There are cars, and then there are automobiles that enter a lawn as though they have retained publicists. In the Hamptons, naturally, horsepower understands the importance of arrival.
Such was the mood at the 2026 Hamptons Concours d’Elegance, where more than $100 million in collector automobiles assembled at the Bridgehampton estate of Kenneth and Maria Fishel. Produced by Bradford Rand and RAND Luxury for the company’s 20th anniversary, the sold-out celebration gathered connoisseurs as engineering met elegance and philanthropy received the glamorous vehicle it deserved.
To dismiss a concours as merely a car show would be like calling Versailles an ambitious house. These machines are feats of sculpture, technology and cultural memory. A fender carries the logic of line; a hand-finished interior reveals a couture understanding of material; an engine remains a composition of rhythm and precision. Collector automobiles preserve the desires of their eras, revealing how generations imagined speed, freedom, seduction and themselves.
Against the green theater of Bridgehampton, those histories appeared vivid. Chrome caught the summer light. Curves designed decades apart entered a delicious visual conversation. Ferraris, Jaguars and Porsches were admired and photographed from flattering angles. Frankly, some knew exactly what they were doing.
Candace Bushnell, whose writing understands that style is rarely separate from power, presented the Sexiest Car Award to Dr. Sam Rizk’s 2020 Ferrari 488 Pista Spider. Celebrity chef Todd English presented the English Award to James Minutello’s 1968 Jaguar XKE, while Ramona Singer bestowed the Forever Fabulous Award upon Gregg Gottsegen’s 2025 Ferrari 296 GTS. Robert Schmitter’s 1964 Porsche 356 received the People’s Choice Award, and Michael Patrizio of MAST Capital presented the Diamond Award.
The categories were playful, certainly, although they acknowledged something collectors have always known: our relationship with automobiles is profoundly emotional. We remember the cars our parents drove and the first vehicle that made independence tangible. Design enters memory, and memory, rather inconveniently, influences desire. A great automobile becomes more than an object. It is aspiration given a chassis.
This year’s gathering also introduced a gentler counterpoint to all that gleaming velocity. Co-producer Morgan Shara developed a Morning of Wellness featuring fashion, skincare, movement and meditation. Jayne Gottlieb, founder of Aspen Shakti, guided guests through her signature practice, creating inward attention amid an event devoted, rather splendidly, to outward beauty.
The pairing may sound unexpected, yet it felt rather modern. Luxury is increasingly measured not only by possessions, but by the quality of one’s time, health and attention. Rand and Shara plan to bring this combination of automobiles, wellness and philanthropy to select destinations across the country. Contemporary indulgence may include a rare Ferrari, certainly, while also leaving room to breathe.
Beyond the concours field, guests explored private aviation, jewelry, watches, fashion, art, real estate and home design over brunch. MAST Capital showcased Cipriani Residences Miami and The Perigon, while participants including Louis XIII Cognac, Ferrari of Long Island, Bang & Olufsen, Barnes Yachting and ApolloJets presented luxury as an interconnected world rather than a single purchase.
Notable guests included Candace Bushnell, Todd English, Ramona Singer, Fern Mallis, Marc Packer, Mike Dirnt of Green Day, Jean Shafiroff and Jonathan Tucker. Still, the afternoon’s most important measure was not celebrity wattage or collective horsepower. The event supported the South Fork Natural History Museum & Nature Center and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, directing luxury toward institutions caring for the East End’s environment and animals.
That philanthropic current gave the spectacle its necessary depth. Beauty, after all, becomes far more interesting when it performs some useful labor. The finest luxury experiences increasingly recognize that pleasure and responsibility need not glare at each other from opposite sides of the lawn. They may coexist rather beautifully, preferably over brunch.
After two decades, RAND Luxury understands this equation fluently. The concours offered rarity without stiffness, opulence without apology and automotive history without velvet ropes. These cars were not silent relics. They were living design, still capable of provoking fantasy and the occasional covetous glance.
In Bridgehampton, the automobile became art, memory and social language at once. The engines supplied the power. The afternoon, quite elegantly, gave that power purpose.
www.RANDLuxury.com
