Pebble Beach, 18th of August, 2013
After the daily reports from this year’s Monterey Car Week today
we start with our final reports on the main events on the Monterey
Peninsula with the highlighting Pebble Beach Concours
d´Elegance at the concluding Sunday. Already in its 63rd edition
the prestigious concours once more proved its leading role in the
concours circuit with many post restoration debuts among the
250 cars in no less than 30 different classes to combine both
quality and quantity like no other event in the world.
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But the activities did not start on Sunday but again on Thursday
morning when many of the entered cars were lined up in front of
the Gooding&Company auction tent to take the annual Tour
d´Elegance under their wheels. When the concours business
became really serious more and more cars were restored for
show purposes and to prove the ability to drive under own power
for a longer distance than from the trailer to the lawn the tour was
invented several years ago. Today the scenic drive down on
highway 1 to the turning point at Big Sur is one of the highlights
both for entrants and visitors. This year’s tour had a few novelties
as it included a lap on the Laguna Seca raceway for the first time
in years and was divided in two rather than three groups of cars to
keep them more together on their way to the backcountry. But
most important it started in full sunshine as this might be the first
time that the usual morning fog was missing in the bay area
during the tour.
As this is the first (and more important free) opportunity to see
the entered cars the start was very well visited and some of the
owners were happy when leaving the busy start for the drive by
the Lodge on the 17-Miles Drive. After the lap on the Laguna Seca
Raceway including the famous corkscrew the journey led over the
Laureles Grade to the Carmel Valley back to the ocean pointing
south towards Big Sur giving plenty of opportunities to take
pictures of the cars at the coastline. Unfortunately the traffic on
Highway 1 was still a mess due to the construction work on the
road for the reconstruction of the road after the landslide in 2011.
The one way traffic with red lights and long waiting times took
apart the groups but finally all of the cars arrived at Carmel for the
lunch stop on the Ocean Avenue that already showcased the
Concours on the Avenue earlier this week. As this is the
possibility to take a closer look at the cars the down town of
Carmel-by-the-Sea was very crowded that day and as the judges
had an even closer look on the cars the following Sunday many
entrants might have been relieved escaping the turmoil without
scratches to stow the cars safely in the trailer for the next days or
in nearby garages for a final touch on the finish for the big day.
Sunday morning started very early with hundreds of people
waiting on the lawn well before sunrise for the first cars to enter at
6 am. Led by the Siata 208CS Balbo the cars were set up on
their marked spots guided by the numerous volunteers in golf
carts, the photographers were hurrying between the cars to get a
few pictures before the opening to the public and the owners
prepared their cars for the judging. Over the next hours the field
constantly filled with visitors and the amount of people showed
the importance and popularity of the concours despite high
entrance fees. Being a charity event the 2013 edition raised once
more a significant amount of money symbolized by a big cheque
during the winner’s ceremony handed over by PB chairman
Sandra Button.
Walking down the field one could see the usual classes of
American and European Classics both from the pre- and the post-
war era plus several special classes, be it for featured
manufacturers or coachbuilders spanning almost 8 decades
ranging from a 1906 Pope-Toledo to a 1979 Porsche 935 K3.
The first special class featured the cars of Simplex with cars built
before WWI in New York.
Eight examples of the bras era represented the short but very
interesting history of the Simplex Automobile Company ranging
the 38HP model to the biggest 90HP model with coachwork by
Quinby and Holbrook. Although Simplex had a good name and
owners included Frederick Vanderbilt and the Rockefeller family
the company was in financial trouble several times and finally
disappeared after some years just as many others during this
period.
About at the same time on the other side of the Atlantic the
history of Aston Martin started. Back in 1913 Lionel Martin and
Robert Bamford founded the legendary British sport car
manufacturer and celebrating it centenary this was well worth a
special class. Oldest car in the class was the 1925 Grand Prix
car with a 16 valve double camshaft driven 1.5 litre engine
representing the short Bamford era. After the change of the
ownership the Bertelli years were represented by 3 of the later 1.5
litre models, the road cars on the MKII range (both in long and
short chassis variants) and one of the Le Mans Team cars
brought over by Nick Mason, former drummer and well known
classic car collector. LM18 comes from the era when the racing
Astons were painted red (as Bertelli was Italian) rather than
British Racing Green to build the fame of Aston Martin at Le
Mans with many class wins. The Ulster on show was third in
class and won the Road & Track award.
After the war Aston Martin became known internationally due to
the efforts of David Brown to build the best GT cars and win Le
Mans with a car bearing its own name. After first attempts with
the closed DB2 Aston Martin started to produce open race cars
starting with the DB3 as shown on the field (DB3/5) designed by
Eberan von Eberhorst followed by the DB3S designed by Frank
Feely. The DB3S was entered as a work team car (DB3S/1) and
also available as a customer race car (DB3S/120) and the two
cars on the field were the first and the last of a total production if
31 (11 team and 20 customer cars). The later one is one of just 2
closed cars built at the end of production after some of the team
cars featuring the same design without success.
