A surprise Best of Show winner at the 2024 PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE knocks some of the polish off Pebble’s shiny traditions!
A CAR GUY CHRONICLES SPECIAL REPORT - Story & Photos by Jim Palam.
For 73 glorious years, the world’s finest automobiles have been assembled on show lawns and fairways in Pebble Beach, a sophisticated seaside town in Monterey County, CA. These flawless machines of impeccable provenance and engineering excellence – like the 1932 Röhr 8 Type F Streamliner, above – are painstakingly prepared, polished and pampered, sometimes for years, with the goal and aspiration of winning Best of Show at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
On August 18, 2024, 214 cars from 16 countries and 29 states lined up for the traditional sunrise procession between rows of passionate fans and international media professionals. They were carefully escorted onto the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links and once carefully parked and feather-dusted, the celebration and judging began.
I had no idea that this rock-chipped and weathered 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports Grand Pix car driving quickly by me during Dawn Patrol, would go on to win Best of Show honors at the 2024 PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE! The car was driven and presented by Fritz Burkard of the Pearl Collection in Zug, Switzerland who was as surprised as the competitors and audience was when this Preservation Class entry took top honors at the show. In that this Bugatti is considered by many to be the most successful racing Bugatti in history, and that it has extraordinary provenance dating to King Leopold III of Belgium, those in-the-know probably knew that it had a very good chance of outshining the competition this year.
That’s not Ted Turner escorting a sleek 1931 Packard 840 Deluxe Eight Waterhouse Convertible Victoria and a long row of historic, classic and collector cars onto the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. This sunrise procession is just one of the many honored traditions that make the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance the worldwide attraction that it is. The first Pebble Beach Concours was held in 1950, making this year’s show the 73rd Celebration.
I had the pleasure of not only photographing this perfect 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strata Series 1 Coupe, but also meeting Andy Hilton, General Manager of Paul Russell and Company and members of his restoration team who brought this 2nd Place Postwar Sports class winner to Pebble Beach. Paul Russell and Company offers restoration, preservation, maintenance, sales and brokerage services on pre-war through 1960s Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, and other fine automobiles. That’s Andy, second from right. You can learn more about this exceptional company by visiting, https://paulrussell.com./
Upon its release in 1998, the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR “Strassenversion” was the most expensive production car ever built, and the first true Supercar produced by Mercedes-Benz. This V12 powered “Street Version” was every bit a racecar. The 26 that were produced were built to satisfy homologation rules that required 25 road legal cars to be built, in order for the CLK GTR racecar to be eligible in the FIA GT1 class. If you were flush enough to buy one in 1998 you paid at least $1,547,620.00. The CLK-GTR is powered by a 612 horsepower 6.9 Liter V12, weighs 3,404 pounds, and has a top speed of 213 mph!
“What goes around, comes around.” is a fitting “Racing Circles” proverb for this beautifully restored 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage. Thomas Mittler of Santa Fe, NM brought this historic Maserati to Pebble Beach where it finished 2nd in the P-2: Maserati Race Cars category. Legend has it that it was the last car Carroll Shelby raced. As I circled around the show field, I was introduced to Randall Shelby, one of Carroll’s grandsons. That’s Randall by the Tipo 61.
My unofficial, visual tally of ‘Owners vs. Designated Drivers’ piloting cars onto the show field at Pebble Beach is, Owners 35%; Designated Drivers 65%. This adds up as many of the cars are brought to the show by handlers, custodians, restoration shop owners, and younger family members. This one-off 1937 Chrysler Imperial Town Car was the only classic I saw that was chauffeur-driven! Again, this makes perfect sense since this aristocratic C-15 limousine by LeBaron was originally commissioned by Walter P. Chrysler for his wife Della, and is now owned by Long Island, NY-based automotive historian and collector, Howard Kroplick.
One of the surprising contenders for Best of Show honors at Pebble was this radically low, tapered-wedge-shaped 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero Bertone Coupe. At just 33 inches high, it could have been easily overlooked in the Wedge Concepts and Prototypes section. But it was in fact one of the crowd favorites, with handlers offering limber showgoers a chance to bend-in behind the Zero’s articulating steering column. Phillip Sarofim of Beverly Hills, CA brought the Zero to Pebble where it was awarded the Gran Tourismo Trophy.
The magnificent Maserati 8CTF open-wheel, single-seat racecar was the first non-American production car to be awarded a permanent place in the annals of the US Library of Congress. With driver Wilbur Shaw behind the wheel, the Boyle Special won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 and 1940! One of the three 8CTFs built by Maserati, chassis number 3032, is currently on display at the Indianapolis Speedway Museum.
