CP INTRODUCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 2018/2019 “PENINSULA CLASSICS BEST OF THE BEST AWARD”

Chers Amis, Bonsoir, Good evening!

As most of you will know by now, the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award goes to a car that won Best of Show in one of the leading Concours in the world. The contenders for tonight’s Award are winners of events that all took place in 2018.

As Gordon just mentioned, the founding members of the award have decided they would not participate in the judging. But I enjoy judging and so I did just for myself. I did not want to guess which car would win the Best of the Best, but simply to pick my winner. I should add that I haven’t had any contact with the judges and that I did perform the exercise before knowing the final result.

The first thing I do when I judge is to have a quick walk around the group of cars in order to have a general feeling. Here we have eight cars: Pre-War cars, Post-War, German, American, French, Italian, Swiss, open, closed, even a race car, all of them deserving and desirable! Together, they would actually make a perfect collection.

Then, I go deeper, car by car. I shall not check on authenticity and that kind of things, since all nominees have won a Best of Show award in reputable concours – we only select the cream! They already cleared that hurdle and are all ‘good’, ‘honest’ cars.

At this stage, it is then more of a sensual appreciation, in the meaning that a car should please all senses:

-       the eyes (the all-important proportions, the colours, the details)

-       the ears (the music of an engine, a concert for cylinders, pistons, camshafts, valves)

-       the nose (I don’t know about you, but I like the smell of petrol, hot oil, leather)

-       the hands (stroking a body like panel beaters do)

-       and, last but not least, the taste which here is the experience (accelerating, braking, cornering, sliding… suddenly, you are a hero!).

Let’s look at each car, in a chronological order:

-       the 1928 Mercedes-Benz S, owned by Bruce McCaw; the car won Best of Show at the Concours of Elegance UK held at the royal palace of Hampton Court; it is the second time we see this car as it was a nominee last year after having won Best of Show at Pebble Beach

o  ticks many boxes

o  one-off body by Barker, better known for their work on Rolls-Royces

o  making use of aircraft construction techniques

o  great proportions: big wheels, low bonnet lines

o  engineered by Ferdinand Porsche, racing heritage

o  ex-Earl Howe, a British aristocrat and great racing driver who founded the BRDC

-       the 1929 Duesenberg J supercharged, owned by Harry Yeaggy and winner of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance;

o  convertible by Murphy, upgraded in period by Bohman & Schwartz

o  American car engineered by the Duesenberg brothers (of German origins – Fred was actually born Friedrich)

o  racing heritage, Indianapolis winner

o  American proportions, a big car for a big country

o  high bonnet line gives it an air of majesty, of quiet force

-       the exact opposite of the Duesenberg is the 1933 Bugatti Type 55 with factory coachwork drawn by Jean Bugatti, this one is owned by Robert Bishop and won Best of Show at Salon Privé; Salon Privé is a welcome new addition to the selection of events qualifying for The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award; it is beautifully run by Andrew and David Bagley and the venue is the wonderful Blenheim Palace, principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Winston Churchill

o  Jean Bugatti, the very talented son of Le Patron, was in his low twenties when he penned this car

o  13 of them were built, one of the few still retaining its original body

o  look at the proportions and wonderful swooping lines of the wings which were repeated on other models of the marque

o  racing heritage as well, small, light and agile, for European roads

-       the 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B with coachwork by Touring, owned by Ginny and David Sydorick; this coupé won Best of Show at Pebble Beach

o  look at the amazing progress made in less than 10 years! whilst the coachwork on the three cars we have seen so far mostly covers the mechanical elements, here we have flowing ‘cheating the wind’ lines that do make a difference;

o  the first of a small series of just five

o  and also the first car adopting the Superleggera lightweight body construction process with aluminium panels covering a subframe of small tubes

o  racing heritage, spectacular proportions

Moving to the Post-War era:

-       the 1953 Lancia Aurelia PF200 C spider sporting a body by Pinin Farina, owned by Anne Brockington Lee, won Best of Show at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering

o  we have that rule saying that the award goes to a car, and that current ownership should not be taken into consideration; the Lancia would have scored highly on that point – Anne, where are you? –, but the Lancia doesn’t need that edge, it is so good in my eyes that it is self sufficient

o  Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina had been traveling to the US and got inspired by the jet fighters he saw

o  fuselage shape, big circular front cooling opening, the fins and the small exhaust pipes in the rear resembling machine guns; unique, if short-lived, inspiration

o  coupled with ‘avant-garde’ technology (first production V6 engine!)

o  three spyders were built

-       the 1956 Ferrari 250 GT coupé by Zagato also owned by the Sydoricks – you are not trying to corner the Best of the Best Award, David, are you? -; this car won Best of Show at Cavallino Classic

o  legendary V12 engine

o  road & track capabilities, at ease as well on concours fields as on race circuits

o  one of only five with Zagato coachwork and the signature double bubble roof

o  excites all my senses…

-       as does the 1958 335 S spider by Scaglietti owned by Andreas Mohringer that won Best of Show at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este;

o  one of four

o  Ferrari was a man of engines and this one is an orgy of cylinders, pistons, valves, carburettors…

o  Luca di Montezemolo, the former chairman of Ferrari… sexual organ

o  Should the car not win the Best of the Best this time, it will have a second chance next year as it just won Best of Show at Cavallino Classic two weeks ago

-       Last, the 1972 Monteverdi 375 L High Speed by Fissore, owned by Colin Mullan and winner of the Cartier Style & Luxe concours held during the Festival of Speed at Goodwood; and kudos to Colin Mullan who drove the Monteverdi from the UK to Paris to attend our evening!

o  I have met Peter Monteverdi on several occasions = ‘tough cookie’

o  Used to run a Ferrari dealership in the Basel area in Switzerland

o  was offered a new contract tied to the purchase of 100 cars, which he did not accept

o  ‘win win’ situation for Ferrari: if Monteverdi accepted the contract, that would mean a significant number of sales at a time Ferrari was producing less than 1000 cars/year; and if not, Ferrari was getting rid of a troublemaker!

o  Monteverdi is not the only one to have had fall-out with Ferrari and, like Lamborghini for instance, he decided to build his own GT cars, but he did not go to the extend of developing his own engine and preferred the reliability of an existing Chrysler engine.

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The next step is to narrow down the candidates to three.

It is a risky moment because I will please three owners and may upset five!

To those who do not make it to the final three, I say

-       I do like your cars, don’t be upset, I do like you as well, and you did achieve a best of show!

So, all things considered, on the three steps of my podium, you have the Alfa Romeo, the Lancia and the Ferrari 335 S.

And my winner is

… Vittorio Jano

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