The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the world's most prestigious and best known concours event by some margin, having grown out of the post-war Pebble Beach races on the Monterey Peninsula, and since then it has created its very own ecosystem in the form of Monterey Car Week.
Last Sunday, August 18, 2019 saw 216 classic cars from 17 countries and 31 states assembled on the 17th and 18th holes of the Pebble Beach Golf Course for the 69th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and not surprisingly, Bentley triumphed in its centenary year, with a 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer, owned by Sir Michael Kadoorie of Hong Kong, taking out the Best of Show award.
"The Centennial of Bentley may have played a role in this award," Kadoorie said, "but the 8 Litre is the ultimate W. O. Bentley–era automobile. This is the car that represents Bentley at its finest, and I have been very fortunate to have a car that has this elegance and finish, and that the Pebble Beach Concours feels is worthy."
Sir Michael hopes and imagines W. O. Bentley was looking down on the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach, feeling proud of his accomplishment and his company’s centennial celebration. “This is a high I have not known before,” he said.
The Best of Show award contenders come from the class winners (listed below), and those cars were distilled down to four contenders for the world's best known award, though there is some irony that the man whose car won the award, Sir Michael Kadoorie, is the co-founder of The Quail, a motorsport Gathering, which is held in Monterey on the Friday prior to the Pebble Beach Concours, and the Peninsula Classics Best-of-the-Best Award, which is in effect fast becoming the defacto world concours championship.
Sir Michael is now in the position to win the award he founded, as a win in Pebble Beach makes him one of the eight entrants in the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best award next February in Paris.
Bentleys were in plentiful supply at Pebble Beach with some gorgeous examples gracing the lawns and taking part in the Tour D'Elegance, with this 1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Pourtout Aerodynamic Coupe from the Keller Collection at The Pyramids being one of the stand-outs, ...
and this golden 1939 Bentley Vanden Plas another picture of elegance and beauty.
The other finalists for Best of Show at Pebble Beach this year featured other strong contenders, including Richard and Melanie Lundquist’s 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Cabriolet (pictured above); David F. MacNeil’s 1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Coupé; and The Keller Collection at The Pyramids’ 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann & Rossi Special Cabriolet (pictured below).
1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann and Rossi Special Roadster
Pebble Beach is one place where, at least sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover. Sometimes it is possible to have both brawn and beauty and this Kompressor (supercharged) 5.4 liter straight-eight 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann and Rossi Special Roadster is a prime example.
The car nearly pulled off another Keller family win at Pebble Beach. Originally curated by Arturo Keller, the Keller Automobile Collection is now a family affair and encompasses a variety of marques and countries of manufacture. Its size and breadth is astonishing, and Arturo Keller has long been one of the recognized mega car collectors, in the same category as Ralph Lauren, Rob Walton, John Mozart, Fred Simeone, Peter Mullin, Miles Collier, Chip Connor, Evert Louwman, Larry Auriana, Albert Spiess, the Wangs and the McCaws. Within the Keller Collection is a collection of Mercedes-Benz, which is second to only one - the Mercedes-Benz factory museum in Stuttgart.
Located on the family's 600 acre property in Petaluma, California, the Keller Collection at the Pyramids is a private collection housed among the family wineries. The Kellers have been regular Pebble Beach Concours contestant since the very beginnings of the event, when contestants drove in and put down a rug and picnic basket on the lawns. The family has also been regularly challenging for “Best of Show” for half a century, winning in 1986 with a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Special Roadster and 2001 with a 1930 Mercedes SSL that was also bodied by Erdmann & Rossi.
If you look back across the major Concours events, the Keller name regularly crops up in the winner’s circle, most recently when the Collection’s Autobahn-Kurier took out Best-of-Show at Amelia Island earlier this year. The Autobahn-Kurier is a special built specifically for Germany’s then-new high-speed autobahn system, and like the family's winning car from 1986, it runs the Mercedes-Benz Kompressor (supercharged) straight-eight, though in 5.4 liter guise. There's a great story on the Keller family at Haute Living magazine.