Shannine Yngvason is a talented artist who for years wowed audiences with her avant-garde music. Since 2018 she has been wowing the high-value collector car market with her custom House of Wolves leather car interiors and luxury leather goods. I met her early Sunday morning near Casa Ferrari at the Concours. She is posing next to one of her favorite cars – the iconic 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta, the sports roadster that helped build Ferrari’s international reputation as THE builder of Victory Lane racecars.
If you’re a Speed Freak then you’re going to find the Aspark Owl Electric Supercar something of a hoot! Its electric powertrain generates 1,985 horsepower and 2,000 pound-feet of torque, capable of propelling the Owl from 0 to 60 mph in 1.69 seconds. Its aerodynamically-sculpted carbon fiber bodywork enhances downforce, minimizes drag, and it flies an Owl to a top speed exceeding 249 mph. Only 50 units were produced in a limited series. Warning: The $4,253,147.00 price tag just might keep you up all night!
Madylon and Dean Meiling’s racy red 1954 Maserati A6GCS Fiandri & Malagoli Spyder seems appropriately parked by the blue waters of Carmel Bay. Maserati’s trident logo was designed by Mario Maserati in 1914 and was inspired by a statue of Neptune in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore. It symbolizes the fiery power of the Maserati and the driving force of the sea. The trident was of course also a weapon and no doubt, Maserati considered its racecars the ultimate weapons on the world’s racing circuits.
In the early 1950’s, Mercedes-Benz had developed two body styles for their W 196 R racecars – a streamlined, covered wheels version that offered superior handling and speed on the high-speed circuits, and a variant W 196 R open-wheel car that was better suited for the twisting race circuits. What a thrill it was to see this World Champion 1955 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R on the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach. As I walked away from taking this photo, I glanced back and had a fleeting image of Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel!
One of the many highlights of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the opportunity to see rare and historic cars perhaps for the first time – as was the case when the unmistakable high-performance, racecar rev of this impossibly long and low 1957 Maserati 450S Zagato Berlinetta caught my attention as it rolled by me early Sunday morning. This is a one-off 450S fitted with a Coupe body. It was developed for Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio for Le Mans. Owner Rob Walton of Scottsdale, AZ took home the coveted Phil Hill Cup.
This rainbow-striped 1986 Porsche bb Targa Hybrid is a reimagined classic that was displayed on the Concept Lawn. It’s another vintage Porsche project from the creative team at Galpin Motors in Southern California. Galpin has resurrected the iconic bb-Auto restoration company to produce unique high-performance Porsches. Hybrid power comes from a 400 horsepower Ed Pink Racing 4.0 Flat Six engine plus a 110-kilowatt Vonnen electric motor, delivering 550 total horsepower. The subtle “bb” badging is an homage to the bb-Auto Rainbow Turbo Targa originally crafted in collaboration with Polaroid for the 1976 Photokina photography show in Germany.
This 73rd Celebration of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance featured a carefully curated display of Land Rovers and Range Rovers that were used by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – either in an official capacity or as part of her personal fleet. They were delivered to Pebble courtesy of the Royal Household, Land Rover Classic, the British Motor Museum, and private collections. Pictured is the rugged and spartan 1958 Land Rover Series II State Review vehicle.
It was the 1950s and automotive designers and manufacturers were heavily influenced by the Space Age. Aerodynamic and streamlined design was the focus, as well as advances in propulsion technology. The 1955 Ghia Streamline X Coupe made its debut at the 1955 Turin Auto Show. With coachwork by Carrozzeria Ghia, the X Coupe featured a streamlined and finned aluminum body atop a square tube chassis. Power was from a lightweight, compact single-stage 70 horsepower AiResearch turbine engine, and could (on paper) propel the X-Coupe to 160 mph!
When I got back home from Pebble Beach late Sunday night one of my automotive news feeds reported that Ford’s 1979 Probe I Ghia Concept Car, which was one of the Wedge-Shaped Concept Cars I had photographed as it drove into the show field early Sunday morning, had caught fire in its trailer as it was being towed back to Scott Grundfor Company. This California restoration shop bought the Probe 1 from Ford in 2002, and owns several other Ford concept cars. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the fire did not spread to the thick foliage lining the roads in and out of Pebble Beach. The Probe 1 was valued at approximately $1,000.000. (Fire photo courtesy of MotorTrend).
Words & Photos ©Jim Palam, https://www.jimpalamphotos.com/
For more information on the 2024 PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE,
please visit https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/
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