Cars of Hampton Concours

This 1948 Simca 8 Sport Cabriolet prototype actually started life in Italy as a Fiat 1100S before being taken to France for use in the development of Simca’s new post war sports model. The coachwork was created in Italy by Stabilimenti Farina and differs from the later production version. The first private owner of the Simca was an American Army officer stationed at Friedberg in West Germany, which just happened to be the base where Elvis Presley served with the 3rd Armored Division. As he was also a friend of Elvis, the story goes that he deliberately chose a red cabriolet so as the red lipstick marks left by Elvis’s adoring fans would be less visible than they would have been on a white car!

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Another weekend, another country estate. This one actually a Palace, Hampton Court Palace, right on the Thames, and once the home of Cardinal Wolsey, an influential adviser to Henry VIII.

Whilst the main entrance to the Palace is from the Tudor period, the concours itself is held in the parkland in front of the Baroque part of the Palace built during the reign of William and Mary in the seventeenth century. It is a fantastic setting, not just because of the Baroque backdrop, but for the luxury of space to properly display the cars. [Read more…] about Hampton Court Concours, French and Italian

Wilhelm Schmid’s 1956 AC Ace-Bristol chassis BEX 148 was shipped directly from the Thames Ditton factory to Venezuela for Dr Oscar Lupi and was one of the first group of five models sent to the country through the importer and racing driver Juan ‘Jack’ Fernandez. Lupi planned to race the Ace so entrusted it to Karl Pentz, a German garage owner based in Caracas, who modified it, together with two other examples, to improve their aerodynamics, each example differing slightly from the next with BEX 148 gaining a lower Ferrari-like nose with cowled headlights. Wearing the racing number 139, Lupi campaigned the Ace extensively over four seasons, finishing fourth in the under 2.0 litre class at the 1956 Estado Carabobo Trophy in Valencia and ninth at the La Montana hillclimb in 1957. In 1958 he finished seventh at the Trofeo Shell and second at the same event in 1959. In 1960 he retired BEX 148 from racing haveing purchased another AC Ace-Bristol.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

We continue the Hampton Court coverage with British and other makes. A complete list of winners follows the photo gallery. [Read more…] about Hampton Court Concours, British and Other