The 1937 Delahaye 145 Chapron
Another example is this 1937 Delahaye 145 with its gorgeous valenced art deco Chapron body that challenges you to get past the pretty face before you can fully appreciate what it is. It triumphed over one of the hottest Class fields in the paddock by winning the European Classic Closed Class (Class J-2) against a 1927 Minerva Le Baron, an Alfa 6C 2500 SS coupe and a Bugatti T23 Figoni & Falaschi. It looks like a concours car, but as is so often the case at Pebble Beach, the inside is just as good as the outside. Indeed, it is BETTER than the outside.
That long, elegant hood houses a jewel of an engine capable of quite literally giving it Grand Prix performance, let alone the high-speed touring it looks like it was designed for. It's a race-bred V12 engine with space-age specifications for its time, equally ahead of its time as a road car engine as the W16 Bugatti engine which powered the third coming of Bugatti in the 21st century.
The engine was conceived to take on the French Million France Race, itself a catalyst for French companies to take on the might of the German Government-sponsored Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racing cars. Grand prix racing had been dominated by the German Mercedes-Benz straight eight and Auto Union V16 Kompressor cars which produced more than 500 horsepower.
On August 27, 1937, French driver Rene Dreyfus lapped the Montlhéry circuit in a Delahaye Type 145 at an average 146.7 km/h for 200 km, to win the million francs on offered and that same engine is in this car. The 12 cylinders displace just 4½-liters, but thanks to three camshafts and four overhead rocker-shafts, a dual Bosch magneto ignition, and triple Stromberg carburettors, it provided exceptional performance and on street circuits could match the German horsepower monsters.
Our image gallery contains most of the class winners, but beyond those near perfect examples of automotive excellence, Pebble Beach is one of those places where you see cars that have near priceless provenance.
The winner of the 1908 New York to Paris "Great Race"
One such example in 2019 was the 1907 Thomas Flyer which won the 1908 New York to Paris "Great Race," one of the legendary races in automotive history. Held at a time when the automobile was in its infancy, the road infrastructure for much of the course was little more than dirt tracks, and as the dirt tracks thawed with the coming of summer, the terrain was nearly impassable, with large tracts being traversed at walking pace averages. Only three contestants completed the 16,700 km course, and the time warp Thomas Flyer above presented exactly as it had finished the journey, 111 years ago.
The Great Race began in Times Square on February 12, 1908 and George Schuster in the Thomas Flyer was leading by the time San Francisco was reached 41 days, 8 hours, and 15 minutes later, the first crossing of the US by an automobile in winter. The race had to be re-routed because the roads in Alaska were impassable, so the race cars were then shipped to Japan, and then across the Sea of Japan by boat and on to Vladivostok.
Once on dry land, it was almost a straight line through Manchuria to Siberia and all the way to Europe, with Paris reached on July 30, 1908. The German team had arrived in Paris four days earlier, but had been penalized a total of 30 days for skipping going to Japan and for loading its Protos car onto a steam train for part of the journey. That gave the win to the American team, with the third placed Italian team arriving two months later in September. So not only did the Thomas Flyer win, it also holds the world record for the greatest winning margin in motorsport history: 26 days.
The Hot Rod Cover Class
Another example of the inclusiveness of all aspects of automotive culture by the Pebble Beach organisation was the appearance of the Hot Rod cover car class. The Hot Rod, like the chopper, is a distinctly American art form, and framing a class to bring together some of the most iconic hot rods of all time worked a treat. It is testament to the deep thought that goes into framing each new edition of the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance. The elegance is more than skin deep.
The winner of the class was Kookie's Kar, the Norm Grabowski 1922 Ford Roadster Pickup which helped to popularize hot rod culture by appearing in the American TV drama series 77 Sunset Strip. The car was driven in the series by Edd Byrnes as “Kookie” Kookson III and became known in popular culture as Kookie's Kar, and became a poster car and a catalyst for an entirely new branch of the automotive family tree. The T-bucket craze seemingly doubled the size of the American custom auto industry in the late-1950s and early-1960s.
