Blenheim Castle, 3rd of September, 2015
The first stage if this week’s concours marathon is taken. The first
weekend of September does not host less than three major
European Concours at the same time. Starting early into the
weekend was the annual Salon Privé followed by the Concours of
Elegance in Holyrood House in Edinburgh and by the second
premium French Concours at Chantilly.
For the 10th time the Salon Privé opened its doors and for the
jubilee edition a new location was found with the Blenheim Castle
at Woodstock about 1 hour outside of London. Built in the early
18th century for the Duke of Malborough and home of Winston
Churchill in his youth the Palace does make a perfect location for
a concours although one has to admit that the main building itself
is far less integrated in the Concours than Sion House was in
recent years. What did not change over the years is the concept
of the event with a classic concours including an international jury
in addition to a Supercar show were the latest sports cars are
represented by the small and large manufacturers to the public.
Held in a very noble ambience with appropriate dress code the
Salon Privé is also a social event for the society of London.
After driving the Tour d´Elegance the day before the cars were
lined up on the large green in front of the castle with the typical
white tents and the different sponsor booths surrounding the main
show field. Just as in Sion park the new car show and the
classics concours is separated giving the visitors the impression
of visiting two events at the same time. Whereas at Sion parc the
house itself was a natural barrier between the two fields at
Blenheim the extended lunch and coffee area was set up in
between. Part of the experience at the Salon Privé is the annual
grilled lobster and the champagne from one of the main sponsors
Pommery.
The concours featured 69 cars and bikes from different eras
separated in 9 classes ranging from the prewar sports cars to a
selection of Ferrari with Pininfarina Design. For several decades
now the name Ferrari and Pininfarina are interlinked as most of
the new Ferraris are clearly a Pininfarina design. But not just in
this class one could see several Ferrari including the small early
206 GT Dino, the 250 GT Lusso of the later 365 GTS/4 but also in
the class for open cars a 250 GT and 275 GTS Cabriolet or the
wonderful 250 TDF alongside the SWB Berlinetta in the
Gentlemen’s GT class. Especially the 250 TdF drew a lot of
attention just finishing a superb restoration including a posh but
most likely completely impractical red velvet interior. The TdF was
lined up with the other class winners for the much awaited Best of
Show award. Surprisingly not in the selection due to “only” a
second in class was the 1938 Delahaye 135 MS from the Mullin
collection. Although one of the highlights of every event and
multiple concours winner the two-tone blue Delahaye had to leave
first in class the black-white Lagonda V12 Cabriolet, also from a
very prominent collection, the stable of Sir Anthony Bamford. But
as the judges were convinced by the fresher restoration of the
Lagonda the public only had eyes for the lines of the car and so
the Delahaye won the first of the two main awards, the BoS by
public Vote.
The judges had a longer discussion that followed the judging in
the morning and most likely different opinions about the winners
were exchanged over the lunch with the fresh lobster.
After reducing the choice to a final two cars the last car to enter
the stage was the 1952 Jaguar XK120 Jabbeke named after the
record run of Norman Dewis at the Beach of Jabbeke in Belgium.
Although not a concours car in the common sense with the
modified standard Jaguar body including the bubble roof for the
driver to reduce drag this very important car was well in the focus
of many events in the past and finally got the recognition its
history deserved with this Best of Show.
For today we have to leave it with this short report on this event
as the weekend has a lot more to see with the opening of the
Concours in Edinburgh today, the Bonhams auction on Saturday
and the final concours of the weekend in Chantilly.
In the next weeks more images and most likely a closer look at
some of the cars will follow
Text & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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