1938 Phantom Corsair Experimental Bohman & Schwartz Six-Passenger Coupe, National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV.
Story and photos by Daniel De Gallo
Newbie Daniel De Gallo gives us a perspective of Pebble Beach from the Little Car show, the Tour d’Elegance, and the Concours in this overview.
The Little Car Show in downtown Pacific Grove, is a well-lived tradition, always on the Wednesday of that week, free to the public, in a relaxed atmosphere. This year, we were graced with the presence of mostly (but not limited to) Italian, British and French cars, amongst which were: Fiat Topolino, Fiat 1100 station wagon (familiare) “third-eye” (only available on 1957-1958 models), Fiat 500 station wagon (giardiniera), Volvo wagon, DKW, modified Isetta, Trabant, Peugeot 404 cabriolet by Pininfarina, and many more.
Fiat 500
Fiat 1100
Fiat Giardiniera
Fiat traffic
Audi or DKW
Trabant
Isetta 300
Peugeot Pininfarina
Matra
MG maybe
Tour d’Élégance. Another tradition at Pebble Beach, always on the Thursday of that week. In spite of a wildfire affecting the Big Sur area further down on Highway 1, which made the route made much shorter through Carmel Valley, the attendance for the Tour was significant this year. It gives one a good chance to see what cars are to be seen on the show field (entrants), on the Sunday of that week. Ironically in regards to that fire, the conditions were quite damp for the departure point. Rain or shine, the show must go on!
1961 Maserati 5000GT Touring
1911 Oldsmobile Autocrat Speedster
1932 Austro Daimler AIR8 Oeffag Alpine Sedan
1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Fernandez et Darrin Coupé de Ville
1938 Tatra T77A Limousine
1936 Delage D8-120 Letourneur et Marchand Aérosport
1938 Delahaye 165 Figoni et Falaschi Cabriolet
1927 Hispano-Suiza H6C Gurney Nutting Sports Saloon
Mystery to us…and help?
1952 Jaguar C-type Roadster
The Concours! Mostly overcast day, though not too cold, making for a nice and cozy experience. A large number of entrants and classes, including a special Vignale class, featured marque Ferrari, pre-war streamliners class, automobiles of royal India class, and many others. Best in show contestants were the red 1938 Delahaye 165 by Figoni et Falaschi, two Ferraris, and one Duesenberg. Drum roll: Best in Show prize went to the… Duesy!
1936 Voisin C28 Aérosport Coupé
1953 Cunningham C-3 Continental Vignale Convertible
1931 Packard 845 Deluxe Eight Dietrich Sport Sedan
1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Fernandez et Darrin Coupé de Ville
1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow Sedan
Ramping up
Winners gather
The mystery car is a Pierce-Arrow.
Did Daniel De Gallo not realise the significance of four of the cars captured in his sequence of photos in the Concours section of his “Three from Pebble” article? Starting with the picture of the 1933 Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow, being followed by a Packard, the next picture captioned ‘Ramping Up’ and the one after that with no caption, they are the very cars, or replicas, of the four cars that were built specially for a competition held as part of the Chicago World’s Fair 1933. In that same order, the cars were:
Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow 6.5 litre V12
‘The Golden Packard’ 7.3 litre with Dietrich bodywork
Cadillac Fleetwood Aerodynamic 7.4 litre V16 Coupé
Duesenberg “Twenty Grand” 6.9 litre Straight Eight
The Packard won back in 1933.
Four more Pierce Arrows were made to that design, and two more Packards (finished in black). The Cadillac was unique at the time (the one pictured by De Gallo has very subtle differences to the 1933 car) and a replica of the original Duesenberg was completed in 2012, but with different front suspension.
Incidentally, I disagree that the ‘mystery car’ is a Pierce Arrow – their trademark at that time was flared-in headlights – see the Silver Arrow picture mentioned above.
Roy, thanks for reading and shedding light on the choice of cars…we learned something! But Daniel didn’t do the layout or choice of photos…the Editor did and no, we weren’t aware of the significance. But we know now!
Pete
The mystery car is a 1931 Pierce-Arrow Model 42 Convertible Coupe. The radiator shell is a clue from the front and the flared headlamp housing from a side view is another. While not visible from the angle of this picture, the headlamps do flare into the fenders. A side view of this car can be seen in a YouTube video of the cars departing for the tour. I will be glad to share a link if anyone is interested.
Great pictures.