Automotive

Pictorial: 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

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The world's most important Concours d’Elegance bounced back in 2021, with an invitation to all past winning cars to attend - the result was the most spectacular entry of near-perfect and priceless automobiles ever assembled anywhere
Rolex
Best Of Show at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier from The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
Best Of Show at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier from The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
Best Of Show at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier from The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
Best Of Show at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier from The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Drophead Coupé is owned by Joanie & Scott Kriens of Saratoga, California. The Bugatti was also the winner of the European Classic Sports Class
Bugatti / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Drophead Coupé is owned by Joanie & Scott Kriens of Saratoga, California. The Bugatti was also the winner of the European Classic Sports Class
Bugatti / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Drophead Coupé is owned by Joanie & Scott Kriens of Saratoga, California. The Bugatti was also the winner of the European Classic Sports Class
Bugatti / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1966 Ferrari 365 P Pininfarina Berlinetta Speciale is owned by the RQ Collection of Texas. The Ferrari also won the Late Pininfarina Ferrari Class.
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1966 Ferrari 365 P Pininfarina Berlinetta Speciale is owned by the RQ Collection of Texas. The Ferrari also won the Late Pininfarina Ferrari Class.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Coupé is owned by Jonathan & Wendy Segal of San Diego, California. The Maserati was also the winner of the Postwar Sportscar Class and the Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car Award.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Coupé is owned by Jonathan & Wendy Segal of San Diego, California. The Maserati was also the winner of the Postwar Sportscar Class and the Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car Award.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Lancia Astura Series III Tipo Bocca Pinin Farina Cabriolet won both the Pinin Farina PreWar Class and the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Lancia Astura Series III Tipo Bocca Pinin Farina Cabriolet won both the Pinin Farina PreWar Class and the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Lancia Astura Series III Tipo Bocca Pinin Farina Cabriolet won both the Pinin Farina PreWar Class and the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. A previous winner of the best in Show Award at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this image shows the car 18 years ago in 2003 when it won the most prestigious Concours in the world.
Bugatti / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Rolex / NewAtlas.com
This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Mullin Automotive Museum
This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Mullin Automotive Museum
This 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster just might be one of the unluckiest cars of Monterey Car Week. Absolutely resplendent in every sense, it finished second in class to the car which won best of show. Given another 540K Special Roadster won at the Quail, Mercedes-Benz went very close to a 1-2-3 finish. The gorgeous art deco masterpiece is owned by Richard & Melanie Lundquist of Palos Verdes Estates, California
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The winner of the Jules Heumann Most Elegant Open Car award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Spider owned by John & Heather Mozart of Palo Alto, California.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The winner of the Jules Heumann Most Elegant Open Car award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Spider owned by John & Heather Mozart of Palo Alto, California.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1985 is the only time all Bugatti's Type 41 Royales were ever gathered together.
Bugatti / Dean Batchelor / NewAtlas.com
The 1985 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is the only time all Bugatti's Type 41 Royales were ever gathered together.
Bugatti / Steven A Gann / NewAtlas.com
The reigning Peninsula Classic Best of the Best Concours, this 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza has a provenance to match its beauty, having been driven by the amazing Marquess Alfonso de Portago, not to mention Alberto Ascari, Umberto Maglioli, Giuseppe Farina, Froilan Gonzales, Masten Gregory and most appropriately for this venue, Sterling Edwards.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The reigning Peninsula Classic Best of the Best Concours, this 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza has a provenance to match its beauty, having been driven by the amazing Marquess Alfonso de Portago, not to mention Alberto Ascari, Umberto Maglioli, Giuseppe Farina, Froilan Gonzales, Masten Gregory and most appropriately for this venue, Sterling Edwards.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
At left is the 1905 Columbia Mark XXXV Brougham entered by Mary & Ted Stahl of Chesterfield, Michigan which was judged second in class. At right is the class winner, the 1912 Rauch & Lang TC4 Brougham owned by John W. Rich Jr. of Gilberton, Pennsylvania.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
At left is the home charger and at right is the electric car it charged: a 1901 Columbia Mark XXXI Victoria Phaeton. The car is owned by Nick Grewal of Sanbornton, New Hampshire
Rolex
The Porsche 917 Class had no shortage of entries, with no less than 12 of the throughbred Porsche Sports racing car fronting the judges.
Rolex
13 Porsche 917 models were on show at Pebble Beach, with 12 class entrants and the original Le Mans-winning 917 KH. Seventy years ago, its first class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans laid the foundation for what would become a long and rich success story for Porsche at the famous Circuit de la Sarthe.
© Ron Kimball / Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
This is the oldest surviving Lamborghini Countach, the very same LP400 that blew everyone away at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show. Of course, you'll remember it in red, but it worked hard that summer being repainted to its current green for several other major European Motor Shows in 1973.

