One of the things that make the Pebble Beach Concours unique is its special displays. The organizers are able to present exhibitions of exotica no other event can manage. One of them was a group of cars bodied by Carrosserie Vanvooren. Founded by Achille Vanvooren in suburban Paris in 1910, the firm was taken over in 1919 by Marius Daste, who guided it through its golden era of the 20s and 30s when it became known for its high quality work on luxury marques, especially Bugatti, Delage, Rolls/Bentley and Hispano Suiza. The French arm of the last company was not far from the Vanvrooen atelier. The magnificent H-S seen here is a J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet entered by Robert M. Lee. Note the sophisticated shape that belies the size of the car and the contrasting coachlines that stand in relief from the remainder of the body. Five of the eight entries in the class were Hispano-Suizas. Credit MTL
By Michael T. Lynch
Sir Michael Kadoorie is the host at The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering on Friday at the Quail Lodge and Golf Club. On the day before, his magnificent Hispano-Suiza Vanvooren Coupe is seen on the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance with the Pacific in the background. The dreaded fog bank can be seen in the upper left, thankfully off shore for the tour. Showing there is good fellowship between major events during Holy Week, this car would go on to win the Vanvooren Coachwork class at Pebble Beach on Sunday. Credit Hughes Vanhoolandt
The only completely French car in the Vanvooren Coachwork class was this Delage D8-120 Coupe. It is seen departing the field with a third in class for entrant John W. Rich, Jr. Credit Hugues Vanhoolandt
Corsica was a British coachbuilder who often worked with European chassis. They built bodies for eight Type 57S Bugattis. This is one of two four-seat tourers from that batch. It was brought by Don Williams. Credit MTL
While hardly a masterpiece, it has a certain appeal. Its Brit origins are clear from its Lucas running lamps, shared with MG TC/TDs among others, to the obligatory cut down doors of British sporting bodywork of the day. Credit Hugues Vanhoolandt
Easily one of the most interesting cars on the field was this Alfa. It began life as a prototype for a 6C sedan that never materialized and became one of the four Colli 6C 3000 CM coupes built for the 1953 sports racing seasons. Credit Kimball Studios/Pebble Beach Concours
The car is now owned by Caballeriza Inc., The car had an incredibly accurate restoration by Tillack and Company. It won the Postwar Touring class as well as The Vitesse-Elegance Trophy. We know where Alfa Duetto rear styling cues came from. Credit Hugues Vanhoolandt
Lee and Joan Herrington brought this Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Speciale all the way from New Hampshire. Created as a show car for the 1956 Geneva Auto Show, the deluxe Pinin Farina body has styling cues from the 14 louver Tour de France competition model as well as the contemporary 410 Super America. The dash is unique to this car with altimeter, chronograph and outside temperature gauges. It impressed the judges, who awarded it a class win in the competitive Ferrari Grand Touring Class and the Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car Award. Credit MTL
Larry Carter’s Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder draws a crowd including the Keno Brothers of Antiques Road Show fame to the right of the car. Carter took third place in the Ferrari Grand Touring Class. He probably was perfectly happy with that considering that the previous evening one of the other NART Spyders sold for 25 million US dollars plus a buyer’s fee of another 2.5 million. American Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti planned a run of 25 cars in the late 1960s, but sales were sluggish, so only ten were made. Chinetti sold at least one for less than he charged for a coupe, a car now valued at around two million. Credit MTL
The preservation classes have become among the most popular at Pebble Beach. Bill and Linda Pope’s Voisin C25 Clairière Berline was impressive and placed second in Prewar Preservation as well as winning the FIVA Prewar Award. Credit: MTL
In the early 50s Vignale produced some incredibly tight fastback coupes with little or no brightwork. They sometimes swung to what Japanese designers today call “surface tension”, also known as needless styling cues. This 212 Vignale Coupe was one of ten or so what I call bumperette cars that seemed to put on the trim with a trowel. They all had polished filets wrapped around the upper leading front fender edges that sometimes encircled running lights. This was the Geneva Show car in 1952 and then came to America where Luigi Chinetti sold it to well-known Indianapolis entrant Bob Wilke, whose cars won the 500 three times. It was entered by Mike and Jane Green. Credit: MTL