Americans are blind to the global influence of American culture, but television shows such a 77 Sunset Strip were the conduits for American culture to the rest of the world. Shows such as 77 Sunset Strip were syndicated onto television sets globally, and this car saw enough screen time over the 206 one-hour episodes of the hit TV drama series, to become the first and only prime-time hotrod.
Kookie's Kar is an important part of global culture, much less automotive culture.
Some of the other hot rods on show in the class included
This year the concours raised more than $2 million for charity. Through the Pebble Beach Company Foundation, the primary charitable partner of the Concours, these funds will benefit more than 80 local charities, impacting the lives of more than 10,000 children annually in Monterey County.
The winners list is below. Click on the gallery at the top of this article to enjoy a photo tour.
Best Of Show
1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer
The Hon. Michael Kadoorie, Hong Kong
Best Of Show Nominees
1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Cabriolet
Richard & Melanie Lundquist, Palos Verdes Estates, California
1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann & Rossi Special Cabriolet
The Keller Collection at the Pyramids, Petaluma, California
1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Coupé
David F. MacNeil, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Elegance Award Winners
Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible
1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Cabriolet
Richard & Melanie Lundquist, Palos Verdes Estates, California
J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Ghia Supergioiello Coupé
Jonathan & Wendy Segal, San Diego, California
Jules Heumann Most Elegant Open Car
1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Brewster York Roadster
Lehrman Collection, Palm Beach, Florida
Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car
1956 Ferrari 250 GT Zagato Berlinetta Speciale
David & Ginny Sydorick, Beverly Hills, California
Special Award Winners
Alec Ulmann Trophy
1929 Hispano-Suiza H6C Saoutchik Cabriolet
Charles & Karen Nearburg, Dallas, Texas
Ansel Adams Award
1910 Marmon 32 Five Passenger Touring
Mike & Sharon Silvera, Minden, Nevada
Presented by Matthew Adams, grandson of Ansell Adams
ArtCenter College of Design Award
1967 Ferrari 412 P Coupe
MJJV Cars, Rye, New York
Briggs Cunningham Trophy
1932 Maserati V4 Zagato Spider
Lawrence Auriana, Greenwich, Connecticut
Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) Award
1921 Bentley 3 Litre Harrison Open Two Seater Sports
Private Collection, Switzerland
Chairman's Trophy
1968 Howmet TX Coupe
Andreas Mohringer, Salzburg, Austria
Charles A. Chayne Trophy
1925 Lancia Lambda 5th Series Torpedo
Stanley & Merle Bauer, Beverly Hills, California
Classic Car Club of America Trophy
1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Disappearing Top Roadster
Paul & Cheryl Petrovich, Pebble Beach, California
Dean Batchelor Trophy
1932 Ford Bob Morris Roadster
Bruce Meyer, Beverly Hills, California
Elegance in Motion Trophy
1937 Horch 853 Gliser Sport Cabriolet
Valerie & Aaron Weiss, San Marino, California
Enzo Ferrari Trophy
1954 Ferrari 735 S Monza Scaglietti Spyder
Thomas Peck, Huntington Beach, California
FIVA Postwar Trophy
1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Coupé
William & Christopher Sharples, New York, New York
FIVA Prewar Trophy
1907 Renault XB Labourdette Transformable Landaulet
Steve & Marilee Hamilton, Washoe Valley, Nevada
The French Cup
1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Rocco Motto Barchetta
Ralph & Marion Stadler, Meggen, Switzerland
Gran Turismo Trophy
1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider
Jonathan Feiber and Heather Buhr, Atherton, California
Lincoln Trophy
1941 Lincoln Continental Brunn Town Car
Marshall Miller, Kansas City, Missouri
Lorin Tryon Trophy
Bob Cole
Bob Cole, the fellow who oversaw the set up of the new track at LKaguna Seca
Lucius Beebe Trophy