Lamborghini
The very first Countach manufactured still cuts a trim figure in a crowd. It is an LP 400 (chassis #1120001).

Lamborghini
The last Lamborghini Countach manufactured was this 25th Anniversary model (chassis #KLA12085) which rolled off the production line on 4 July 1990.

Lamborghini
The 70th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance celebrated the first half century of the Lamborghini Countach with its very own dedicated class.
Lamborghini
The 1921 French Grand Prix class had just four entrants, but the cars were close approximations of the first three place getters, being a Duesenberg and two Ballots.
Rolex
The 18th fairway was full once more in 2021 to celebrate the 70th Pebble Beach Concours
Rolex
This 1937 Talbot-Lago T150C Figoni & Falaschi Coupé (owned by WSB Preservation, Hong Kong) took out best of Show at the 1997 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1935 Voisin C 25 Aerodyne (owned by Peter & Merle Mullin and part of the Mullin Museum Collection) won Best of Show at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti Coupe (from a Private Collection based in Geneva, Switzerland) won "Best of Show" at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo (owned by Craig McCaw of Santa Barbara, California) won Best of Show at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1929 Duesenberg J LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton from the (Lehrman Collection, Palm Beach, Florida) won Best of Show at the 1978 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1937 Delage D8-120 S Pourtout Aéro Coupé (owned by Sam & Emily Mann, Englewood, New Jersey) won Best of Show at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta (owned by David & Ginny Sydorick, Beverly Hills, California) won Best of Show at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1937 Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet (owned by Anne Brockinton Lee and from the Robert M. Lee Automobile Collection of Reno, Nevada) won Best of Show at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupé (owned by Anne Brockinton Lee and from the Robert M. Lee Automobile Collection of Reno, Nevada) won Best of Show at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1933 Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster (from the Jim Patterson Collection, Louisville, Kentucky) won Best of Show at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante (from the Jim Patterson Collection, Louisville, Kentucky) won Best of Show at the 1976 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1934 Duesenberg J Murphy Style Dual Cowl Phaeton (The Nethercutt Collection/Helen & Jack Nethercutt of Sylmar, California) won Best of Show at the 1969 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
An unscheduled pit stop for the 1937 Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet (owned by Anne Brockinton Lee and from the Robert M. Lee Automobile Collection of Reno, Nevada) that won Best of Show at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta (from a Private Collection, Geneva, Switzerland) won Best of Show at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet A (Don Williams/Blackhawk Collection, Danville, California) won Best of Show at the 1973 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1935 Duesenberg SJ “Mormon Meteor” Speedster (owned by Harry Yeaggy, Cincinnati, Ohio) won Best of Show at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The world's most important Concours d’Elegance bounced back in 2021, with an invitation to all past winning cars to attend - the result was the most spectacular entry of near-perfect and priceless automobiles ever assembled anywhere
Rolex
The winner of the La Carrera Panamericana Class in the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours was this 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Vignale Berlinetta owned by Les Wexner of New Albany, Ohio.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The Pebble Beach Concours Best of Show winner in 2000 was this 1937 Delahaye 135 M Figoni & Falaschi Cabriolet owned by Mark Hyman, St. Louis, Missouri
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1952 Mercedes-Benz W194 300 SL Race Car was exhibited in the La Carrera Panamericana Class by the Mercedes-Benz Museum of Stuttgart, Germany. It was in this very car that Rudolf Caracciola took fourth place in the 1952 Mille Miglia and Hermann Lang finished second in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana with an average speed of over 100 mph. Mercedes-Benz sent a highly organized team of drivers, mechanics, and 300 SLs and finished 1-2 with Kling in another 300 SL taking the win.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
This 1931 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B Jensen Cabriolet d'Orsay is one of seven former "Best of Show" winners at Pebble Beach that are now owned by Arturo Keller and reside within The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California.
Rolex
Finishing second in the Harry Miller Class was this 1926 Miller 122 Locomobile Junior 8 Special from The Richard H. Driehaus Collection of Chicago, Illinois
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
The production-spec Battista hyper GT from Automobili Pininfarina cut a dashing figure on the Concept Lawn of Pebble Beach

