Great cars on display, if you can afford to look

Mercedes 280SE 3.5 convertible at the Concours (but not in it).

If there was a Royal Enfield motorcycle among those on display at the Concours d'Elegance at the Boca Raton Resort & Club Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla., I can't prove it. I didn't get in. The price of admission was twice what I'd expected. I should have known that any event with a French word in the title would be beyond reach.

The lovely Mercedes convertible above looked like it belonged in the show but, no, it was just one of the cars driven to the event by people who could afford to get in.

I turned my Bullet for home only to discover, just a few blocks south, a car show at Duffy's Sports Grill. A bit less fancy, for sure, but admission here was free. The vehicles on display were mostly American iron.

Red cars, open hoods; it's an American car show alright.

You can tell the difference between a "concours" and a "car show" instantly: almost all the hoods at the car show were wide open.

Super Commando engine in an uncluttered engine compartment.

This makes sense when the engine on display is something special, like the Super Commando (great name) in this 1968 Plymouth GTX.

TR6 trunk is surprisingly small.

The only British car at the show, a Triumph TR6, didn't seem to have anything special in the engine compartment but here, too, the hood was up — as was the trunk lid, which revealed how amazingly little luggage fits in a TR6.

Corvair engine compartment is full.

The cute 1966 Chevrolet Corvair had its engine compartment open, showing off how General Motors managed to fit four carburetors, the battery and the spare tire in there. This was a notoriously bad idea, but impressive nonetheless.

Model car inside real car.

One last open hood picture: This 1956 Chevrolet in lemon-and-black used the air cleaner to show off a model car in the identical colors.

1958 Mercury Monterey features fuzzy dice.

The 1958 Mercury Monterey on display wasn't in concours condition, perhaps, but it didn't need to be to display its show-stopping, over-the-top styling. Excessive, yes. But look at the dash. It is fantastical, but still relatively clean and functional. The fuzzy dice look like they belong here.

1962 Dodge Polera: almost hard to believe.