First of a series about non-traditional and clever concours d’elegance display classes.

Elegance was in the eye of the beholder at the 2013 Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance, near Philadelphia, where the committee chose to present a class of historic rally cars. It’s a case where judges were likely to favor presentation over cleanliness, since road dirt is to be expected on a car driven in rally conditions.

To illustrate their road-worthiness, two of the entered cars were driven onto the show field not from a trailer, but direct from an out-of-state journeys over the interstate.

Faced with a tight schedule, architect Steven Harris, owner of a 1964 Porsche 356C, logged some 240 highway miles from Upstate New York to Philadelphia during the early morning on the day of show. Typically at a concours, this is when many exhibitors unload cars — transported by trailer — and perform final detailing .

Harris is no stranger to arriving on time in his specially prepared Porsche, nicknamed “Lola.” He’s driven her in the 37-day long 2010 Peking to Paris Rally and the 2013 Great South American Challenge, each covering a distance of about 15,000 kilometers over terrain often reserved for 4-wheelers.

Also driving to Philadelphia in a vintage rally car was Mike Maddalena from Connecticut with a 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230S tribute car, nicknamed “The Colonel.” (When he bought the car, the seller told him the original owner was a US Army colonel stationed in Brussels. He’s since researched the car’s lineage only to learn that the original owner was an American civilian in Brussels on his honeymoon.)

It’s got a four-on-the-tree column shifter and a full compliment of rally instruments. Mike finished preparing the car this year just in time to show it at the Greenwich Concours. Read more about the car in Hemmings Daily.