Pininfarina
Maserati’s mid-engine MC20 appeared on the Concept Lawn at Pebble Beach and was a stand-out in a good-looking crowd. Under the skin, it’s even more impressive, being the first Maserati with a carbon fiber monocoque, weighing less than 1500 kg and using the new 630 hp Nettuno engine to reach a top speed of over 326 km/h.
Maserati
A montage of a sampling of the images in the gallery section of this article - all of these cars are previous winners of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show and the high resolution images are in the image gallery
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
Richard Riker proudly drives the 1896 Riker Electric Prototype built by his grandfather Andrew Riker 125 years ago in Brooklyn, New York.
Rolex
View gallery - 62 images

The most pressing question hovering over the spectacular 18th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links last Sunday afternoon was whether such mass elegance could ever be matched again. In addition to crowning a new Best of Show at the world’s most important Concours d’Elegance, two of the last three Peninsula Classics Best of the Best winners were there, plus 38 former Pebble Beach winning cars.

The crowd at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is always a who’s who of automotive Concours event participants, but when Monterey Car Week was canceled in 2020, the concept of bringing back the previous winners offered the potential for the 39 winners that have held the title of "Best of Show" at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, all in one place, will be very hard to top.

Firstly, the 70th car to join the ranks of winners of the Best of Show Award is a 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier. Essentially built with the same mechanicals that are used on the Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, it might be a surprise to readers that in the 70-year history of the event, a Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster has never won a Pebble Beach Best of Show. The predecessor to the Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, the 500K Special Roadster, won it twice (1982 and 1986), and a 540K Special Cabriolet A won in 1973.

Best Of Show at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier from The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California
Rolex / NewAtlas.com

The winning Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier is one of two built, the only one extant, has featured in New Atlas previously when it won the Amelia Island Concours in 2019 and it is the third time that Arturo Keller has won at Pebble Beach, coming after a 1986 win with their 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Special Roadster and a 2001 win with their 1930 Mercedes-Benz SS Erdmann & Rossi Roadster. The Autobahn Kurier was last restored in 2006, and has continued to be shown, rallied, and toured since then. The Kellers also go home with the Elegance in Motion Trophy and we have half a dozen images of the sleek black missile in this gallery and there are more in the gallery from the Amelia Island Concours in 2019.

This 1931 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B Jensen Cabriolet d'Orsay is one of seven former "Best of Show" winners at Pebble Beach that are now owned by Arturo Keller and reside within The Keller Collection at The Pyramids, Petaluma, California.
Rolex

Arturo Keller obviously has a thing for cars that have won the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show. Apart from his three personal victories, he has also purchased four other cars that have won the Best of Show title, so the Keller Collection now includes seven previous winners. The additional cars which were also exhibited in the prior winners class this year were a 1927 Mercedes-Benz S Tourer (1971 winner), a 1922 Hispano-Suiza H6B Labourdette Skiff Torpédo (1972 winner), a 1922 Hispano-Suiza H6B Labourdette Skiff (1989 winner) and a 1931 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B Viggo Jensen Cabriolet d’Orsay (1995 winner – pictured directly above).

Performing the impossible on a regular basis

The 1985 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is the only time all Bugatti's Type 41 Royales were ever gathered together.
Bugatti / Steven A Gann / NewAtlas.com

The Pebble Beach Concours regularly manages to pull off the impossible by drawing together a group of priceless cars from deep within European museums and obscure and very private collections.

One of the greatest organizational feats in concours history was achieved in 1985 when the Pebble Beach Concours managed to draw together all the Bugatti Type 41 Royales ever produced. It's the only previous feat that comes close to this year's achievement of 38 Pebble Beach winners.

Such is the influence of the Pebble Beach Concours, that within 12 months of that Royale get-together in August 1985, a 1931 Bugatti Royale Berline de Voyager (the Yellow car third from right in the above image) sold for US$6,500,000 at a Kruse auction in Reno Nevada, the highest price ever paid for a car at that time. In November 1987, the 1931 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe (far right in above image) sold for GBP£5.5 million (US$9.8 million) at a Christie’s auction at the Royal Albert Hall in London, setting a world auction record that would stand for 22 years, though it was bid to $11.5 million at auction in 1989 but failed to meet reserve and it broke its own outright price record for the sale of a motor car when it sold privately for $15.7 million in 1990.

Have no doubt that the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is very close to the center of gravity of the massive global collector car industry, and the vision and organizational capacity of that role is in safe hands.

The Best of Show Nominees

Being a Best of Show Nominee in the world’s most important Concours d’Elegance is roughly the equivalent of a Silver Medal in a marquee event at the Olympics – but for a millimeter here or there, any one of these cars would have been a worthy champion. No order is given for the Nominees, so they’re all effectively in second place.

