After a summer of cancellations of just about everything, the last few weeks have seen a gradual reawakening – albeit in a limited way – of many of the things we used to take for granted. I can play tennis again but can’t attend a tournament. Pub lunches are back on the menu. Anders wrote recently of a classic car meeting he was able to attend in Denmark, and a couple of weeks ago I was able to go to and report on an actual live auction.
Last week, the first major Concours of the year – at least in the UK – also took place, the London Concours on the lawns of the green oasis that is the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in Central London. I reported on this event last year, so won’t go over the background to the location again. Suffice to say that the surroundings provide a suitably impressive backdrop to an event featuring some of the world’s most exclusive cars.
Usually, of course, I drive to classic car events in a classic. The London Concours, however, being in the centre of the city, doesn’t lend itself to being driven to, so I took the train for the first time since the Covid-19 crisis, and what a strange experience that was. The usually full car park at my local station was 75% empty, the train – with its socially distanced seating requirements – was sparsely populated, the underground trains even more so, and on exiting Moorgate tube station for the short walk to the HAC, found that the pavements were almost devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of pedestrians battling to get to wherever they were trying to go. A part of me really liked the relative peace and the space, but it certainly didn’t feel like the London that I know. To be honest, a part of me prefers this quieter, less frantic London, but the price for this is high.
The organisers of the Concours had made several adjustments to cater to this “new normal”, and when one also considers that with the various travel restrictions in force between the UK and some parts of the world, it must have been challenging to get a full entry, as for high end events such as these it’s not uncommon for some cars to be flown in from various international locations. Great credit must go to the organisers for managing to attract such a tremendous line-up of the rare, the expensive, the fast, the desirable and the fabulous with over 100 cars in total on display.
This year, attendance numbers were limited, cars were parked further apart (more space was allocated to the event), social distancing guidelines were in place and there was a plentiful supply of hand sanitiser. During the week prior to the event we had endured (or enjoyed – your mileage may vary) a week of – by UK standards – almost intolerably hot weather. Of course, this had to change, and it did… but not in a good way… with the days immediately prior to the event featuring almost biblical thunderstorms and heavy rain. The opening day of the event took place under dark clouds and an almost constant drizzle. Fortunately, the organisers and visitors were able to enjoy much brighter and drier conditions for the second day – the day I didn’t attend…
However, the somewhat erratic English summer weather on the first day failed to put a dampener on what promised to be a gathering of some of the world’s greatest cars – in particular, sports cars.
As usual, the Concours entrants were divided into various classes of between 6 – 12 cars, under the following themes:-
“The Pursuit of Speed” – a self-explanatory title for a group of seven cars that were designed primarily to do one thing – be driven very quickly indeed. They ranged from a 1952 Jaguar XK120 through a couple of Lamborghini’s to a 2018 McLaren Senna. If you wanted to measure progress by top speed, the Jaguar was famously named after its top speed; the Senna can hit 208mph… The XK120 on show was the green on white car I saw at Hampton Court last year, and was originally Stirling Moss’s own personal transport. It also won best in class, and alongside a bright red 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, a white 1970 Lamborghini Miura S and a 1973 Ferrari Daytona, speed through the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s was beautifully presented by these four cars in particular. Oh, there was a Ferrari F40 there too…
The “Convertibles – The Golden Era” category was the one most impacted by the rain, since the cars had to be displayed with their hoods up, or tonneau covers on… if they had one. As a consequence, a small number were just kept under wraps for the day, a real shame. The appeal of wind-in-the-hair (if you still have it) motoring goes back a long way and persists today. Indeed, in the classic world, a convertible is almost always valued higher than it’s saloon or coupé sibling, and the cars that made up this group featured some of the most desirable convertibles of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. For me, the Italians were the ones that really made the mouth water – that 1967 Ferrari 330GTS, oh my… and alongside a FIAT Dino Spider from the same year; what a pair they made! The 330GTS won not only this class, but also Best in Show, and it wasn’t hard to see why.
This year’s “Great Marques” classes honoured Aston Martin and Lamborghini. There’s no denying that Aston Martin and Lamborghini are two of the most famous, glamorous and prestigious names in automotive history, but I found these two categories a little disappointing, if truth be told. The only Aston in this class that I would have wanted was the 1961 DB4 – a DB2 (the class winner) just doesn’t do it for me, and their latest cars do even less. I feel the same about Italy’s most famous tractor manufacturer – I love the 400GT, Miura and Espada (which won the Lamborghini class) and Silhouette, but am less keen on the Countach, and while I’m happy that outrageous cars such as the Diablo and Aventador get made and that there are people prepared to buy them, I would never consider one (assuming I was in the fortunate position of being able to afford it). Those earlier Lambo’s, though… wonderful!
