Cernobbio, 22nd - 24th of May, 2015
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Singhof Images >>>
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Class A – Flamboyance in Motion, the pre-war coach built
luxury
The 1920s and 1930s were the heydays of the coach built era
when the manufacturers provided chassis to the wealthy
enthusiasts enabling them to fulfil their dream of individuality
having a body designed by the numerous large and small
coachbuilders to their own taste. In small series and one-offs
some of the best designs were created in this era and this year’s
event showed very different concepts. The oldest car on display
was the Farman A6B Coupé de Ville by Million Guiet. Inspired
from the aviation by Voisin the Farman brothers started their
automobile production after WWI and over the next years just over
120 cars were produced leaving them a rather small episode in
the history books. With only a handful of cars surviving to the
present day a Farman is a rather rare car to be seen on a
concours and the A6B is a typical example of the time the
wealthy motorist was sitting in a comfortable passenger
compartment driven by a chauffeur sitting in the open front.
Whereas today leather is sold as the luxury interior at that time
the rather robust material was reserved to the employee as the
gentlemen where comforted on more refined materials. The
Farman featured a full cocktail cabinet, picnic accessories and
the flacon for the lady and the superb presentation convinced the
jury to award this car not only with the mention of honor as the
runner up in its class but also the Fiva trophy of the best
preserved pre-war car.
Winner of the class was the complete other extreme of this era,
the ultimate drivers car, the Mercedes-Benz 540K special
roadster. The supercharged straight-eight was the best available
in this era and the flamboyant 2-seater body was the most lavish
choice within the program of the in house Sindelfingen
body-styles in the catalogue. The special roadster is always a
contender for the awards as the few examples built are usually in
very prominent collections and superbly presented, this car
formerly in the Bernie Ecclestone collection was no exception
and a deserved winner of the class. But this was not the only
Mercedes in the class as one of the Grand Mercedes, the type
770K was represented as well by a superb Cabriolet D.
Unfortunately these cars are mainly associated with the
Nazi-regime as most of those cars were ordered by the former
government, the car on show was formerly part both of the
Imperial Palace and the Blackhawk collection before its return to
Europe.
Further cars in the class were the wonderful Isotta Fraschini
A8SS, a Pierce Arrow and the Lancia Astura Cabriolet by
Stabilimenti Farina.
... 001 - 036 Ambience >>>
... 037- 072 Class A >>>
... 073 - 108 Class B >>>
... 109 - 144 Class C & D >>>
... 145 - 180 Class D >>>
... 181 - 216 Class E >>>
... 217 - 252 Class E >>>
... 253 - 288 Class F >>>
... 289 - 324 Class G >>>
... 325 - 360 Class H >>>
... 361 - 396 Class I >>>
... 397 - 432 Class I & Concept Cars >>>
... 433 - 468 Class Concept Cars >>>
Report & images ... Peter & Wolfgang Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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