This 1956 Maserati 250F Grand Prix was the first of three lightweight cars built for the 1957 season.
By Steve Kittrell
The Danville Concours d’Elegance was held on Sunday, September 21st celebrating its milestone 10th annual event at historic downtown Danville, California in the San Francisco Bay area.
Many of the efforts for this concours directly benefited the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson’s Institute for the advancement of its research and patient care. With a goal to “Stop Parkinson’s in its tracks,” the committee and volunteers have successfully raised over 2 million dollars for this worthy cause.
An OSCA stops along the way during the nicely paced road tour.
Members of the foundation were also participants in the 4th annual Tour d’Elegance, which delivered beautiful Northern California weather, challenging wine country back roads and a collection of classic cars to modern exotics. I was fortunate enough to partake in the rally with Guy Simpson, owner of a fully restored 1964 Aston Martin DB5, right hand drive. The pace used between a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia and a European spec 1973 Alfa Romeo GTV 2.0 was pleasurable, due to the well-planned event by organizers Jim Edlund and Deb Pollack.
The author and the DB 5 Aston Martin.
Blackhawk Museum, a 70,000 square-foot automotive jewelry box, opened its doors for a charity gala on Saturday night. Participants wined and dined among treasures including a collection of Alfa Romeo Bertone-designed Bat cars, a display of Ferraris and Maseratis with Vignale coachwork, and the 1961 Cunningham XK-E Jaguar factory lightweight race car.
The relaxed concours field was filled with notable Ferraris and Maseratis, including a factory raced 1956 250F Grand Prix, which was one of three factory lightweight cars built for the ’57 race season. With wonderful and documented history, including multiple first place wins under the guidance of Juan Fangio, this car also represents a survivor during Maserati’s 100th anniversary.
In the stables of the prancing horse, a 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast took best in class in the V12 category. With only 12 series II’s built, and being the 1966 Brussels Motor Show exhibited car, this Pininfarina steel-bodied auto was well deserving of its class win and Best Sports Car award.
This 1965 500 Superfast Series II, (chassis 0819) won Best in Class for V12 Ferraris.
There was little doubt which Italian car stole the hearts of the attendees, however. The 1955 OSCA MT4 1500 was a darling in design and performed well in its long vintage racing history. After failing to finish the Pebble Beach road race in ’56, it was loaned to Road & Track for their first full road test of an OSCA, and it performed under the spotlight. In 1977 it was reintroduced to the racing circuit by Stephen Block at the Monterey Historics before being sold to William Schanbacher and his wife June. Unfortunately for Bill and the OSCA, there was an accident at the 1990 Mille Miglia Storica that cost the owner his life. After a re-body, the car was sold to now owner John Grosseto, and made a pilgrimage back to the Mille in 1996. Most recently, this California OSCA has entered the historic Mille Miglia three times, and counts eight entries in the Monterey Historics.
The Danville Concours d’Elegance continues to produce an excellent showing of cars under strong local support and valued tradition. Look for this event to grow significantly over the next decade.