The “Lost Marques” grouping was one of the most interesting classes for me, filled with cars from manufacturers that have disappeared from our showrooms, but not from our memories or indeed our classic car shows. Every one of the ten cars in this group were of interest, and although my attention was captured by one of my all-time favourite cars, the spectacular dark green 1967 RHD (!) Iso Grifo most of all, a superb 1961 Facel Vega 500HK, and especially the 1976 Bizzarini P538 sports racer rivalled it in the glamour stakes. In amongst this rarified group, the little 1966 Unipower GT – a car with many fans here at ViaRETRO – looked like a miniature version of the more powerful French and Italian cars. 5.4-litres in the Grifo, 1.4-litres in the Unipower…And not forgetting the humble 1953 Jowett Javelin and especially the 1956 AC Ace Roadster, which was unique in being the only AC Ace ever to compete in the Mille Miglia in period in 1956, as well as having been campaigned in numerous other international races. Despite the AC’s impressive race history, it was the immaculate 6.3-litre Facel that took this category.
Lancia, on the other hand, is a marque beloved by pretty much every classic car enthusiast, and the decline of Lancia from the late 1980’s onwards is one of the sadder stories in motoring history. Some of the loveliest cars ever made bear the Lancia badge and some were here in the “Lancia Legends” group, There was also a strong reminder of the marque’s success in the world of rallying, a genuine Stratos (hooray!) and no less than four dramatic 037’s, making a formidable line up before we even get to the sublime 1965 Lancia Flaminia Super Sport Zagato and gorgeous 1955 Aurelia B24 Spider… and there was more as the photos will show. Despite being heavily outnumbered by the 037’s, it was the Stratos that won first prize here.
Also participating in the Concours was a “Speed of Sand” grouping – with a Life Begins at 100mph sub-theme, the cars in this category were all one-off specials based on stock Fords and adapted to run on sand flats. All were completely unfamiliar to me and to be honest, I don’t feel remotely qualified to say much about them.
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that some of the cars in these classes would be of little interest to most ViaRETRO readers – particularly the modern hypercars, where perhaps the only car to interest us here as a classic would be the 1991 Ferrari Testarossa and maybe the following year’s 348, so moving on…
Besides the Concours classes, there were also some special displays that were not part of the Concours itself. Is there anyone who doesn’t love a Dino GT? I suppose there must be a few, but I’m not one of them. A car that wasn’t originally viewed as a “proper” Ferrari, the Dino has rightly become revered as a design classic. Small, mid-engined and exquisitely pretty, where light weight and handling made up for a lack of brute power. There were no fewer than nine Dino’s arranged in a lovely arc, a mixture of GT’s and GTS’s. They looked fantastic even in the rain, making a similar impact to the arc of seven Miura’s at last year’s event. I have to say though that the wheels on the Dino Evo 328GTS look all kinds of wrong; completely out of place on such a subtle design. I’m not even going to start on the many mechanical upgrades which that poor car has suffered…
The Collector grouping consisted of cars from the collection of renowned designer Ian Callum – the seven cars on display for the final category and there was also a category sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers, whose star exhibit for me was the graceful 1958 Bentley Continental S1 – elegance personified, and a contrast to the Lego-brick shaped behemoths that come out of Crewe today.
Last year’s Best in Show winner, a stunning 1952 Jaguar C-Type that was raced for much of that year by none other than Stirling Moss (that man again) was back for us all to enjoy one more time. An incredible car with an amazing history, and a treat to see it again, even if it, too, had to be partially covered up.
There were a handful of small high-end dealer displays, with the car that was – for me at least – the car of the day being the astonishing dark blue Mercedes Benz 540K displayed on the Jonathan Franklin stand. Long sweeping lines, imposing radiator grille, lots of chrome and incredible presence – what a car. I didn’t dare ask the price…
Of similar vintage was a marvellous 1935 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet – sadly it was another car that on the Wednesday could not be seen in its full glory.
Despite the less than clement weather, it was an enjoyable day, and I actually think that in some cases the rain effectively emphasises the lines of some cars better than the sun – certainly that was true (for me, at least) of the Iso Grifo and Lamborghini 400GT. It was a great effort by the organisers – who were rewarded on the second day with bright sunshine – and a delight to be able to attend a classic car event again; roll on the Hampton Court Concours in early September!
As an aside, one of the bonuses of having the cars well-spaced was that it gave the opportunity to photograph them properly from the back – I know there are many here who admire a shapely rear (oo-er, missus!) so for your delectation and admiration, I thought I’d leave you with a gallery of some of the most graceful and elegant rear ends in motoring – and what a contrast they are to the over-styled, over-aero’d, be-spoilered and generally over-designed rears of today – I rest my case with the final photograph.
