Story and photos by Wallace A. Wyss
[We were holding this article on the Greystone Concours held at the Doheny Mansion and run it along with an article about Bill Doheny and his cars. But information is not easy to obtain and we are still doing research. (yes, we need help!) In the meantime, we can’t let this neat story by Wally Wyss simply slip away. Late, but still good, we present it now with our apologies. Ed.]
If there really was a Bruce Wayne (aka “Batman”) and he had a mansion in Beverly Hills, then Greystone Mansion would be it. In fact it’s been used as a set for many films, including “Batman and Robin” with George Clooney. It is a genuine fieldstone mansion, with a slate roof, cobblestone courtyards, manicured gardens, all located high in the hills above Sunset strip, and was built by E.L. Doheny who reportedly was the first to strike oil in L.A. He built the mansion in 1928 for his son Ned, whose son William would eventuall become very active in the Southern Cal sports car movement. It is now a recognized historical landmark. Doheny’s place made a near perfect site for a concours d’elegance on April 11, 2010, and yours truly was privileged to be one of the few reporters invited to the $100 apiece spectator price event.
A 1937 6CM 1500 Maserati, chassis 1540. Once owned by UK vintage racer R. Fielding, and it was sold at a Goodings Auction in 2006 for $726,000. No name tag on the car but plenty of interest.
One MG caught our attention-- a ’53 MG Arnolt with a Bertone body. You can’t say this TC-based car, one of a batch ordered bodied in Italy by Chicago-based entrepreneur “Wacky” Arnolt, of Arnolt Bristol fame. It is sexy in its proportions but it is interesting that Bertone tried so hard to make a classy sports car out of something that in its original British form looked much more upright and pre-war.
In French cars there were three really outstanding examples of the prewar art deco period, a 1937 Delahaye roadster 135M that belongs to Peter and Merle Mullin who recently opened their own car museum in Oxnard, California. In black, another outstanding Delahaye T135 competition was contrasted by Jim Hull’s bright green Delahaye 135S with its odd clear plastic steering wheel.
The Italian American Cadillac Series 62 by Ghia with its airplane style air intake and quad lamps was outstanding. The author hereby kicks himself for missing this car at $14,000 in an Encinitas car lot 20 or so years ago.
Nash-based car from the Fifties called the Palm Beach. It also had a deeply sunk highly chromed grille, similar to the Cadillac Ghia. I remember seeing this car in magazines from 40 years ago and hoping I would find it first, alas no such luck (hey, I’m still holding out hope of finding the Ghia-built Plymouth XNR roadster…).
There were also some modern Ferraris and a modern Lamborghini displayed by local dealers along with a new Rolls Royce. Never have new cars looked so good in a car show, as if they were “to the manor born.”
There were many tents outside and each one vending either free drinks or turkey or roast beef sandwiches and various tasty muffins. Since it was a cloudy day looking like rain was imminent, it was fun to go inside and see how many rooms had been rented to memorabilia dealers of every stripe—photographers, artists, jewelry vendors. So there was plenty for m’lady to look at and not just car stuff for the guys.
I said “free” but that’s with the $100 fee not for car entrants but for spectators. There will be those who say that $100 is a big price to start off your first annual concours with but I say that it’s almost necessary to cover the food. The sandwich was a bit small but I think they will sort out the food amounts later and I could have stood in line and gotten a second serving if need be. Of course there were some who brought their own lunch.
A pre-war Rolls Royce Phantom III with a V12 in it, a Merlin engine similar to that used in the P51 Mustang. I wonder if the sound of it makes former Luftwaffe pilots nervous…?
As you probably know, the Arnolt MG is based on the MG TD. Thanks for a great web site.
Bill
Dear Pete,
1937 Maserati 6CM S/N 1540, with her impressive race history, proudly resides in the Collection of the Scottsdale Automotive Museum in Scottsdale Arizona.
On September 13, 2009 S/N 1540 earned “First in Class” at the Rancho Palos Verdes Concours d’Elegance and on April 11, 2010 this impeccable example of the Marque was awarded “Photographers Choice”, at the Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance.
Sincerely,
Robert S. Piltch
Curator
Scottsdale Automotive Museum
I read a long time ago that the Bertone MG TD saved Bertone from extinction. If Arnolt had not placed the order for a bunch of cars, that would have probably been it. Bertone really scraped to present the car at the show and got an order for the cars from Wacky Arnolt. God bless him!
The comments from the car entrants who brought cars was not glowing. It was indicated that the event would be a display on grass but turned out to be a parking lot, security was very lax as chairs and even complete lunches were stolen by the attendees. The rain also made a mess of things at the end of the day making clean up from the event a pain. Not to mention the problems associated with getting “up the hill” to the mansion. I’d prefer to spend my money at a venue like Pebble long before this Sunset strip local.
Yes, sorry I forgot to mention the hill getting up to the parking lot was quite daunting and when wet in the rain could be a challenge for older manual shift cars. I am surprised that people would walk away with chairs at an event that cost so much for spectators. As far as cleanup after a rain, hey, blame Mother Nature.
I think the solution as far as the display area is to have interlocking tiles from some driveway paver who would then be given a booth to promote their works.