Motorcycles are a fairly new phenomenon at Pebble Beach and have featured the manufacturers of a single nation. This year’s French motorcycle class offered the most exotic field yet. This is the winning combination, a Peugeot 515 SP with sidecar. The owner was Leslie Dreist and she rode it over the ramp. Credit MTL
Joseph Figoni is best known for his Talbot Teardrop Coupes. Here he uses the same theme on a cabriolet version of a Talbot-Lago T 150 C SS and the result is no less pleasing. Entered by Gwen and Tom Price, the car won the Elegance in Motion Trophy. Credit MTL
The Maserati A6GCS was Maserati’s first postwar sports racer. Early versions had cycle-fender bodywork with a torpedo fuselage. This version, by Medardo Fantuzzi, was introduced in 1953 and was one of Maserati’s finest of the era. Built in 1954, the entrants were Heather Buhr and Jonathan Feiber. Credit MTL
There has been a tour limited to Ferrari GTOs for years. More recently, one has been instituted for Alfa 8Cs. A Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa tour is supposedly in the works. Pebble Beach took advantage of this year’s Alfa 8C tour by featuring an exhibit with 28 of these cars. Since these were bespoke, limited production cars that usually left the factory almost immediately upon completion, it was easily the largest gathering of 8Cs in history. Once again, Pebble Beach had a memorable gathering unmatched elsewhere. The tour began the Thursday after Pebble Beach in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and continued through Glacier National Park and into Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. Here, the cars are seen on the lawn at Pebble Beach. Credit Kimball Studios/Pebble Beach Concours
The day is done and cleanup has begun. The cars leaving the field are Lawrence Stroll’s Ferrari 250 GT LWB Scaglietti Spyder, A. Shammus’ Lambroghini Islero S and Rob Walton’s Alfa 8C2300 Zagato, the 1931 Le Mans winner. Credit MTL
VeloceToday Select Number One:
Cuban Grand Prix, 1957
by David Seielstad
Michael, Thanks for all the great shots and details of these important cars. As part of the team that brought 3 cars to the lawn this beautiful day and winning the Aston Martin Class class and placing second with the Voisin. You really have little time to walk around and view all the other cars outside of your class. Great writing once again, I feel like it was Sunday all over.
Great work as always, Michael!
I have photos of all cars on the lawn, but have none of the outstanding insight that you contribute from your encyclopedic knowledge of our passion. It is a joy to read.
You have me anticipating next year already!
Thanks for some great photos of wonderful cars Michael, but that Peugeot motorcycle wins it for me; I never knew………..
I find the condescending comments about the Corsica Bugatti inappropriate in this venue. I have participated in the restoration of 2 Pebble-winning Bugattis and would consider any T57S to be worthy of more respect. I see this one rated 2 photos rather than just one, presumably because this car is attractive from both ends unlike some other “masterpieces”.
In 1959, fresh out of the U.S. Army, I stopped by Bunny Phillips shop in
San Gabriel in my new bug-eyed Sprite. I was curious as I saw several Bugatti’s
in the front mof the shop. Bunny gave me a tour of his shop. He called me the
young soldier. He wanted to look over the bug-eye in exchage for the tour.
I stopped by many times over the years. Several years later he had
a Bugatti “Atlantic” in the shop. I thought he owned it, but not sure. Does anyone
know where that car ended up and who really owned it. My memory is not to great, but I think it was silver.
Your command of the audience is oppressive, deserved and appreciated.
God’s Speed forward. Congratulations, your affectionate student and one of many admirers.
WPR
DC
Re Mr. Reed’s posting:
My comments were not meant to be condescending. I was merely pointing out that this was hardly the finest design ever executed on a T57 chassis, even by Corsica and that it looked more British than French. The car is certainly not the equal of John Mozart’s ex-Giles T57 Pebble winner (also by Corsica) or any number of other T57s like Peter Mullin’s Figoni-bodied car. The car was not presented for judging, so we do not know what their verdict would have been. I have stated mine.
Hugh Walker asked about the owner of the Atlantic he saw at Bunny Phillips place in 1959. My wife’s cousin, Peter Williamson, owned an Atlantic at the time and he used Bunny for any work on the car, so I can only presume -considering how few there were- that it was the Williamson car.
Aaahhhh, that memory of mine! I just looked up Peter Williamson’s ownership of the Atlantic and he did not buy it until 1971, for the princely sum of $59,000 [a record at the time]. The previous owner was Robert Oliver of Los Angeles, who had the car shipped to the U.S. in 1946. It seems both owners used Bunny Phillips to maintain the car.