One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Drophead Coupé is owned by Joanie & Scott Kriens of Saratoga, California. The Bugatti was also the winner of the European Classic Sports Class
Bugatti / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1966 Ferrari 365 P Pininfarina Berlinetta Speciale is owned by the RQ Collection of Texas. The Ferrari also won the Late Pininfarina Ferrari Class.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com
One of the four Best Of Show Nominees from the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, this 1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Coupé is owned by Jonathan & Wendy Segal of San Diego, California. The Maserati was also the winner of the Postwar Sportscar Class and the Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car Award.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

J.B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car

This 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic took out the J. B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Mullin Automotive Museum

The 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic from the Mullin Automotive Museum collection was named “J.B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car” at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The museum’s 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic and 1935 Voisin Type C25 Aerodyne were included in a special exhibition of former “Best of Show” winners to celebrate the event’s 70th anniversary. The Bugatti took out Best of Show in 2003, and the Voisin took that honor in 2011.

The first of only four produced and one of three survivors, the Jean Bugatti-designed Atlantic is considered by many to be the most elegant automobile ever crafted and is often nicknamed the “Mona Lisa” of cars. This example is the only surviving “Aéro Coupé,” a designation given to the first two cars which were mechanically very similar to the aérolithe.

Delivered new in 1936 to Britain’s Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, third Baron Rothschild, the Atlantic has had only a handful of owners in its 80-year history. The vehicle is co-owned by Peter and Merle Mullin and Rob and Melani Walton but resides under the care of the Mullin Automotive Museum.

If Ferrari is the most prestigious marque ...

This 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti Coupe (from a Private Collection based in Geneva, Switzerland) won "Best of Show" at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

One of the most interesting aspects of this year’s win for Mercedes-Benz was pointed out in the official press release, which noted that Mercedes-Benz had now drawn level with Bugatti for the number of "Best of Show" awards at Pebble Beach with nine wins apiece. We checked out all previous results and found that the honor board offered some fascinating insights.

Beyond Bugatti and Mercedes-Benz at nine wins apiece, the scorecard gives the all-time bronze medallion to Duesenberg (6 wins), ahead of Rolls-Royce (5), Packard (4), Alfa Romeo (3), Daimler (3), Delage (3), Isotta Fraschini (3), Jaguar (3), Bentley (2), Chrysler (2), Horch (2), Pierce-Arrow (2) and Voisin (2).

That list accounts for all the marques that have ever won more than once and eagle-eyed readers will no doubt recognize a significant name missing from that list. That's correct, Ferrari has won "Best of Show" at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance only once.

The other marques with one win are Austin-Healey, Cunningham, Delahaye, duPont, Edwards, Hispano-Suiza, Lancia, Maserati, Minerva and Talbot-Lago.

Unlike those marques though, Ferrari accounts for seven of the 10 most valuable cars ever sold at auction, 59 of the top 100 sold at auction and more than half of the top 1,000. Ferrari's domination of the collector car marketplace is overwhelming.

So why did it take 64 years for Ferrari's first and only win at Pebble Beach?

A montage of a sampling of the images in the gallery section of this article - all of these cars are previous winners of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show and the high resolution images are in the image gallery
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

By comparison, the Peninsula Classics Best of The Best Award (an award we have consistently acclaimed as the world championship of concours cars) has now been running for six years, and the score is two wins for Ferrari, with one each for Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Maserati and Talbot-Lago. That result seems more in line with the collective wisdom of the world's automobile collectors displayed each year at elite auctions.

For the record, the marque breakdown of the 100 most valuable cars ever sold at auction is Ferrari (59), Mercedes-Benz (8), Bugatti (6), McLaren (5), Aston Martin (4), Alfa Romeo (3), Ford (3), and Jaguar (3).

Now the most expensive does not mean the most elegant, but Ferrari's principal tailor, Pininfarina, is not known for creating ugly cars.

In concluding this topic, we have no explanation why the most valuable collector marque on the planet is so statistically underrepresented at the world’s most important concours event.

La Carrera Panamericana Class

The reigning Peninsula Classic Best of the Best Concours, this 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza has a provenance to match its beauty, having been driven by the amazing Marquess Alfonso de Portago, not to mention Alberto Ascari, Umberto Maglioli, Giuseppe Farina, Froilan Gonzales, Masten Gregory and most appropriately for this venue, Sterling Edwards.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

Which brings us to the most recent winner of The Peninsula Classics Best of The Best Award, the 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza that we featured in our coverage of the Quail this year. The gorgeous Monza is no stranger to Pebble Beach, having taken out the Enzo Ferrari Award at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, before winning the 2020 Best of Show at the Cavallino Classic, making it one of the elite few eligible to win the 2020 Best of the Best Award and ultimately becoming the de facto world championship concours car.