1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Inskip Special Henley Coupé
Class Winners
Class A-1: American Antique
1910 Marmon 32 Five Passenger Touring
Mike & Sharon Silvera, Minden, Nevada
Class A-2: European Antique
1907 Napier 60 HP Roi des Belges
Louwman Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands
Class B: Thomas Flyer (Exhibit Only)
1907 Thomas Flyer 35 New York to Paris Race Car
National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection), Reno, Nevada
Class C-1: American Classic Open
1936 Cadillac Series 90 Fleetwood Convertible Coupe
John D. Groendyke, Enid, Oklahoma
Class C-2: American Classic Closed
1933 Packard 1006 Twelve Dietrich Stationary Coupe
Academy of Art University, San Francisco, California
Class D: Packard Open
1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Sedan
Ralph Marano, Westfield, New Jersey
Class F-1: Bentley Centennial 3 Litre
1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Vanden Plas Open Sports
Private Collection, England
Class F-2: Bentley Centennial 4 1/2 Litre
1930 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Supercharged Vanden Plas Open Sports
Private Collection, Switzerland
Class F-3: Bentley Centennial 6 1/2 Litre
1929 Bentley Speed Six H. J. Mulliner Open Two Seater Sports
Private Collection, Switzerland
Class F-4: Bentley Centennial 8 Litre
1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer
The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie, Hong Kong
Class F-5: Bentley Centennial Derby
1939 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Vanvooren Drophead Coupe
Michel Doret, Lasne, Belgium
Class F-6: Bentley Centennial Postwar
1952 Bentley R-Type Continental Mulliner Sports Saloon
Anne Brockinton Lee / Robert M. Lee Automobile Collection, Reno, Nevada
Class G: Duesenberg
1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Disappearing Top Roadster
Paul & Cheryl Petrovich, Pebble Beach, California
Class H: Rolls-Royce Prewar
1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Inskip Special Henley Coupe
Lord Bamford, United Kingdom
Class I: Mercedes-Benz Prewar
1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann and Rossi Special Cabriolet
The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Class J-1: European Classic Open
1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni and Falaschi Teardrop Cabriolet
Richard & Melanie Lundquist, Palos Verdes Estates, California
Class J-2: European Classic Closed
1937 Delahaye 145 Chapron Coupe
Merle & Peter Mullin, Los Angeles, California
Class K-1: Bugatti Type 57
1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante
Private Collection, New York
Class K-2: Bugatti Type 59
Exhibit Only
Class L-1: Prewar Preservation
1907 Renault XB Labourdette Transformable Landaulet
Steve & Marilee Hamilton, Washoe Valley, Nevada
Class L-2: Postwar Preservation
1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Coupe
William & Christopher Sharples, New York, New York
Class M-1: Ferrari Grand Touring
1960 Ferrari 250 GT Scaglietti Spyder California
Lee & Joan Herrington / The Herrington Collection, Bow, New Hampshire
Class M-2: Ferrari Competition
1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spyder
Patrick & Carolyn Ottis, Berkeley, California
Class N: Lamborghini Miura
1968 Lamborghini Miura SV Coupe
Lamborghini Polo Storico Private Owner, Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy
Class O-1: Postwar Sports
1960 Porsche Carrera Abarth GTL Viarenzo and Filliponi Coupe
Robert Ingram / The Ingram Collection, Durham, North Carolina
Class O-2: Postwar Touring
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Ghia Supergioiello Coupe
Jonathan & Wendy Segal, San Diego, California
Class P-1: Zagato Centennial Prewar
1932 Maserati V4 Zagato Spider
Lawrence Auriana, Greenwich, Connecticut
Class P-2: Zagato Centennial Postwar
1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Coupe
David F. MacNeil, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Class R: Historic Hot Rod Cover Cars
1922 Ford Norm Grabowski "Kookie Kar" Roadster Pickup
Ross & Beth Myers / m,3 Dog Garage, Bayertown, Pennsylvania