The Jury
For the 3rd consecutive time Wim Oude Weernink was chairman of the jury. Among the 15 members of the jury were
some interesting international names. Lorenzo Ramaciotti, who worked for Pininfarina for 21 years before he
became a member of the Board of Directors of Pininfarina Studi e Richerchi. Anothony Hussey is a member of the
Connolly family, of upholstery leather fame, and a director of the Connolly company. Christian Philippsen is founder
of the Concours d'élégance at the Parc de Bagatelle in Paris and was Jacques Swaters' assistant in the Ecurie
Franchorchamps back in 1965.
Spyker
The Spyker display showed the turbulent history on the marque. The first three models were build in 1907, 1908 and
1909. The fourth model on display, the Spyker type C4 Tourer was build more than 10 years later in 1921. There was
then a gap of more than 80 years between this originally Dutch classic and the resurrection of the name for the final
2 cars in the display, the 2001 Spyker C8 Laviolette (Berlinetta) and the Spyker C8 Spider.
These brand new Spykers were proudly displayed by Spyker's CEO Victor Müller who also entered a prize winning
1932 Invicta S and a Ferrari 275 GTB/6C, s/n 7995 in the concours.
Ferrari Competition
A diverse collection of Ferrari Competition cars were displayed in class 12. The display started with a 1956 Ferrari
500 TR Scaglietti Spider, s/n 0652MDTR recently driven in the Mille Miglia Revival. A 1995 412 T2 formula 1
monoposto, s/n 164 completed this small selection from the Barron Racing collection. Ferrari enthusiast and skilled
rally driver John Bosch runs the Barron Racing team together with his father Jan Bosch. In only a few years they have
collected a diverse series of competition Ferraris that are driven in various events around the world. The 512 M, s/n
1044 and the 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione, s/n 14407 are well known cars, that have been driven in the Shell
Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge in the past two years by John Bosch. Chassis 086 is a F1/86 Turbo driven
formula 1 car that was acquired only last year at the Gstaad auction.
Ferrari Production Models
The main dish for the us Tifosi, was served as class 13, which featured the Ferrari production models. Just like in
the previous editions of the event, the organisers managed to bring together a very interesting selection. This display
was opened by a nice original 250 Europa GT, s/n 0419GT presented by the Belgian Dirk Libeert. Looking nothing
like the sometimes almost over-restored cars in American concours, this particular car had a similar appearance to
what it must have had 45 years ago when it was still raced on a regular basis. Nico Koel's Black 166 Inter, s/n 029S
looked as sharp as ever, but as this car was on display in the same concours at Apeldoorn only two years ago, one
might argue whether it should be entered again so soon However, it’s always a pleasure to see, so we shouldn’t
complain!
The metallic grey California Spyder, s/n 1183GT was entered in the concours by car broker VSOC, although they sold
this car in March of this year to a Dutch internet millionaire.
Next in line another convertible; the silver 250 GT PF Cabriolet of the first series. In contrast to the California Spyder
that stood alongside, this car's interior was showing a beautiful patina and the proud and enthusiastic owners
entered this chassis 0979GT themselves. The line-up continued with Victor Müller's six-carburettor 275 GTB,
mentioned earlier.
The beautiful lines of a 500 Superfast are seldom shown on western European soil. The same goes for this
particular car, s/n 6043SF, which was owned by British Lord Hanson for almost 35 years until it was put up for
auction in December of 2000.
The Concours at "Het Loo" was the first public appearance of this dark green coupe, now owned by dutch
entrepeneur Schermerhorn, who showed great pride for this new car in his ISC Collection. Not only did he win the
Ferrari class, the Superfast was pronounced "Best of Show" during the prize-giving ceremonies on Sunday
afternoon.
The 275 GTB/2 "NART Spyder" conversion was not welcomed in the same way. A genuine NART Spyder should
have 4 camshafts, whereas chassis 7211 was build as a GTB/2, that took away the chance of winning anything at all
during the weekend. A nice 330 GTC, s/n 9037 and probably the sharpest Daytona in the Netherlands, s/n 14127
completed this Ferrari Production class.
Surely, this Concours d'élégance "Paleis Het Loo" has a promising future, in which it could easily establish itself as
an international concours like the Luis Vuitton Concours in Paris or the concours at Villa d'Este in Italy. Watch out for
the upcoming fourth edition in the gardens of the Royal Palace "Het Loo".
|