Sunday morning, 6 am, the cars are waiting to be placed on the Pebble Beach lawn. Here is another creation of Michelotti, also on Fiat 1100 chassis, and shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. The coachbuilder is Vignale. It was back at the Pebble Beach Concours 61 years after its first appearance here.
Photos and story by Hugues Vanhoolandt
In its 66th year, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was celebrating among other things the Ford GT40, Chapron, Delahaye, Bizzarrini and the centennial of BMW.
But the Concours is not just a gathering of cars on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links.
For the past twelve years there was also a Tour a few days before the Concours itself, where people can enjoy the cars in motion. Sadly, this year, the Tour had to be shortened due to the forest fires down Highway 1 towards Big Sur. Subsequently, the Tour was not counting for the concours and many cars did not show on Thursday.
Nevertheless, we can say that this year Concours was again of very high quality and we can’t wait to discover what will be celebrated at Pebble Beach in 2017!
[In his concurrent report from Pebble Beach, Michael T. Lynch discusses many of the below cars in detail…Ed.]
Fashionable French
Delahaye was one of the featured makes and Chapron was the highlighted coachbuilder. That is why you have here a 1947 Delahaye 175 S Chapron Le Dandy cabriolet and 1949 Delahaye 135 M Chapron cabriolet, the last one listed in the Postwar Preservation Class.
Still Delahaye and Chapron with a 1951 235 MS, of which the chassis was similar to the 135 but with a more powerful 3.5-liter engine. This is one of the last great Delahayes as the company was purchased by Hotchkiss in 1954 and then ceased production of automobiles.
Designed by French artist Geo Ham with an Art Deco style, here is a 1938 Delahaye 135 M Figoni & Falaschi Roadster, one of ten with this design. Note the flat folded windshield.
This 1947 Delahaye 135 MS Pinin Farina coupé is the sole Delahaye ever bodied by the Italian coachbuilder. Note the radiator grille with vertical bars instead of the usual horizontal bars.
Delahaye began making cars in 1894. Here is a 1902 Type OA Rear Entry Tonneau regularly entered in the famous London to Brighton run.
Here is another Delahaye, a 1935 135 M Competition Figoni & Falaschi cabriolet of which the body was first shown on another Delahaye Type 135 chassis at the 1935 Paris Motor Show.
This 1936 Delahaye 135 Competition is also due to Figoni & Falaschi but it is built on a short chassis called “Competition Court” of which around 30 were built and only three known to survive.
Built as a show car, this 1937 Delahaye 135 MS Special Roadster was presented by Figoni & Falaschi at the 1937 Paris Motor Show, before being shown by its first owner at several concours all over Europe.
Also credited to Figoni & Falaschi, this 1937 car is one of eight standard-length Type 135 M Cabriolets built by Delahaye and one of four known to survive. It went to India just before WWII and was rediscovered in 1982 in Jodhpur before being restored. It was shown here in 2002.
When first seen at the 1938 Paris Auto Salon, this Delahaye 165 Figoni & Falaschi cabriolet was believed by many to be the most beautiful car of the world. With its unique styling, it could also have been the 2016 Pebble Beach Best of Show.
Also shown at the 1938 Paris Auto Salon, this Delahaye 135 MS Figoni & Falaschi coupé s/n 60112 was hidden during WWII and only discovered in 1968.
This Delahaye 145 by Chapron is one of four built for Ecurie Bleue in 1937. After several races, it was acquired by Henri Chapron to create a design of his own on this chassis. The work was completed in 1947. It is now part of the famous Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA.
Vanvooren was one of the most famous coachbuilders before WWII but, just as most of the other French carrosseries, it suffered after the war and finally closed its doors in 1950. This is the last car bodied by Vanvooren, a 1950 Delahaye 135 M.
And the rest…
Giotto Bizzarrini was also celebrated with, in particular, the first car he built in 1953 when he was still studying at the University. It is based on a Fiat 500 Topolino with an engine improved by Siata components. This car served as a graduation thesis for Bizzarrini.
Known as the “Mussolini Mistress”, this Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS is believed to be the car Mussolini gave to his mistress Clara Petacci and the car in which they tried to leave Italy in 1945.
