Bugatti EB110 by the Palladian bridge.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Another weekend and yet again the grass has not been cut! Events keep getting in the way.
Not such a long journey this weekend, (June 6-7) just a two-hour jaunt to Wilton House near Salisbury in Wiltshire, the home of the Earls of Pembroke since 1540. The reason for the visit was not to view the recently restored, Inigo Jones designed South Front of the house, or indeed the glorious state rooms; no it was to attend Lord Pembroke’s Classic and Super car weekend.
This is an event that I have never attended before and judging by what I saw laid out on his Lordship’s lawns I can safely say it will not be my last visit. In front of the house, two rows of prize Bugatti’s with three Veyrons (to Celebrate its 10th anniversary) lined up between them. To the left of the house an enviable line up of classics whether you classic of choice be a Ferrari or a VW Camper. The right of the house, a further selection of Classics from a Mini to a Muira.
Corrado Lopresto’s recent find as displayed last weekend at the Wilton Concours. See this week’s related article.
In addition to the two displays on side lawns Lord Pembroke also displayed cars from his own collection along one side of the house. These include among others a Lamborghini Muira S, Mercedes 300SL, Jaguar E Type, a new Alfa 8C and even a Honda S2000s and two Porsche 956’s. I am told that over the weekend 15,000 people attended but due to the sheer size of the lawns on which the cars were displayed it never felt crowded. The star has to be the car that Corrado Lopresto displayed for the first time ever; seen here first and be sure to read the accompanying article on the subject.
Information below from the placards placed with the cars unless otherwise noted.
Garros type 5 Liter Bugatti. One of only 3 remaining of the 6 or 7 originally produced this 5 Liter chain drive Bugatti Type 18 was Ettore Bugatti’s own car, which he also raced. The car has a top speed of around 80 mph.
Bugatti T57, Coachwork by Swiss/French coachbuilder Gangloff. This car is considered to be a one off.
Bugatti T35, Frame number 369, little is known about the early history of this Type 35B. Bugatti records would indicate a construction date of 1927. The rolling chassis was brought to England during the 1950s. Rebuilding continued on and off until 1978 when Tula Engineering finished the work ready for the 1978 racing season. The car has competed every since and is considered one of the fastest T35Bs. The car has been allocated the chassis number BOC 007.
1928 Bugatti Type 44. Approximately 1095 examples where built of which only about 10% remain. Power came from the a straight eight 2.0 Litre straight engine.
Bugatt T44 interior.
Brescia line up.
T 73 Bugatti, a post war four cylinder in monoposto form.
I found a picture of the car on the Internet, which lists it as a Type 38 with coach work by Matthys of Brussels. That is all I know as it had no placard. I have to say I really liked it.
This is the ex Hamish Moffet, DB Madeley Type 23 Crossley Brescia. Chassis CM1614, engine number 16. This is believed to be the only surviving complete example of the 25 Crossley assembled Brescias.
Royale recreation. 1926 Type 41 Royale Torpedo Bodied by Packard recreation. Info taken from the placard. “Purely by chance a car collector came upon the chassis frame of the original Royale prototype which had been damaged in a road accident and lost for decades. Starting with just the frame and a few original scrap parts many European Bugatti experts came together and decided to recreate it. They spent the next 7 years finding original parts and manufacturing new parts as required. This was the first time that the car had been displayed in public.”
Royale Recreation engine.
Tom Dark Woodstock Bugatti T59/50B, known as the Cork car as it first appeared as a type 59/50 at the Cork Grand Prix of 1938.
Ferrari 250 California ex James Coburn.
250 GT Ferrari Zagato with a Daytona. The Zagato is a Ferrari 250 LWB Berlinetta that was re-bodied in the 1990s under the personal direction of Mr Elio Zagato. Each of the Zagato bodied Ferraris differed slightly in appearance. However, this particular Zagato is very similar to the multi-concours winning 0537 GT. See DK Engineering website for details.
195S Ferrari Inter-Ghia chassis 0093S..
Ferrari Vignale Estate wagon.
Abarth 595 and admirer.
Amilcar engine, a jewel of an engine, in fact a work of art.
Alfa 1750 Boattail.
The winner of the best Classic car on display as chosen by racing driver and TV personality Tiff Needell was this rather lovely Iso Grifo which, unusually. had a removable steel sunroof.
Lamborghini Espada It had a full length glass sunroof, or at least a darkened black roof panel.
This-well known Lancia B20 looks oh-so elegant with the Palladian bridge of circa 1736/37 as a back drop.
As found Lancia Flaminia Zagato...
A similar model restored.
Gordini Sports, minus Ed McDonough.
Tantalizing Invicta.
Bentley R-Type holds its age well.
Jazz and a GT40.
Voisin (no placard).
The McLaren is the MP4-5B chassis number 7 of Ayrton Senna, The Ferrari is the 641/2 chassis 121 of Alan Prost. The cars are posed as they were just prior to the there coming together at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix. Less than a second later Senna becomes the World Champion.
Audrey Finburgh’s superbly original drum braked Jaguar C Type.
Congrats to Andrew Yaras for the Grifo. Come to our museum and see the the prototype, our A3/L!
just for your information, a T44 Bugatti has a 3 litre 8 cyl. engine.
There was a lot of comments concerning the recreation Bugatti Royale as it seemed that the so called original chassis had been changed by welding.
I believe that ’38’ Bug is a 43
The Espada is Harry Metcalfe’s – see YouTube for various adventures in taking it back to Sant’Agata etc. The Boat-tail Alfa is mine 🙂 A ’68 Veloce …