Newport’s Rich Roll Out in a Good Cause

NEWPORT BEACH — The really rich of Orange County came out to play Sunday, and this being Southern California, they did it in their cars.

More than 300 Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners circled around Fashion Island long enough to win a spot in the “The Guinness Book of World Records,” and they set two other records while raking in more than $50,000 for children’s charities.

“My first car was a 1967 Rolls-Royce, silver blue. Daddy bought it for me,” said Nancy Wynne, who drove her 1987 Silver Spur Rolls in the event.

Asked what she did when she wasn’t cruising in her 1988 Silver Spur, Melissa Lincoln of Newport Beach said, “Well, you can just say I’m very rich. Extremely opulent.”

Just up from the Coffee Plantation, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus, master of ceremonies John Honeycombe held forth in a British accent, shepherding a double lane of the fantastically curved, gleaming luxury cars through a starting line between two fake castle turrets.

“Some of these cars go out very rarely, we’re very lucky indeed to have them here today,” said Honeycombe, who dreamed up the auto parade to benefit the charities after running a similar Beverly Hills event in 1993. “Beverly Hills is more high-visibility people; naturally, here are more industrialists. But there are a great deal of Rolls-Royce owners in Orange County.”

Leading the parade was a 1907 Silver Ghost shipped over from Crewe, England, said to be worth about $75 million and considered the most valuable car in the world.

Sunday’s record of 232 Rolls-Royces gathered on a public motor way broke last year’s record set at Malcolm Forbes’ New Jersey estate, according to Newport Beach city officials who intend to apply for placement in the Guinness book.

Event organizers said two other records were set: 51 Rolls-Royce Corniche models and 83 Bentleys in one place.

Small groups of ordinary folk gathered along curbs to watch the procession.

“We love parades, and we love cars. What better place to see both than Rolls-Royces in Newport Beach?” said Lee Solow of Corona del Mar, who squired his two young daughters to the parade in his 1991 Volkswagen camper bus. Solow, a psychologist, joked, “I’m going to wave at my clients as they drive by.”

Solow said he thinks the luxury cars are especially popular in Orange County because “they’re a symbol of power and virility. A Rolls-Royce says to the world: ‘I am a car owner, I am a man. I have standing, I have power, I’m different.’ Also, English cars are always more conservative, so they fit here. We haven’t seen anyone with long hair or tongue rings passing by in these cars.”

Others were less analytical.

“It’s just fun,” said Frank Everett of Laguna Beach, who drove his $200,000 1995 Corniche. “You work hard every day all your life, you deserve a treat.”

Nancy Wynne said “the great part of this is it shows that rich people are no different. In fact, I think the richer you are, the more down to earth you are.”

Still, consumption was, well, conspicuous. Each of the auto owners who paid $100 to enter was given a bottle of gourmet mustard to carry on board.

“Show us your Grey Poupon!” onlookers shouted, and some drivers obliged.

There was a champagne breakfast before, a champagne reception afterward, lunch of poached salmon and champagne sorbet--as noted in the hand-tooled leather menus--and an auction of artwork, cars and memorabilia by Christie’s of London.

Four luxury cars built for the parade were auctioned off at a minimum of $210,000 apiece. In addition, there were donated artworks by Pablo Picasso and Prince Charles of England. The monarch’s paintings were of traditional subjects, such as the castles he calls home, and one showing Her Majesty’s Ship Britannia, her Union Jack waving over the soon-to-be-former colony of Hong Kong.

Proceeds from the day’s events, sponsored by the Marconi Foundation for Kids, will benefit Covenant House, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the Olive Crest group home.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Dick Marconi of San Juan Capistrano, a pharmaceuticals manufacturer who loves old cars and saw a way to help children.

Hundreds of people inspected the cars up for auction, including Jim Coccara of San Juan Capistrano, who planned to bid on a silver pearl Rolls-Royce Turbo R model. Coccara, who recently sold his computer business, examined a black garnet Rolls-Royce, complete with lamb’s wool floor mats, but decided it was “too strong a statement. Elizabeth Taylor would look great in it, though.”

Coccara said he liked the idea of buying a luxury vehicle with profits going to charity.

“It takes the sting out of it. Unfortunately in the ‘90s there’s a stigma attached to buying these automobiles. People think you’re snooty, pompous and arrogant. In some cases that’s true, but not always. To me, each vehicle is a work of art.”