Why Concourse Instead of Concours?

Actually I am aware of the spelling of “Concours” versus “Concourse.” This has been, you might say, a one-man campaign to change things. Let me explain:

Almost no one, when at a car show, pronounces “Concours” correctly. Being a French word, one should not pronounce the “s” in the word, but almost everyone does. “Concours” comes from “concours d’elegance,” which, quoting from Webster’s,

“Etymology: French concours d’élégance, literally, competition of elegance : a show or contest of vehicles and accessories in which the entries are judged chiefly (emphasis mine) on excellence of appearance and turnout.”

Now, our Mustang Club of America (and other American car shows) Concours classes do not reflect this definition because, although we look at “excellence of appearance,” we are also very interested in accuracy as it relates to period-correct detail (e.g. Autolite vs. Motorcraft for pre-1972 Mustangs, etc.). Second, this class is not judged on the basis of turnout – in fact turnout is irrelevant to these classes.

To the point about “concourse,” again looking at Webster’s dictionary:

Main Entry: con·course Pronunciation: ‘kän-”kors, ‘kä[ng]-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French concours, from Latin concursus, from concurrere to run together — more at CONCUR
1 : an act or process of coming together and merging
2 : a meeting produced by voluntary or spontaneous coming together
3 a : an open space where roads or paths meet b : an open space or hall (as in a railroad terminal) where crowds gather

I happen to think definitions 1 and 2 reflect what I belief happens with car restoration, both as I am assembling my car (definition 1) and as we, as a group, bring our cars to the show to be judged (definition 2).

I recognize that car clubs have historically used concours, but I have been, through my over twenty-five years in the business, trying to subtly change this. I recognize its a silly little issue, but, hey, we’re all allowed to be a little crazy, huh?

I hope you concur! ;^)