Each year, top car builders and owners are invited to bring their cream of the crop vehicles to Pebble Beach for the Monterey Car Show in mid-August. One of the invitees, as is typical each year, was the Petersen Museum. The Monterey Car Show features a wide range of car types but has a set of specific marquees, vehicles to be used as a theme each year. The 2014 marquees were Maserati, Ruxton and Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. Petersen Museum decided to pull out their 1929 Ruxton Model C Roadster.

In the above video produced by the Petersen Museum, a couple of representatives from the museum discuss the event. Dana Williamson, the museum Collection Manager discusses in short what it takes to get a vehicle ready for the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance and Concours d’Elegance. The ’29 Ruxton was already in amazing shape. “Mechanically it is 100%.” Says Williamson, “What it is taking to get the car to Pebble Beach standards is a lot of cleaning, detailing, just tweaking the mechanical work.” In the Concours d’Elegance event, everything has to be in working order, as if the vehicle had just rolled off the production line so many years ago.

A few days before the Concours d’Elegance, the cars have the option to partake in the Tour d’Elegance. An 85 mile trip around the Monterey peninsula gives the cars a chance to show their abilities and shoe that they still got what it takes. The car performed well. The wiper assembly came loose from the windshield and the wipers were actually needed. The radiator cap sprung a leak. After a quick fix using a coozie to create a new temporary gasket, they were back on their way. Leslie Kendall, the Petersen Museum Chief Curator, got the chance to show the car off on the road as well as for the judges of the Concours d’Elegance.

Ruxton cars have an interesting past. Front wheel drive and nearly a foot shorter than practically every other vehicle on the market in those days made it quite different. For more information on the Petersen Museum, please visit www.petersen.org. Also be sure to check out the Petersen YouTube channel here.