Royal Palace Het Loo Concours d’Elegance

Imagine two very well-cared for lawns, surrounded by thick woods. Right in the middle is the Koningslaan (King’s lane), an old brick road, the driveway of the 17th century Royal Palace Het Loo, formerly the residence of the Dutch Royal Family. But for the modern day event, the first lawn was occupied by the most beautiful and exclusive classic cars in (mostly) Dutch possession. The crowds could see some new cars as well. Alfa Romeo was there with an armada of brand new Giuliettas and Jaguar showed their range including the new XJ. Car magazine and co-host Autovisie was very quick with their presentation of the Audi A7, even before the first test drives were conducted by the automotive press.

The second lawn was packed with hundreds of classic cars that visitors brought to the concours. That turned this lawn into a substantial part of the event itself, a nice trick by the organisers that was lovingly welcomed by the crowds. The cars, either in use as daily drivers or as weekend classics, were a sight to see. Everything older than 25 years was taken out of garages for others to admire, from a humble Fiat 128 Panorama (yes, the station wagon!) to costly Aston Martin DBs.

The old brick road wasn’t neglected at all, for it hosted the incredible Vredestein Royal Sprints. Here, pre war racing cars were let loose to show their acceleration skills, with an ‘à cheval’ stop after a quarter mile. Some of these machines turned out to be quite a handful to stop with the finish line between the front and rear axles.

Star of this dynamic show was a car called Brutus, brought along by the Sinsheim Museum of Germany. Brutus is more than the sum of its parts; the technical staff of the museum created it on an American-LaFrance chassis, which carries an incredible 500 hp, V12 BMW aircraft engine of 1924. This awesome machine has an immense capacity of 46.8 litres (2860 ci). Apparently, big black Brutus doesn’t like driving short distances, because in the blink of an eye, it bellowed, sputtered and coughed its way to the finish line. It was only using the first of its three gears, firing huge flames out of its short, arm-thick exhaust pipes. A very intimidating combination of sight and sound.

A third event was the concours itself. The cars shown at the event delighted connoisseurs and amused everyone else. Even amongst the first group some must have had to admit that they have never seen a Guanci SSJ1 or a Bricklin SV1 before, let alone a 1955 Buckle GT. Very special was the sudden appearance of a 1948 Bentley Mk. VI with unique Dutch bodywork by Roos of The Hague. This particular car has been owned from new by the late Prince Bernhard, who even designed the bodywork himself.

The cars of the concours d’elegance were of stunning beauty. They were within inches of the public, who invariably showed great respect in not touching anything of the hugely expensive material. Many owners stayed within reach of their cars; not for safety reasons but to chat about their beauties with an interested and well-informed crowd. Overall winner of the event was the staggeringly beautiful, Ghia-bodied 1954 Fiat 8V Supersonic of Jan de Reu. Class-winners were cars like Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Touring and 2600 Zagato, Talbot Lago T23 Cabriolet, Tatra T 77A and even a 1905 Vauxhall Phaeton.

The separately held ‘national concours’ by Autovisie gave a Japanese car the highest honours: a very rare and immaculate 1968 Toyota 2000 GT, owned by Jacques Albers. The jury consisted of true experts, like Volvo’s designer Fedde Talsma, Lorenzo Ramaciotti of Fiat (formerly Pininfarina), Tom Tjaarda and Urs Paul Ramseier, organizer of the Concorso at Villa d’Este. For many people though, just as nice to see were cars they had known so well when they were much younger, such as an Alfasud, Renault 17, Audi Quattro, BMW 2002 Turbo and Porsche 924 Carrera GT.

This ninth edition of the bi-annual event was splendid, making both visitors and participants impatient and not wanting to wait another two years for the next edition. So good luck to organisers Timo Rietbergen and Jan-Peter Nijmeijers, hope to meet you again as early as 2011. For more information click here.

More photos below.