David Murdock of Dole Food Opens California Estate for a Concours THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - David Murdock, 89, chairman of the Dole Food Company, opened his 2,200-acre estate here for the first Ventura Farms Concours last Sunday, inaugurating an annual event that will tie in with St. Patrick's Day and jubilantly asserting California's need for yet another fancy car show. The concours's field included 28 cars, including Mr. Murdock's 1957 Ford Thunderbird and 1957 Cadillac Eldorado. A 16-cylinder 1930 Cadillac and a compelling 1968 Toyota 2000GT were among the cars supplied by private owners and local museums. About 1,000 people, who paid $150 each for tickets, were able to tour the estate's gardens, the 18,000-square-foot orchid conservatory and the Japanese tea house set on a pond with 1,000 koi fish. Also on the grounds were sculptural boulders of granite, sandstone, marble and pumice stone that Mr. Murdock found in the River Kwai in Thailand. "We wanted to invite top owners, to get everybody to know that next year we're going to have a fully judged concours with 100 to 150 cars," Nick Lemieux, the concours director, said. Tim McGrane, executive director of the Blackhawk Automotive Museum in Danville, Calif., said his museum provided to the concours a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III with a body by the Belgian coachbuilders Vesters & Neirinck, and a 1937 Bentley 4¼-liter with a Carlton roadster body. He pledged eight cars for next year. Besides the Blackhawk contributions, other entries were fielded by the Mullin Automotive Museum of Oxnard, Calif., which showed a 1939 Bugatti Type 57C, and the Automobile Driving Museum of El Segundo, Calif., which sent its Brewster-bodied 1932 Plymouth town car that was once owned by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Tonya and Jim Hull brought their 1947 Delahaye Type 135MS convertible. Its vibrant, two-tone green body was perfect for St. Patrick's Day. Dr. Peter Fodor and his wife, Barbara, showed their Meissen blue 1959 Porsche 356A convertible from Beverly Hills, Calif. Unlike numerous people who were dressed in kelly green in observance of the day, Ms. Fodor wore various hues of blue, from her eyeglass frames to the dazzling chunk of tanzanite on her left hand. "They told me to wear something that matched the car," Ms. Fodor said.