Sorting through toy cars in his bedroom, Marques Mar pauses after he names each one to describe some random feature: the hatchback of his 1949 “Woodie” wagon, or the motor of his 1965 Corvette.
“My favorite vintage car is the Pierce Arrow,” said the 10-year-old from Issaquah, noting that he doesn’t have one in his collection yet. “That’s the one I want.”
But on a recent evening, Mar and a group of other Lake Washington School District students got to see a real Pierce Arrow, and several other vintage cars on display at Club Auto in Kirkland. The group, selected by the LWSD superintendent, gathered at Club Auto to learn more about the judging process as they will be this year’s junior judges at the Kirkland Concours d’Elegance event on Sept. 12. The annual car enthusiast event features some of the world’s finest vintage automobiles, motorcycles and wooden boats.
During the meeting, the students learned judging etiquette and what characteristics to look for when judging: originality, rarity, history, design and beauty. Kirkland resident Paul Hageman, 23, who has been part of the junior judges program for six years, led the students across the floor at Club Auto, stopping to go over the history of a 1916 Pierce Arrow, 1954 Mercedes and 1928 Bentley. He also told the group how important it was for them to jot down their own personal feelings about each car on their score sheets.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Anna Kimmell, a Ben Rush Elementary 5th grader, of the Bentley. “It’s only one out of three ever made and it looks cool because it’s different than a lot of the other cars.”
Hageman also encouraged the students to ask the car owners a lot of questions during the Concours event. Mar, an outgoing 4th grader at Cougar Ridge Elementary, didn’t hesitate to throw up his hand during the meeting.
His mother, Marji, said her son was chosen to be a judge because the Children’s Hospital Foundation knew he is a car fanatic. Two of the junior judges each year are current or past patients of Children’s and Evergreen hospitals, which the Concours event benefits.
When Mar was four days old, he was rushed to Children’s Hospital after his temperature dropped to 92 degrees. He was diagnosed with a severe heart defect, with two holes and incompletely formed valves. A year later, surgeons replaced Mar’s heart valve with a prosthesis and installed a pacemaker.
“He just had his third open heart surgery,” said Marji, adding that her son will most likely go through a couple more surgeries by the time he is an adult. “It’s a miracle that he has gone through so much and that he is where he is now and wherever we can give back, we really want to.”
Mar says “it’s going to be cool” to judge during the event.
“I never got to judge a car and I really want to,” he said. “I judge my mom’s car. She has a van, but I’m convincing my mom to sell that one and get a brand new Toyota.”
This year’s junior judges are: Connor Gray, Lizzie Hull, Joey Wishart, Anna Kimmell, Maddie Sjolund, Susan Michel, Brandon Rodriguez, Tanner Mann, Kusha Akbarpour, Bailey Essig, Marques Mar and Isaac Lau (former Evergreen Hospital patient).
For information, visit www.kirklandconcours.com.
