Merle Mullin is at the helm as Peter checks the gauges on their 1951 Delahaye 235 Saoutchik Cabriolet. It was awarded a 3rd place ribbon in the Postwar Touring Class.
Text and Captions by Michael T. Lynch
Photos front, Dale LaFollette (Vintage Motorphoto)
Photos rear and side, Hugues Vanhoolandt
The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance presented by Rolex is regarded as a watershed in encouraging the use of collector cars on the road no matter how rare or expensive. VeloceToday is happy to share images of a selection of French and Italian automobiles that took part in this year’s tour.
This Bugatti T43A 2-seat Sports came all the way from Holland with Tom and Maya Meijer. They took home a second in class.
This Bugatti T51 Dubos coupe started life as a factory Grand Prix car. It acquired this body in 1937. The body and chassis were later separated and J.B. Nethercutt, a multi-Pebble Beach winner, restored the chassis as a Grand Prix car. This body later became available and was reunited with its original chassis. It is a truly unique Bugatti and won the Bugatti – 100 Years of Style and Speed Class.
Oscar Davis’ Bugatti T57C Aravis Gangloff Drophead Coupe is named, like other T57 models, for a mountainous region in France. This pristine example took second in the Type 57 Class
Ed Godshalk’s Bugatti T13 Brescia 2-seat Sports is a fine example of Bugatti’s first series-produced car and finished 3rd in class. It’s name comes from a 1-2-3-4 finish by T13s in the 1921 Brescia Grand Prix.
Calilo Sielecki of Buenos Aires has become a regular at Pebble Beach. His entry this year was a Bugatti T57 Bertelli of Feltham Cabriolet. The jaunty windscreen and cut-down doors confirm its English body.
Dr. James and Martha Foght brought this stately T57C Letourneur et Marchand Cabriolet. It has right hand drive, like many French sporting cars of the era.
The Bugatti T57 Paul Nee Pillarless Coupe of Martin Gruss is an early example of a stylist eliminating the B pillar to create a cleaner look. It achieved a 3rd in class.
Ray Scherr’s Bugatti T57SC Atalante Coupe was one of the most impressive pieces of the weekend. The detailing was equal to the stunning color scheme and it won the Bugatti Type 57 Special Coachwork Class as well as the French Cup.
What can one say. William Johnson’s Talbot T150-SS-C causes a crick in the neck no matter how many others you’ve seen. Figoni and Falaschi would be in the Pantheon of automotive design if they had only done these, but they did much more. This T150 won the J.B. and Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Trophy at Pebble Beach on Sunday and also received the Art Center School of Design Award.
A classic Grand Routier, this Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet of Mark Hyman has a 4.3-liter straight eight.
J. Heumann is a former Co-Chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. His passion for the event and Hispano Suizas continues as evidenced by this Hisso K6 Henri Chapron Coach Mouette. The car was second in the European Classic Closed Class and won the Alec Ullman Trophy. Ullman was the founder of the Sebring 12 Hour race and another Hispano Suiza scholar.
The Patterson Collection’s Delage D8S Letourneur et Marchand Aerodynamic Coupe won the Elegance in Motion Trophy at the Concours.
RE: Calilo Sielecki’s Bugatti T57 Bertelli of Feltham Cabriolet.
I believe this car was once owned by Malcolm or Donald Campbell, of the land-speed record family.
Great stuff….made me feel I was there!
The Bugatti T51 Dubos coupe — exquisite!
Paul Née’s work on the Bugatti coupé (57397) is a post-war rebody. By then, the elimination of the B pillar had nothing innovative, a qualifier that does not suit Paul Née either.
This Bugatti Type 57 Coupé #57397 was originally delivered to Paul Worth of the famed French perfume family on March 4, 1936. While the car was originally delivered as a faux cabriolet constructed by Fernandez & Darrin, in 1947 a stunning new body was conceived by Paul Née of Levallois, Paris, for its new owner, Monsieur Lescure. Née was most renowned for building high-quality and similarly ingenious cabriolet bodies for Lancia. The coupe body featured some unique characteristics such as a large sunroof, eye-catching chrome fender flashing, a distinctive ridge on the boot, a clever hidden spare, Marchal lights, rear-hinged doors and unusual vents on the bonnet.
In 1954, the Bugatti was sold to Monsieur Jean Contat in France who owned the car for the next seven years. On June 14, 1962, it was shipped from Le Harve aboard the SS Bernard Howaldt and arrived at the Los Angeles harbor on July 10, 1962. The car was received by well-known American Bugatti collector Dr. Milton Roth who, at the time, owned some of the marque’s most important cars.
Sadly, Dr. Roth passed away soon after taking delivery of his Type 57 Coupe and on March 15, 1965, Dr. A. J. Nelson of Long Beach, California, purchased the car from Dr. Roth’s estate. Three years later, Dr. Nelson commissioned a frame-off restoration to be completed by O. A. ‘Bunny’ Phillips of Pasadena, California, as the car was by then showing some age. The Bugatti was one of Phillips’ many ongoing projects and as a result the car remained disassembled for the next three decades. During the 1990s, Jim Stranberg adopted the restoration work and the fabulous Paul Née Bugatti was completed just before its debut at the 1999 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where its immaculate restoration earned it a class award in the Closed European Classic, 1925–1939 category.
Auctioned ($ 396,000) by Gooding & Company last 17th January, now it belongs to Martin Gruss.
Someone he had more information on the Bugatti Type 13 Brescia of Ed Godshalk ?