Entered in the Ferrari Competition class, the 2159 GT alloy-bodied Ferrari 250 GT SWB was raced all over Europe by its Swiss owner between 1961 and 1964 in this gold livery.
Interestingly, a Fiat custom coachwork class was added this year that included this Fiat 1100 Allemano cabriolet, first shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. The design is due to the prolific Giovanni Michelotti.
Italian collector Corrado Lopresto has always a new find to show at Pebble Beach. This time, it was the first prototype of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale built in aluminum by Bertone.
George Wingard, from Oregon, is presenting his 1912 Peugeot Bébé, originally designed by Ettore Bugatti. Its engine develops 10 hp and the car can go 37 mph.
As BMW celebrated its centennial, it had two classes this year. Here is a BMW Isetta 300 that was ordered by the German police in 1961. It is one of only four remaining.
Fifty years after Ford won Le Mans, a dozen GT40s were displayed in front of the ocean to celebrate that anniversary, from Mark Is to Mark IVs, from street cars to racing cars.
One of the highlights of the show was the gathering of the three GT40s in the exact order they took the chequered flag at Le Mans fifty years ago. Leading is P/1046, winner with McLaren/Amon, second was P/1015 of Miles/Hulme and third was P/1016 with Bucknum/Hutcherson.
This car also wrote the legend of the GT40, being the first car to achieve two consecutive wins at Le Mans, in 1968 with Bianchi/Rodriguez and in 1969 with Oliver/Ickx, the later here on the left.
Exhibited at the 1955 Turin Auto Show and 1955 Mille Miglia participant, this is one of nine Vignale built Fiat 8Vs. Exhibited in derelict state at Concorso Italiano in 2011, it was acquired by its current owner in 2012 and restored since.
The Fiat Otto Vu Vignale at Concorso as a barn find in 2011.
Built by Carrozzeria Motto, a total of 33 Siata 208 S Spyders were been produced. Campaigned in Europe by a French gentleman racer until 1957, this car has not been seen in public since the mid-1970s.
Among the Bizzarrinis displayed, here are two of the three 5300 Spyders built. The silver car is the first built and was displayed at the 1966 Geneva Auto Show. It differs from the two others by its retractable covered headlights. The red one is the 3rd and last car built and was sold to the USA. Both cars are in the same family, in Michigan.
Winner of the “Coppa d’Oro” at this year’s Villa d’Este Concours, the Lancia Astura Aerodinamico Castagna Coupé has as strange story as the body of this car was originally mounted on an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 chassis. It was then fitted to this Lancia Astura after its chassis was shortened to fit it.
And the winner is …
… the 1936 Lancia Astura Pinin Farina Cabriolet is named Best of Show of the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours. It is one of six similar cars built for a Lancia dealer in Italy. After being restored by Pininfarina in the ‘60s, it was bought by famous guitarist Eric Clapton before going back to Pininfarina to be displayed in their museum until recently.
The 6C 2500 shown I believe is the one that was in the Las Vegas casino museum for several years. A virtually identical car was purchased in late 1980’s from the grandson of a Canadian WWII war vet who brought it back to Alberta from Italy in 1946. The grandson had sold it to an XKE enthusiast who tried to market it locally, storing it in a garage in inner city Calgary, about four blocks from my home. It was purchased by the same LV museum. I tried to purchase it myself with other Calgary Alfa club members offering $15,000 but the museum out bid us up to $43,000. We were there when the semi loaded it in to the trailer with three white clad handlers. The car had several photos at the time showing it touring Waterton (Canada) and Glacier (US) National Parks, and was based in Lethbridge Alberta at the time. It was completely functional, two sets of wheels, a spare engine block, and minor damage to the left rear fender. The Italian dictator and mistress connection should be suspect.
Without seeing or verifying the original data plates, outwardly, this is the car. There is a wealth of knowledge pertaining to this lovely car on line. The engine cover was closed on this car when I viewed it at Pebble. The assumption being this is the Mussolini mistress car, it resided for some years 20 miles from where I grew up, under ownership of Ron Keno, father to the Keno Brothers of Antique Roadshow. Mr. Keno had the car authenticated by a Herr Spogler, the German SS driver of the car, back in the day. From there, the rest can be learned on line. Without a doubt, a beautiful car with a bit of an ugly story from a miserable time period, but a story none the less.