The Ferrari 750 Monza was on hand to display (rather than compete) in the La Carrera Panamericana Class. There were 12 cars at Pebble Beach that had competed in the notorious Carrera Panamericana, six for display purposes, and six competitors in the class.

If you're not familiar with the event, La Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border car race held in Mexico from 1950 to 1954. It was very similar to the Mille Miglia or Targa Florio held in Italy, though organizational integrity was lax, roads weren't always closed and many deaths, both acknowledged and unacknowledged, occurred. The race achieved such international importance that the world's top sports car producers were compelled to join in, despite it being one of the most dangerous competitions in modern history.

This 1952 Mercedes-Benz W194 300 SL Race Car was exhibited in the La Carrera Panamericana Class by the Mercedes-Benz Museum of Stuttgart, Germany. It was in this very car that Rudolf Caracciola took fourth place in the 1952 Mille Miglia and Hermann Lang finished second in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana with an average speed of over 100 mph. Mercedes-Benz sent a highly organized team of drivers, mechanics, and 300 SLs and finished 1-2 with Kling in another 300 SL taking the win.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

The Isle of Man TT Motorcycle races and the Paris-Dakar (now Dakar Rally) have both killed more competitors than the Mexican race over their long histories, but La Carrera Panamericana was flawed in almost every respect. When the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway was completed in 1950, the Mexican Government organized a nine-stage, five-day race across the 2,178-mile (3,507-km) north-south roadway, beginning at the border with Texas and finishing on the Guatemalan border.

The winner of the La Carrera Panamericana Class in the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours was this 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Vignale Berlinetta owned by Les Wexner of New Albany, Ohio.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

In the first year of the race, 1950, the winning car averaged 126.2 km/h (78.4 mph) for just over 27 and a half hours of driving to cover the 3,000+ kilometers, with the winning speed climbing to 141.7 km/h (88.0 mph) in 1951, 165.1 km/h (102.6 mph) in 1952, 169.2 km/h (105.2 mph) in 1953 and 173.7 km/h (107.9 mph) in 1954.

By 1954 the speed of the race was beyond ridiculous. The final 365-km (227-mile) stage of the event was won by Italian Umberto Maglioli in a works Ferrari 375 Plus at an average speed of 222 km/h (138 mph). The story is fascinating and Wikipedia has a great summary, but racing on public roads is sheer madness.

The early electric car class

Richard Riker proudly drives the 1896 Riker Electric Prototype built by his grandfather Andrew Riker 125 years ago in Brooklyn, New York.
Rolex

One hundred and twenty years ago, both steam and electric cars offered viable alternatives to the internal combustion engine as the future of automobiles. In America, the Stanley Motor Carriage Company produced fast and reliable steam-engined cars from 1902 onwards and Andrew L. Riker's Riker Electric Vehicle Company was the main proponent of the electric vehicle.

Riker used one of his early prototypes to win what is arguably the first automobile race on American soil in1896, and he was a prominent figure in setting the stage for the Century of the Automobile. Riker was a co-founder of the Society of Automotive Engineers and after selling his company in 1901, he moved to Locomobile where he had much success designing internal combustion engines and ICE vehicles.

At left is the 1905 Columbia Mark XXXV Brougham entered by Mary & Ted Stahl of Chesterfield, Michigan which was judged second in class. At right is the class winner, the 1912 Rauch & Lang TC4 Brougham owned by John W. Rich Jr. of Gilberton, Pennsylvania.
Somer Hooker / NewAtlas.com

America is now home to the most important EV manufacturer on the planet (Tesla), but its early EV history is just as rich and colorful. Several Columbias from more than a century ago were present, with a 1905 Columbia Mark XXXV taking second in class and a 1901 Columbia Mark XXXI taking third in class. The winner in such remarkable company obviously had to be pretty special, and it was: the 1912 Rauch & Lang Brougham was formerly the personal vehicle of no less than America's greatest inventor, Thomas Edison. Pebble Beach is like that. Every car has a story. Every car, when you ask, has a tale that unravels a journey of discovery and wonder.

At left is the home charger and at right is the electric car it charged: a 1901 Columbia Mark XXXI Victoria Phaeton. The car is owned by Nick Grewal of Sanbornton, New Hampshire
Rolex

The above vehicle didn't even run a place, yet it probably provided more visual fascination than any others in the class.

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