Later David Brown achieved the Le Mans victory and sports car
championship with the DBR1, shown on the lawn was the bigger
DBR2. Unlike the DBR1 that matched the 3 litre restrictions of the
time the DBR2 was based on the Lagonda project chassis and
featured the bigger 3.7 Litre DB4 engine and raced in the open
class (later as 4.2 Litre) both in Europe and America, DBR2/2
today is a regular guest at the historic races in Laguna Seca and
was raced the day before by its owner Greg Whitten. The last of
the racing cars was one of the DB4 GT that competed with the
Ferrari 250 GT SWB and GTO in the GT classes, more important
the car on show (DB4GT/0151/L) was one of the Ogier Race cars,
a factory supported race stable including drivers like Moss,
Salvadori and Clark.
But Aston Martin did not just build race cars as shown by the DB
MKIII, a rare Bertone bodied DB2/4 and the Short Chassis
Volante. Over the years the DB2 was developed into the final
version of the DB MKIII with very few special bodied variations
beside the factory Saloon, DHC and FHC. One of these special
bodied cars was the DB2/4 by Bertone for Wacky Arnolt.
Featuring a sportive open design these steel bodied spiders were
intended for the American market by Arnolt but stayed a small
production of just three examples to this design. The car shown in
PB was the last one and is extensively restored including a more
fashionable burgundy red rather than the original British Racing
Green as indicated in the engine compartment. Nevertheless the
shiny car was awarded with the Best in Class award followed by
the very rare Short Chassis Volante. Built on the chassis of the
DB5 this open version was introduced with the DB6 and is the
first Aston to be named Volante, a designation that is used to the
present day for the open versions at AM.
Exactly half the age of Aston Martin is Lamborghini celebrating
the golden jubilee with an own class as well. A small but
interesting display of the early 350 GT, the famous Miura and
Countach plus the less known Espada and Islero gave a good
overview of the classic era of the Italian sports car manufacturer.
The same anniversary is celebrated by one of the most iconic
automobile designs, the Porsche 911. Still the top model of
Porsche today the first Porsche 911 designed by Butzi Porsche
was unveiled at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1963. Following the 4-
cylinder 356 the all-new 911 (named 901 in the beginning)
became base for the racing activities of the marque and the long
runner in the sales room as displayed by two special classes for
road and race cars.
The road car class featured one of the prototypes both of the
coupé and the following Targa variation. At the end of the 1960s
the 911 was available in different power variations, the S type was
the most powerful and today is the most sought after. Especially
since the sale of the Steve McQueen 911 S used in the movie Le
Mans the 911 S came more into focus although not few think that
the tamer E and T models are easier to drive on the public road.
The 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS bridged the road to the race car
class. Although the 911 was used for race purposes right from the
beginning (as seen with the 4 911R and 911S models) the
stripped lightweight RS with the rear spoiler became base for the
RSR. Maybe the most successful of the RSR was the Martini
livery factory team car (911 360 0588) that won the 1973 Targa
Florio when the favoured prototypes from Ferrari and Alfa Romeo
did not finish. The car is today restored to exact the same
specifications as in 1973 including the unique rear spoiler running
over the full width of the body. With the introduction of the turbo
engine the Porsche 935 became the car to beat in its class and
the private entered 935 K3 of Kremer racing won the Le Mans
1979 race, this most significant 911 derivate also won its class
this Sunday in Pebble Beach.
Not a special class but one of the single marque classes is the
Ferrari class, both for the odd numbered street cars and the even
numbered competition cars.
Unlike the other classes the Ferrari Grand Touring class for road
cars featured few post restoration debuts as some of them were
seen earlier this year at the Cavallino Classics in Palm Beach.
This included the two first places in the class, the 250 GT
Speciale (0425GT) and the 212 Inter Vignale Berlinetta (0163E).
Fresh from restoration was the 250 GT LWB California Spider
(1639GT) that was sold exactly one year earlier at a record price
of more than 11 Mio $ at the Gooding Auction from the Sherman
Wolf collection. Back then presented in dark red the car is now
repainted in Rosso Bordeaux Metallic. Just the day before the
owner of this car added the most expensive Ferrari on auction
(the 275 GTB/4 NART Spider at the RM Auction) to his
impressive collection and one can be curious whether this car will
be seen next year. This year the sister car in dark blue (10691)
might have been the most valuable car on the field and not few
were joking about an increase of the insurance policy over night
after RM fetching 27.5 Million Dollar for theirs.
