Traditionally the weekend starts on Saturday with the Bensberg Rally including some German Celebrities and
about 100 cars taking the roads of the Bensberg hinterland to be welcomed in the hotel in the afternoon. With
reasonable entry fees not few visitors took the chance to have a look at the various cars ranging from an early
Bentley 3 Litre to the VW Beetle. Those not willing to pay the entrance cordoned in front of the main
entrance. Unlike the last years the weather was perfect both for the rally and the concours on the next day.
Early on Sunday morning the hotel guest were woken by the loud exhaust note of the various racers in the
sports car class, be it the Porsche 3.0 Litre RSR or the Zakspeed Ford. Soon all the cars found their way
from the underground garage to be lined up by the volunteers on their designated spots and the jury could
have a first look around. Led by former Bentley CEO Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen the international jury included
Pebble Beach chairwoman Sandra Button, Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx as well as the designers Andrea
Zagato and Louis de Fabribeckers (Touring) and renowned motorsport journalists. Unfortunately the
internationality of the event is usually confined to the judges as over the last 7 years the event was not able to
attract many high profile collectors from further away, again the field was reduced to German collectors and a
few cars from neighboring countries. As Volkswagen always had to find the middle way between posh and
down-to earth the Bensberg Classics might lack the noblesse of the Italian Concours or the prestige of the
American counterparts. To make things even worse the Volkswagen Group did retract from the concours as
an event for the wealthy classic car owners does not seem to fit in the current political atmosphere when
millions of “ordinary” people face the consequences of the “Dieselgate” affair.
But as there are certainly several great private collections in Germany as well this does not necessarily mean
that the quality was low but certainly it makes it much more difficult to get the required amount of new cars
every year shown by the fact that some entrants had more than one car on show despite the small field.
Class 1 was dedicated to the luxury cars of the pre-war era. Few marques symbolize the luxury and
sportiness as much as Bugatti. Known both for their superior small racers as well as for the tourers the Type
57 certainly is the crown of the history from Molsheim. Delivered in five different factory bodies aside
numerous special coach built cars the Ventoux named after the hill in the Provence was the 4-seater 2-door
version, today widely known as the coupé. Finished in an elegant grey paint the Bugatti was certainly the
most elegant car of the class. More unusual was the Rolls-Royce Wraith by Erdmann & Rossi, a British icon
clothed by the Berlin coachbuilder in a time of high tension between the two countries. Brought over the
Bensberg by the well-known Erdmann & Rossi Collection of Saulus Karosas the car did not just win the class
but also the most outstanding restoration, but star of the class was without doubt the highly original and
patinated Delahaye 135M of Egon Zweimüller.
Class 2 saw a small selection of diverse pre-war sports cars showing the different approach to the racing
theme. On one side the small Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 by Touring that proved very robust including several
successes at the 1000 Miglia contrasting the brutish appearance of the Bentley 8 Litre. Originally intended to
carry heavy saloon coachwork the 8 Litre Chassis was rarely graced by a more sportive VdP fabric but
whereas many of them were converted over the last decades the car in Bensberg was the famous Tourer by
Captain Hewitt with its imposing exhaust pipes.
More stylish was the Audi Front 225 Roadster from the Audi Museum, the elegant roadster designed by the
Horch-coachbuilders to cover the front-drive chassis of August Horch’s new company. The only coupé in this
class was the Peugeot 402 Darl´Mat DSE that also should become one of the runner ups for the Best of
Show.
As mentioned before class 3 was dedicated to European design with American power. Maybe one of the best
known examples of this category is the De Tomaso Pantera, one of the few cars of the class making it in a
higher production number. But this was almost 20 years after the Facel Vega FV2B saw the light as a
luxurious coupé of French design powered by the popular V8. Ten years later was the Iso Grifo A3/C Stradale
designed by Giotto Bizzarrini (of Ferrari 250 GTO fame) for Piero Rivolta. Both available in street and race
version the car in Bensberg was the very last car built before Bizzarrini and Rivolta parted ways. Less known
are the Vetta Ventura Apollo 5000 GT that is rarely seen in Europe and the Bristol 411 MKII. After using the
BMW-engines in their early life Bristol finally switched to the V8 (Chrysler) as well. The MKII might not be the
most elegant car on the field but very interesting as an introverted counterpart to the more glamorous Bentley.
Carrozzeria Touring was given an own class and looking over the long history of the Italian coachbuilder the
class could have even had more examples as the pre-war history was not shown. Touring became famous
before the war for their superb Alfa Romeo 8C versions both in 2.3 and 2.9 litre versions and soon after the war
Touring was also responsible for the first 6C 2500 models. Most famous is the Villa d´Este referring to the
connection between Touring and the contemporary concours circuit, in Bensberg was the SS Aerlux version
with the huge Plexiglas sunroof.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s Ferrari founded the base of their success with several important race
victories at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia making the new marque the choice of the wealthy sportsmen of the
time. In a time when the sports racers were still suitable for street use the coachwork was more important
than in the later “form follows function” era. With its connection to the Alfa Romeo race team Enzo Ferraris
first choice to body his new models was unsurprisingly Touring, the Barchetta and Berlinetta on the 2, 2.5 and
also the bigger engined 4.1 litre 340 America is still considered as one of the best designs on a Ferrari to the
present day. The Black 340 America in Berlinetta version was one of the crowds’ favorites as well as the
jury’s choice for the most important Best of Show.
