CP INTRODUCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 2019/2020 “PENINSULA CLASSICS BEST OF THE BEST AWARD”

Chers Amis, Bonsoir, Good evening!

Five years already! 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.

It is not an award for elegance, or at least not only for elegance, but much more an award for excellence, for a car should please all senses and provide a total experience!

The contenders for tonight’s Award are winners of events that all took place in 2019.

There you have them on the screen…

Although nine events qualify, we only have eight cars competing.

The reason? The 2019 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este Best of Show was the Alfa Romeo owned by Ginny and David Sydorick which already won the BoB Award last year.

It could have won again this time - it could actually win every year! - but we have a rule saying that a same car cannot win the award twice. Sorry David…

On the other hand, a car can be nominated again as long as it hasn’t conquered the Graal.

Our first nominee tonight is indeed a return-candidate:

1958 Ferrari 335 S spider by Scaglietti

-        owned by Andreas Mohringer from Austria

-        Best of Show at Cavallino Classic in Palm Beach

o   race car, one of four

o   a short successful racing career in America came to an end after the engine blew up in 1960

o   an enthusiast then purchased the car for US$1000 – just slightly less than it is worth today

o   the dominant part is the legendary V12 engine enabling a maximum speed of around 300 km/h (185 mph)

o   just by looking at the image, I already hear the music, smell the perfume of petrol, the oil…

The next nominee is as shy as the Ferrari is present

o   when you open the bonnet, you have to look for its tiny engine!

o   make no mistake, this is a big little car with lovely proportions

1950 Abarth 205 coupé, coachwork by Vignale, design by Giovanni Michelotti

-        owned by Klaus Edel from Germany

-        Best of Show at the Cartier Style et Luxe concours held during the Goodwood Festival of Speed

o   expensive to build, sold for almost the same money as a Ferrari – probably not a great business plan!

o   only three were built

o   kudos to the judges who surprised us with a car off the beaten track and absolutely adorable

Let’s continue anticlockwise, from the most recent to the oldest car…

1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport coupé by Figoni & Falaschi

-        Owned by Robert Kudela from the Czech Republic

-        Best of Show at Salon Privé in England

o   the car was commissioned by Monsieur Fayolle, also known as the “Zipper King” which explains the motive above the cyclops headlight - may be the only car in the world with a zipper on the bonnet – although it is not opening anything, just decoration!

o   a direct descendant of the revolutionary so-called teardrop design introduced by the same Figoni in 1937

o   (remember such a car owned by Peter and Merle Mullin won the first BoB award five years ago)

o   it is displaying similar overall proportions and streamlined silhouette as the Alfa Romeos and the Bugattis of the period, and also as our next candidate, the …

1938 Mercedes-Benz 540 K ‘Autobahnkurier’, coachwork by the Factory

-        owned by the Deborah and Arturo Keller Collection at the Pyramids in California in the USA

-        won the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

o   built for the German Autobahn system hence its name = Highway Express

o   sole survivor with this engine/coachwork combination

o   recipient of a Best of the Best Award in 2012 –that was in pre-Peninsula days and in Monaco

o   the Kellers then drove the Autobahn-Kurier over the Alps all the way to Venice

o   quite an epic journey – Deborah and Arturo, do you remember? – and Mercedes-Benz must have agreed because later that year they honoured them with their “Star Driver Award”.

Going back a further few years, one realises how much progress was achieved between the early and the late 1930s, with wind cheating shapes, as we just saw, having taken over from rather straight lines as illustrated by these two 8 Litre Bentleys

On the left

1931 sports tourer by Gurney Nutting

-        owned by Sir Michael Kadoorie from Hong Kong

-        Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

On the right

1930 Foursome Coupe by Freestone and Webb

-        owned by William ‘Chip’ Connor also from Hong Kong

-        that won the Chantilly Arts & Elégance concours

Both owners are Founding Members of The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award.

Our Steering Committee was confronted with a new question: can a car owned by a Founding Member of the BoB Award be a contender for the award?

The decision was yes, of course, for two main reasons:

-        first, the jury is independent and the Founding Members have no influence whatsoever on the results, so there is no conflict

-        and why deprive concours organisers – who put a lot of efforts in producing fantastic shows: John and Alicia Barnes, Bill Warner, the Duke of Richmond, the Peters, the team at Quail Lodge, Sandra Button, the Bagley brothers, James Brooks-Ward – why deprive them from a potential winning representative?

