At the Fairfield County Concours, I spotted a fantastic ‘Barn Find’ 1938 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux Coupe. The pre-auction estimate was $150,000-200,000. I knew that these were very desirable models even in such sad shape and I was not surprised to find out the next day that it sold for significantly over this estimate at $337,000!
Story and Photos by Werner Pfister
Fabulous weather, fantastic cars and a good cause underscored the Fairfield County Concours in Westport, Connecticut this past weekend. Since its humble beginning eight years ago in Westport’s Veterans Green on Main Street, this event has grown into a world class event at the expansive Fairfield County Hunt Club.
This is actually a two day affair. It started on Saturday with several local car clubs including Ferrari and Maserati putting their members’ cars on display. In addition, 50 plus vintage cars participated in the “Nutmeg Tour for Autism” driving over the scenic Fairfield County roads to raise money benefiting the Drive to Treat Autism Fund of St. Vincent’s Hospital.
During the day there were seminars about restoration, detailing and valuing collector cars. The early evening was capped off by a “Toast the Tour Reception” to welcome back the tour participants and then a second reception provided me with a chance to preview the vintage cars and the automobilia items on consignment with Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers.
I realized right away that I could not afford that barn find Type 57, but I also had my eye on a Bugatti radiator ornament. This was the one featuring the Elephant dancing on a ball which Rembrandt Bugatti designed for his brother Ettore’s most expensive Bugattis, the extremely rare Royales. I thought that this would look good as a paperweight on my desk (more importantly, my wife even agreed), but another bidder had a bigger wallet and took it home for $ 500.
The main event was the concours on Sunday. More than 200 cars from all nations were well represented including those with Chrysler Hemi power, Porsches, E-Type Jaguars, Woodies, Brass-Era cars and Formula 1 vehicles. However, for me the French and Italian cars were standouts. Below are a few of our favorites.
I did not have to walk far to be amazed and educated by the Gilco-Osca-Special painted in the familiar American racing colors of Blue/White. This is the Bro Crim car. VeloceToday will have more on this special OSCA in a future edition.
As soon as I walked through the entrance, I spotted a rare 1951 Bugatti 101 C bodied by Gangloff. This was the model on which the Bugatti family pinned their post war revival hopes. It featured a 3.3 liter straight 8 cylinder supercharged engine putting out 200 horsepower. This car was also the Paris Auto Show car in 1952. The Mullin Museum from California kindly brought this car east for us to enjoy at this show.
The next cars I noticed were a pair of Cunningham C-3s. Briggs Cunningham built only 25 examples (20 Coupes and 5 convertibles) of this beautiful model based on a body designed by Michelotti and built by Vignale, but featuring the stout Chrysler Hemi engine. The first one I checked out is owned by Velocetoday.com contributor, Chuck Schoendorf and his was the only competition version ever made. It had many special racing features and competition accessories, including Halibrand knock-off racing wheels. Chuck’s C-3 recently completed a 5 year restoration right down to its original two-tone Green/Beige color scheme.
Next to it was a fabulous Black C-3 owned by a descendant of the Cunningham family. Incredibly, in contrast to the first car’s racing wheels, it had Buick Riviera wire wheel hubcaps! We were told that Briggs Cunningham liked them and had personally put them on this car and they were there to stay. It is also the only automatic transmission equipped C-3 built.
The cutest car by far was the diminutive 1969 Fiat 500 L. This cinquecento looked great in its orange paint and you can really see that, to their credit, Fiat took many styling cues from this classic design when they developed their new Fiat 500.
A very unusual looking car was the Iso Rivolta Lele which I learned was named after Piero Rivolta’s wife. In contrast to the better known shark like Iso Grifo, designer Gandini, then at Carrozzeria Bertone, was asked to draw a practical high speed 4 passenger car. Only 317 cars were produced over a 6 year production run and this late production model is powered by Ford, not the typical Bow-Tie motors found in the earlier versions.
At this point I had been wandering around the field for hours when I saw off in the distance, a very special looking Ferrari. As I got closer I could see it was a 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica with what is often referred to as the aerodynamico body. Restored to like new condition, this car is owned by well-known Ferrari collector, Peter Kalikow of New York.
In contrast to the Ferrari, there was another Cunningham C-3, but this one was a 'Barn Find' that was literally sitting outside of a barn for the past 10 years. It was just discovered earlier this year and is now scheduled for a partial restoration to get it in running order.
There were other beautiful exotic cars with American drivetrains. One was a voluptuous green Chrysler Ghia, which I found out was not only the 1953 Paris Auto Show car but also the prototype for the cars which followed. This car established a 15 year period of collaboration between Chrysler and the design house of Ghia.
The French cars I took note of were both Bugattis. One was a two-tone 1938 Type 57 C Stelvio convertible by Gangloff...
...while the other was a French Racing Blue 1931 Type 51 Grand Prix car. This latter car reminded me of the Tiffany Blue Boxes containing the Concours Awards.
Next I spied a pair of Siatas built in Torino, Italy. One was a 208 SC Coupe and the other was a 208 S Spyder. As was Siata’s practice, both were fitted with modified 2.0 liter Fiat V-8 engines, hence the origin of the 208 name.
Each was cloaked in a unique, sexy Italian body. Incidentally, I got a kick out of the formal admonition printed on one of the large instrument dials of the Spyder which stated, ‘For the first 1,500 miles do not exceed 3,800 R.P.M. Thanks, Siata Car Company‘.
Regretfully,it is only the rarity of an extremely ugly Bugatti barnfind that makes it worth taking a picture. I would rather see the sweet Series II Lancia Appia behind it with all four doors and the hood open, showing that smart pilarless construction and that sweet and torqui 1100 CC engine.
Le Roy; I had all four of the doors open for a while, but the wind kept blowing them shut! It is indeed a totally delightful little car, and I’ll never restore it, just keep fettling until all the little bits are working right. Runs great, though, thanks for the compliments.