An award-winning classic car rolled away from its owners. A diver and a tow truck had to come to the rescue | Hilton Head Island Packet

What surely began as a wonderful weekend for the owners of an award-winning classic car ended on a soggy note. One of the cars shown at the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance at Port Royal Plantation rolled into a lagoon behind it on Sunday.

The car that got away was a 1938 Packard 1605 Super Eight convertible sedan in the American Classics 1925-1948 class, according to the festival’s program and confirmed by a spokeswoman for the event. The car was almost completely submerged, except for a few inches of the top of the car. A professional diver and a tow truck company came to rescue the car from the water.

“This was most unfortunate,” Carolyn Vanagel, festival president said. “We feel badly for the owners whose car had just won best-of-class.”

Bystanders on the green said once the car started rolling, a couple of people tried to stop it, but they were no match for the weight of the vehicle. No information is currently available on how the car rolled away, the value of the vehicle or the estimated amount of damage.