But also the rival from Modena, Maserati has chosen the Touring design to cover the first really production
car, the 3500 GT. Very unusual the Coupe (Touring) and the Cabriolet (Vignale) was built by two different
designers.
Class 5 was dedicated to the open cars cruising the Riviera in period, although cruising might not be the
favorite discipline of the first car in the class, the small engined Siata 1400 GS. Siata is known for the sleek
elegant spiders, be it with the small Fiat 4-cylinder engine or the later V8.
Some might be surprised to see a Porsche 356 on a concours field but unlike the later production cars the
early 356 also saw some coach built variations. Before Porsche took over Reutter and brought them to the
capacities needed for the demand several cars had to be built out of house due the high demand of the new
Porsche, so in 1952 more than 200 cars were built by Gläser in Dresden, those models are much sought
after. Compared to the rarity of the Porsche and also the Aston Martin DB2/4 MKII DHC the Mercedes-Benz
190 SL was a mass product. With more than 25000 examples built not few were surprised to see an
(immaculate) example on the lawn but this is part of the approach at Bensberg showing the public a diversity
both in rarity and design.
Following the Cabriolets were the Coupés of the 1960s. Ranging from the Pininfarina designed Ferrari 365
GTC, the Ghia designed Fiat 2300 S Coupé to the Opel Diplomat, and BMW 3200 CS and Bentley S2
Continental this class featured Italian, German and British design.
A centenary display was dedicated to the BMW cabriolets. The story of the cabriolets started with the
licensed production of the Dixi as a derivate of the Austin 7. Known for their motor bikes and their aero
engines (as seen in the emblem of BMW) over the next decades BMW became synonymous for the sportive
drivers. The sportive ambitions were first shown with the BMW 328 Roadster that became unbeatable on the
race tracks in the 2-litre classes, the street versions of the 326 Limousine and the 327 Cabriolet brought
these genes on the road. Not few think that the 327 is still one of the best looking BMW ever built, especially
those with the powerful 328 engine are exceptionally sought after today but also the “normal” version in the
characteristic two-tone is certainly an eye-catcher. Based on the 502 V8 Baur built a small number of
Cabriolets before Graf Goertz came up with the 503 Cabriolet and more importantly the 507. Counterpart to
the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster the 507 is not only rarer but most likely also more elegant with its purer
lines making the Mercedes look a little bit barock. Several celebrities fell in love with the 507, the most
famous might have been the King Elvis Presley himself during his army years in Germany. The car in
Bensberg was finished in very stylish midnight blue and was voted Best by Public Choice at the end of the
day.
Last but not least was the class of the sports race cars of the 1970s. All but one came from the German
manufacturers, be it the Opel GT Conrero, the BMW 2800 CS Schnitzer of the two Ford by Zakspeed and the
factory touring car Ford Capri 3100 RS.
After the class victories on various race tracks in the 1950s and 1960s Porsche started to build the most
dominating cars during the 1970s. Beside the Prototypes the different variations of the 911 helped Porsche to
get the record of most race victories held by Bugatti since the 1930s. Just like the Bugatti the amount of
victories was given by the amount of private entered cars in various classes and the 911 both Turbo-Charged
or naturally aspired was a common sight on the race track all over the world. The legendary 2.7 RS became
the base for the later 3.0 RS and the 3.0 RSR race version. Many of these cars were raced for almost a
decade with significant success and the RSR in Bensberg was not entered in less than 4 Daytona 24h races
and went on racing until 1982, 8 years after its first IMSA 1000KM victory in Mexico City. Despite its racing
history the car today remains basically unaltered over the years and was presented in superb race ready
condition.
Sole Italian car in the class and class winner at the same time was the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Competizione. In a time when Lamborghini came up with the first mid engined supercar the latest version of
the front-engined V12 was introduced by Ferrari. Although not intended as a race car the production was
enough in numbers to homologate the car in Group 4 that led to 3 Series a 5 cars in special race trim called
Competizione. The car in Bensberg (Chassis 16363) was prepared by French Ferrari importer Charles Pozzi
and campaigned in Le Mans winning its class and coming home 6th overall.
At the end of the day 3 cars were considered to become Best of Show and lined up in front of the lawn, The
Alfa Romeo Aerlux, the Peugeot Darl´Mat and the winning Ferrari 340 America. Unlike the last years the
Pebble Beach style fireworks could be fired in sunshine making this a great day for all coming to Bensberg.
Unfortunately the future of the Concours is very uncertain as one might doubt that the Althoff Group will keep
this up without the background of Volkswagen whose contract reportingly ended this year. As the concours
business is a very difficult on in Germany anyway the lack of a main sponsor is not easy to compensate. We
are curious about the development in Bensberg over the next months and hope that somebody will take over.
Report & Images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
|
