+84 No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
002 - M2-06 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB_4 Scaglietti Competizione Berlinetta
Photo Pete Singhof
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
No trailer queens on Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance
On Sunday, they will be admired on the golf course for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. But before that, the participants take part in the Tour d’Elegance around the Monterey peninsula, showing that their darlings are no trailer queens. Peter Singhof reports.
When people talk about Monterey Car Week, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday is still the big talking point. Pebble Beach is one of the premier concours – if not ‘the’ most important – around the world. Winning – even a class win or a special awards – defines your car as one of the best classic cars in the world. Let alone winning ‘Best of Show’.
First look
Every year, the Concours attracts the best cars, many of them making their public debut after a no-expenses-spared restoration, with the hard work done in restoration shops all around the world exposed to the jury’s judgment. For some time, these shiny pieces of art were foredoomed as trailer queens that barely could drive across the ramp to collect their prize.
To counter that, the participating cars are sent out on a ‘Tour d´Elegance’ on the Thursday morning before the Concours. Nowadays, the Tour is less of a confirmation of the drivability of these car than it is the first opportunity to see the entrants and their car, a moment most visitors of Monterey Car Week have been waiting for weeks. As no entry list is given out in advance, only a few insiders know more than the different classes that year, or a few selected cars making the news the weeks before.
Highway 1
So, as every year, many people make their way down to the Gooding & Co. tent that is situated next to the start and finish of the Tour, to get a first glimpse of what will be featured this year. Hours before the start, the first cars are lined-up. The cars are sent out in two batches to take the drive past the Lodge, along the scenic route on Highway 1, only to turn around at Big Sur. Certainly not the most demanding of challenges, yet the route features some steep climbs that can be challenging for the very old cars. Also, the race cars do not like the slow speed that is imposed on the convoy.
Maseratis
This year the featured classes included the 125 years celebration of Packard as well as 110 years of Maserati. The featured coachbuilder is Frua, with both a class for the Maseratis the Turin designer created, as well as other notable cars of the same studio. Especially the Maserati classes are worth looking into, as they do not only feature racing legends like the Maserati Birdcage or the 300S, but also the different street cars like the early Berlinettas from Zagato and Pininfarina as well as the Vignale and Bertone versions of the 3500 GT.
Frua created some of the most amazing designs on the A6G, both in Spyder and in Coupé form and no less than three examples can be seen and their design variations compared. Other Frua designs were featured on the Mistral and the Mexico.
Ferraris
Changing from Maserati to Ferrari, who also has two separate classes for the earlier and later stallions from Maranello. The Ferrari 212 was represented by no less than fou different variations including the legendary Toruing Barchetta, the Vignale design both open and closed as well as the unusual Ghia Speciale in elegant two-tone livery. Also from Ghia was the orange 375 MM.
After the coachbuilt era at Ferrari came to an end, the later models were mainly designed by Pininfarina or the racing versions by Scaglietti. Two cars stood out, the 365 Daytona Competizione starting at the very beginning of the field as well as the freshly restored 250 GTO as featured by Tom Hartley in his latest release on social media. Restored at the factory, this was one of the stars on the tour.
Our favourite
But apart from the winning 375 MM with Scaglietti body a few years back, the Concours is still mainly dominated by the pre-war cars. So, it is always interesting to see what cars one would consider contender for the Best of Show award. And although in the past, several winners made it without participating in the Tour – which gives extra credits – there are always potential winners out at the ocean on the scenic drive.
We leave it to the more knowledgeable experts to judge the American Classics and their potential of the victory coming from Duesenberg or Packard, but there are also several European Classics that caught our eye. One of our favourites certainly must be the Mercedes-Benz 710 SSK Corsica DHC that seems to have it all. First of all, Mercedes is the marque with the most victories at Pebble, black seems to be a judges favourite and both the name of the owner and the restoration shop – namely Chip Conners and Paul Russell – certainly can’t be overlooked.
Further cars standing out were the Bugatti T57 SC also bodied by Corsica or the Talbot-Lago T26 GS by Saoutchik. One of people’s favourite certainly was the Bugatti T59 from the Pearl Collection, the famous unrestored racer of King Leopold III of Belgium. But it remains to be seen whether an unrestored car is considered to be a contender, as we saw at Villa d’Este this year.
Concepts on the road
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance also needs to open up to the newer generation as every other concours needs to do, so a class of Supercars including the Bugatti EB110, Ferrari F40 and Porsche 993 GTs was added to the established classes.
But even more so did the design concept cars and prototypes attract the younger people outside with the Stratos Zero, Aston Martin Bulldog or the Mercedes C111/II being some of the most photographed cars of the day.
Foggy start
Thus, after a long wait, the first group left the drive at 9:30 AM the first group took the 25 miles south to the turning point. After the traffic of the 17-mile drive and the stage passing Carmel was done, the road opened up along the ocean giving the usual spectacular view of the cars in some of the best scenic pictures one could imagine. After a foggy start, the sun came out later and around Brixby bridge the changing conditions finally revealed the beauty of the rock formations and the landmark bridge.
As Carmel does not seem to be too interested in seeing the Tour pass in the historic town centre, the Tour directly led back to the starting point for lunch at the Concours village. This shortened Tour might be good for the owners and the caretakers of these treasures who were always stressed out by having their cars standing in between thousands of spectators in Carmel just three days prior to the Concours, but the spectators lose more opportunities to see and photograph the cars before they take the lawn on Sunday.
Then, we will see which one the judges pick for their favourites and whether their strict judging rules add up with the taste of the outsiders who just admired the lines and also the sound of the cars in motion. And maybe another surprise will show up on the field nobody has seen up to now and wow the guest of this year’s Concours, as well as the judges.