-        Additionally, isn’t it great that our Founding Members are actively keeping the passion alive?

As Bruce Meyer says : “Never lift!”

Back to the cars!

o   Bentley was founded in 1919 and celebrated its centennial last year

o   the 8 Litre type is the ultimate development of a Bentley under the supervision of its founder, Walter Owen Bentley himself

o   high performance model, our two cars having been officially timed at well over 160 km/h

o   this one is an extremely rare and original dual cowl sports tourer, with a second screen to protect the rear seat passengers

o   Gurney Nutting established their reputation for creating beautifully executed cars

o   And benefitted from several Royal commissions and from Royal patronage

o   the second 8 Litre was bought new by a taxi driver who had won Calcutta Sweepstakes and spent his winnings on the new car

o   he sure was a man of good taste!

o   Freestone and Webb were a small coachbuilder which didn’t prevent them from winning the Gold Medal in the coachbuilders competition nine years in a row

o   I’d like you to have a look at this cosy interior, like a club room on wheels – so snug that you could almost expect to find an open fire inside

o   the car is amazingly close in its proportions to our next candidate…

1931 Stutz DV32 convertible Victoria by LeBaron

-        owned by Joseph and Margie Cassini from New Jersey in the USA

-        Best of Show at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering

o   we don’t really know who Victoria was, but the name means a three-position drophead:

closed, half-open, open

o   Stutz is an American marque not so well known over here

o   LeBaron, Stutz’s favourite coachbuilder, is also better known in America

o   Stutzes were high end cars with advanced engineering

o   Sold new to Argentinian boxer Luis Angel Firpo who had been granted the exclusive distribution rights for nothing less than all of South America

o   The marque eventually disappeared by ko in 1935

All the marques mentioned so far have a racing history and DNA. Our last candidate is however shining in its own very different way

1919 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost torpedo by Barker

-        Owned by the Silver Ghost guru, John Fasal from England

-        The Concours of Elegance UK held at the Royal Palace of Hampton Court

o   100 years old!

o   In those days, Rolls-Royces were described in the Royal Automobile Club Journal as 'works of art'

o   this certainly applies to the 16th of the 25 Silver Ghosts in the stable of His Highness the Maharaja Sir Bhupindra Singh Bahadur of Patiala

o   needless to say, this is a one-off body by Barker, the recommended bodywork supplier for early Rolls-Royces

o   Shining because made of polished aluminium

o   the Maharajah used the Rolls-Royce to shoot birds – see the two guns mounted on each side of the windscreen

o   if you look at the front wings, they give the impression that the car itself could fly!

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So now you know - almost - everything about our eight nominees.

For those of you who like statistics, I have a few:

-        so far, including this year, 37 cars were nominated

-        20 Pre-War, 17 Post-War

-        # 1 country Italy (20 nominations)

-        # 1 marque Ferrari (7 nominations)

-        # 2 marque Alfa Romeo (5 nominations)

-        # 1 coachbuilder Pininfarina (6 nominations)

-        # 2 coachbuilder Touring Superleggera (3 nominations)

-        and, as far as the owners are concerned, with 50% they overwhelmingly come from the USA

This year’s selection is however outside the norm.

We still have two Italian cars, including one Ferrari, but no Pinin Farina body, no Touring body, and we have only one American owner.

And for the first time, we have British entries, three of them knocking – no Brexit here!

As they say, past performance is no indication for future results, so expect the unexpected!

Before I go, you know that I enjoy playing the judge even if I have no voice because, as I said, Founding Members of the BoB are not part of the jury. But let’s pretend – not trying to guess the judges’ choice, but picking my winner.

What do the cars illustrated on the screen have in common?

Well, the two Bentleys, the Talbot-Lago and the Ferrari are closely linked to the Bentleys, the Talbot and the Ferraris that between them count a total of 15 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Le Mans is the toughest race in the world. Le Mans established their reputation and their image, Le Mans made them desirable and collectible.

I have always been a huge fan of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So much so that I am wearing a special Le Mans tie tonight!

And so, my winner is … Georges Durand!

I can see from here that you are wondering who is this Georges?

He is actually the man who, as secretary general of the local automobile club in the 1910s and 1920s, had the idea for the race which took place for the first time in 1923 and still exists in its original format after almost 100 years – Georges Durand!

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Thank you, and

You’ll soon discover what our judges have decided…

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