough clean-up of the interior and some shiny effort on the exterior. 

English buddy Andy Cordon brought me a bottle of "ArmorAll Ceramic Car Wash" from  his home country, for Charlotte's show-bath. Pretty shiny after that effort...but Andy insisted I finish the job using "Milwaukee Graphene" detail spray as a followup. Fantastic product: Mist it on with a hand sprayer, then wipe it off without any scrubbing or buffing. Wow, the result was fantastic. The shine was so profound, you could easily see anything nearby accurately reflected in the car's surface! I put some shiny stuff on the tires too, just in case that was important. 

Armed with a cooler of water, sandwiches and snacks, we drove over to the beach, found we were designated part of  the "Euroclass" category, and headed to our assigned display area. We parked, set up our borrowed folding beach chairs with attached sunshade, and waited for Philippe to arrive in his 1939 Citroen Avant Cabriolet for display near us. Other unique cars were in the Euroclass display, including a beautiful original 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE, a tiny silver German bubblecar, a pair of Cad-Allard replicas, some Fiat roadsters, etc. We ended up parked between that gorgeous Ferrari and Phillipe's spectacular Cabriolet, as the crowds of spectators began to stroll by. It was a LONG day, watching hundreds of people watch our cars! 

To kill time, we spoke with many of the spectators who were curious about Lynn's 2CV. Most folks didn't know what it was, had never seen one before, and were happy (or patient enough) to hear us tell all about it. Fun was had in demonstrating the flexible suspension by shaking the car from side to side, or poking around under hood at the tiny engine, or pointing out the many eccentric details of Charlotte's engineering. A couple of people stopped by who had grown up in countries where Citroen 2CV's were the cars they learned to drive in, or drove as students or as young couples...memories were sparked by Charlotte's appearance. We took lots of photos as souvenirs for spectators. AND pics of our own cars too. Soooo, that part of car-showing was fun. 

At the close of the car show, the exhibitors all gathered around the awards table for announcements of the winners. We had submitted our ballots for best car in each of the dozens of classes earlier in the day, as had the other entrants. Standing around for the lengthy award ceremony was the polite thing to do; I applauded for each of the awards as they were announced  (Lynn had wisely departed some hours before, allegedly for dog chores).  The Euroclass was finally announced, and the winner was the unique German bubblecar. Then, miraculously, our name was called as the second-place winner in the class! I ran up and claimed the award plate, as Philippe's name was being called as the third-place winner in Euroclass. Wow, the two Citroen's were both winners! Why that spectacular Ferrari wasn't rewarded I'll never know. Poor Lynn, she missed the excitement of her car being declared a winner in it's first (and  maybe last) Car Show! 

All in all it was a worthwhile day, but not one we're eager to repeat. Had there been a race or autocross driving event connected with the show, that would've helped. Sitting in the sun, with the car parked a few feet away, for several hours; well, some folks might like it but we were anxious for it to be over with! 

The winning Bubblecar!