The competition Ferrari Class span the history from the early
1950s to the late world Sportscar championship contender, the
512 S. The two earliest cars were from the 212 series, the class
winning 212 Export Touring Barchetta (0136E) and the 212 MM
Vignale Berlinetta (0070M), first seen after its restoration to
original specification. The 250 series was represented by two 250
MM (0352MM and 0344MM) in their original colours, the Carrera
Panamericana livery on one side and a very elegant dark blue on
the other. The Read brothers brought two of their racing Ferrari to
Pebble with a 250 LM (5909) and the 512 S (1012). But Ferrari did
not just race 12 cylinder cars as seen by the gorgeous Dino 196
SP Fantuzzi Spider (0806).
Other single marque classes included Lincoln, the featured
marque of this year’s concours with no less than 4 separate
classes for V8 and V12 models from the 1920s and 1930s, the
Zephyr and Continental class and special coachwork of the post
war era. Outstanding from the more conservative design of some
of the earlier models was the bright orange 1955 Indianapolis
Boano Coupe presented by last year’s Best of Show winners Paul
& Judy Andrews. This futuristic looking Study by Boano in Torino
was always surrounded by many spectators and will be one of the
star lots of the forthcoming New York sale of RM Auctions later
this year.
Orange seemed to be the colour of this year’s Pebble Beach
Concours as two more cars featured this extroverted exterior in
the Vanvooren class featuring the work of the French
coachbuilder. Vanvooren was well known for their formal elegant
lines without the extravagance of other French designers like
Saoutchik or Figoni&Falaschi so it is even more astonishing that
some of the first owners ordered them in bright orange. Vanvooren
had the revolutionary idea of fitting the wooden frame of the body
over silent blocks with the chassis to eliminate noise and cracks
due to the twisting ladder-frame giving the coachbuilder more
possibilities in the design. Vanvooren was also closely linked with
Hispano-Suiza as their premises were nearby and about one third
of the Hispano-Suiza production was bodied by them so it is not a
surprise that four Hispano-Suiza J12 were displayed at the ocean
front. At the beginning of the concours these were considered as
serious contenders for the Best of Show Award and so a class
win in this category was a first hurdle to be taken, finally the J12
Cabriolet of Sir Michael Kadoorie won its class over the other J12,
a wonderful Delage and two Bentleys to become one of the Best
of Show Nominees.
After a long winners ceremony with prize giving in all the 30
classes and a special appearance of no less than 27 Alfa Romeo
8C staring their 8C tour the following day the time for the
presentation of the overall winner has come. Every year one is
walking over the lawn and looking for potential winners and there
were certainly years were a favourite was more obvious than this
year. Although the quality on the field was again very high there
was not one car that shined out so everyone had his own
favourite. The nominees included the 1932 Lincoln KB Murphy
Roadster of John & Heather Mozart, the already mentioned
Hispano-Suiza from Kadoorie and a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver
Ghost Van den Plas Belgium Torpedo from Dr.Terry Bramall but
the car that entered the ramp under the fireworks and rain of
confetti was the 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible
Victoria.
Entered by Joseph & Margie Cassini this was their second Best
of Show award after winning in 2004 with a Horch Special
Roadster, once more the BoS was restored by the restoration
department of RM making this a very successful weekend for Rob
Myers and his team beside the record result of their two days
auction.
Just after announcement of the BoS the discussions started (as
almost every year) about the definition of elegance and whether
this is a deserved winner or not. When looking at the Packard
with its long bonnet, the teardrop fenders and the two rear-
mounted spare wheels the lines are certainly very clean and
elegant, especially when comparing to some other American
designs of this era. Maybe the cars lacks some extravagance
compared to the French design of the previous winners, a point
that is underlined by the very subtle colour combination of a dark
olive/green with tan interior in contrast to the bright grey/dark red
lizard skin of its predecessor or even more so to the Voisin that
won in 2011. But this leads to a more academic discussion about
American/European design as this car might not be as exciting
as the Voisin but certainly more elegant so it is a question of
personal taste what one prefers, at the end of the day it looked
great at the ocean front and the foggy background made it stand
out.
The fog also leads to the only real downside of this day in August.
Whereas the weather was surprisingly very sunny the days before
the Concours Sunday saw the typical misty morning in the bay
area. Unfortunately the sun did not come out but for an hour so
the fog was not burnt away and the day ended just as it began.
Furthermore the Concours became that big both in numbers of
cars and spectators that it is difficult to see and enjoy every car
on the lawn the way it deserves. Especially when used to the
smaller concours in Europe like the Villa d´Este or the Windsor /
St. James event one might be overwhelmed by the impressions
on the 18th hole of the prestigious Pebble Beach golf course but
fortunately the old bias of all the over-restored cars and Trailer
Queens is superseded especially to the more and more popular
preserved classes.
The next year’s concours will be again on the third Sunday in
August, so safe the date of the 17.08.2014 when the collector car
world will have its centre in Monterey again.
Report & Images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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