HMF History 101

Good weather brought a large turnout of spectators. Support of the Highlands business community was solidified. Local car enthusiasts stepped up and volunteered to help. The vision of an annual event became reality.

Since then, the festival has continued to grow in scope, quality, and stature. From the beginning all net proceeds have been donated to many local charities including the Hudson Library, the Rotary Club of Highlands, Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society, and the Emergency Council. In recent years, the beneficiaries have been three human needs based groups:  REACH of Macon County, the Community Care Clinic, and the Literacy and the Learning Center of Highlands. Over the years, the festival has raised over $525,000 for local charities. The festival operates as an all-volunteer organization, with no paid staff.

And the event has expanded in scope, now includes driving tours, car shows, a parade, and social gatherings spread over four days.

When major infrastructure work was required on Pine Street and Kelsey Hutchinson Park in 2013, the Highlands Motoring Festival® venue moved to Highlands Rec Park for two years. For 2015 the event moved back to its permanent location at Pine Street and the Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park.

In 2012, the HMF Organizing Committee was approached by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Atlanta Club about special recognition. That group promised and delivered a strong field of Alfas, competing in the event’s first Featured Marque class, a tradition that continues. In succeeding years, featured marques have been Porsche, British Cars, Mercedes, BMW, the Cars of Italy, the Cars of Carroll Shelby, Vintage Race Cars, BMW, and Pre-War classics.

One of the most memorable was a collection of three Mercedes 300SL Gullwings, some of the most coveted cars existing. The most unusual was probably the Tupolev Cosmonaut Retrieval Vehicle. One year, a full-blown NHRA funny car was given permission to startup and demonstrate with some revving but was derailed by a dead battery. The Highlands Fire Department came to the rescue with a jump from one of their fire trucks to the cheers of bystanders. Other HMF all-stars include the Bugatti T-35C, a factory racer, that finished third at the 1930 Monaco Grand Prix, a 1953 Ferrari 166/53 with celebraty racing history, a 1989 Porsche built to compete at Indy, a three time Daytona winning NASCAR beach racer, the last Lister “Knobble” Jaguar, and the 24 Hours of LeMans class winning BMW CSL “Batwing”race car. Historic race cars from McLaren, Lotus, and Lola have been featured.

For 2019, the featured marque was the cars of Carroll Shelby. More than a dozen pre-1968 Cobras, Shelbys, and Tigers were accepted into the class. Chuck Cantwell, Shelby American’s Mustang project manager, was on hand autographing his book “The Shelby Mustang History”. Another celebrity, Dennis Gage, spent four days in Highlands covering all the events for an episode of his long running TV show “My Classic Car.” The program aired on April 25, 2020, on the Motor Trend channel to an international audience of millions

The exhibit’s cars were rotated twice during the duration of the fifteen-week display so that 9 classic cars shared gallery space with the artwork. The cars included a 1954 Jaguar XK-120 once owned by Clark Gable, a 1963 split-window fuel injected Corvette, an original 427 Cobra from 1965, a 1965 Jaguar E-type 4.2L, a 1965 Alfa Giulia Sprint Speciale’, a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Alloy, an early Porsche 356 America Roadster, a 1974 Dino 246GTS, and a Porsche 906 fuel injected long nose.  The exhibition presented a multi-tiered experience in the appreciation of art and the automobile. It examined design as art, the inherent duality of functional art, the allure of the automobile as art itself inspiring expression in another art-form, and the dialogue between inspiration and expression. Throughout the exhibition period, the Bascom offered several related displays and activities, some of which were interactive.  A few examples of these include artist/curator discussions, model car display, and educational S.T.E.A.M. Initiatives.  

The 2021 Highlands Motoring Festival exceeded all expectations including quality of the cars, spectator attendance, added events, sponsor participation, and revenue generated. “Purebloods d’Italia” was the featured theme with a strong field of Ferraris. Several historic Porsches were also displayed along with a 1934 Packard Dual Cowl Phaeton. 

The 2022 Highlands Motoring Festival® brought the Porsche brand into the spotlight. More than a dozen iconic Porsche race cars were brought from museums and private collections. The field included Speedsters, 550 Spyder, a 904, 906, 908, and a pair of 917’s. Also, the number of pre-WWII classics continued to grow and included a pair of Duesenbergs. 2022 also included a unique Thursday night event, “Movie Night in the Park” with the showing of “Cannonball Run.” On hand were actual participants in the actual 1975 event that inspired the movie. Cannonball Jack and his winning Ferrari/Dino were joined by Bill Warner and his Porsche 911S for a presentation about the race across America.  Donations to local human needs charities had grow to a six figure amount. 

The featured marque for 2023 was BMW. This amazing display of ultimate classics included a Dixi delivery van, a 315/1, a pair of 328’s, a 1949 Veritas RS, a 502 sedan, a 503 coupe, a red 507 roadster (and a matching red Z8 homage), an Isetta 300, a 700 coupe, 2002, 3.0CS, 3.0S, 3.5 CSL Batwing, 2002 Turbo, and a Z1. The 2023 Grand Marshal and guest speaker was Brian Redman. Other highlight vehicles included a 1923 Miller 122, a Cord 812 Phaeton, Lancia Flaminia, and a 1909 Thomas Flyer. Ferraris were represented by six cars including a Dayton, and a 275GTB/4. There were also four Packards and ten Porsches. 

The festival organizers have continually faced new challenges. In previous years, the festival was allowed use of the Bank of America parking lot which comprised a quarter of the “cars in the Park” show field. Bank of America closed its Highlands branch in late 2019 and use of the space was no longer allowed. Along with reduced show field size, there has been increasing numbers of entries forcing organizers to implement an invitational process and strict requirements for originality of the cars displayed. An application for entry can be obtained from the festival website. As the quality level of show cars has increased, so has the need for transporter parking, creating another limitation to the number of show cars. 

After cancellation of the 2020 Highlands Motoring Festival® which was scheduled for June of 2020, the organizing team decided to stage a smaller event designed with social distancing protocols during September when pandemic restrictions had been eased. Two days of driving tours were successfully executed. The September experiment was continued in 2021, again with success. These fall driving events carried different branding as “Mountain Motoring" and have now been retired. 

Every year HMF has commissioned an artist to create a unique poster artwork. In recent years local artist, architect, musician, and car collector, Knight Martorell has created posters reflecting the theme and mood of that year’s festival.

The classic car enthusiasts, initially targeted in 2008, turned out to be very social and generous people who love Highlands. Highlands Motoring Festival® is delighted to host them, every year, on the second Saturday of June.