Concours Season Kicks Off with Bang at Salon Privé and La Jolla
You can start digging through the closet for your seersucker suit because concours season is officially upon us.
Two big events started the year off in style, one here in the U.S. and the other across the pond in Old Blighty.
In Europe that meant the season-opening Salon Privé London, now in its third edition. It was held this year at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a residence for retired soldiers located on a sprawling grounds surrounding a spectacular building constructed in 1692 under the direction of Charles II.
Residents of the home, sporting bright red uniforms festooned with their individual service medals, wandered among the cars greeting guests. Many got rides in the historic vehicles.
Organizers said 18,000 guests attended Salon Privé over the course of three “special themed days” that included Opening Day April 18, Ladies Day by Boodles April 19, and Supercar Saturday, April 20.
The show celebrated several anniversaries, including 50 years of the Porsche 911 Turbo, “Magnificent McLarens,” and a record gathering of 14 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The Prix d’Honneur, what we might call Best of Show, went to a 1930 Bentley Speed Six from Vintage Bentley, one of only two close-coupled coupés and the only surviving example. In keeping with British love of titles and their significance, the Speed Six had been delivered new to Viscount Mandeville the 10th Duke of Manchester. From thence it became part of the Medcalf family for over 40 years.
“The meticulous restoration was to the exact standard of the Bentley factory and has set a new benchmark for restorations today,” Salon Privé said in a statement. “The exceedingly storied car formed part of Vintage Bentley’s incredible Ultimate Collection of five of the most historically significant Bentleys ever made. The crowd-pleasing Bentley also scooped the Class 3 winner for cars costing over £1 million, with a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT from Dylan Miles taking the runners-up prize.”
There were two classes of major awards divided by cost. The Class 1 winner, for cars up to £250,000 (a bit over $300,000), was a 1972 BWM E9 3.0 CSL from the Octane Collection. Class 2, for cars between £250,000 and £1 million (about $1.25 million), was a 1983 Lamborghini Countach 5000S from Furlonger Specialist Cars.
“With just 1,780 miles on the clock, this stunning black model formed part of the ‘Yin and Yang’ line up with a sister Countach in white,” Salon Privé said. “A 1990 Ferrari F40 GT from Joe Macari was named the People’s Choice winner, while P & A Wood’s 1966 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine by James Young was the Pensioner’s Trophy winner. The three Chelsea Pensioners who formed the judging team were in the back of the car for the parade before P & A Wood knew they’d won.”
Meanwhile, in usually-sunny SoCal, the 18th annual La Jolla Concours kicked off on the cliffs above the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean, hosting “113 jaw-dropping displays of automotive excellence,” according to organizers.
Instead of a specific marque, La Jolla celebrated “a vast range of makes and models from the transformative era of the 1920s and 1930s, including Bugatti, Duesenberg, Packard, Bentley, Rolls Royce, and more,” organizers said. “From sleek Art Deco designs to the powerful engines found within, these vehicles transported spectators back to a time of innovation, luxury, and boundless enthusiasm for automotive craftsmanship.”
It was like Pebble South, almost. Among those grand classics, ‘Best in Show’ went to the William Lyon family’s pristine 1934 Packard Twelve. The Lyon Estate Car Collection was started by the late General William Lyon, a WWII Army Air Corps veteran who went on to build over 100,000 homes across the West. The collection includes Bugattis, Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, Buicks, Cadillacs, Chryslers, Duesenbergs, Packards, classic Fords and Porsches, and Italian and English sports cars. The separate Lyon Air Museum, which also hosts car events, includes a B-17, B-25, and a Douglas A-26 Invader, among many others.
The Lyon Family also won the Most Outstanding Pre-War award for their black-on-black 1941 Mercedes-Benz Model 770K.
The Most Outstanding Post-War award went to the gregarious and outgoing, almost larger-than-life Jonathan Segal for his beautiful red 1956 Maserati A6G. Segal has a splendid collection of Italian sports cars that he keeps in San Diego, where he has designed some of the more eye-catching buildings in that seaside city. He’s a great example of people with money and taste.
The Petersen Automotive Museum’s 1929 duPont Model G Speedster by Merrimac won the LPL Summit Best of Marque award. I have gotten a ride in that car and it has all the performance of a modern sports car, albeit a somewhat larger sports car than many.
And the People’s Choice award at La Jolla went to Dennis McFarlane’s 1958 Corvette.
The only shortcoming of the day was cloudy weather, which, unlike previous years, did not let the sun peek out even once and prevented a couple of the airplanes from doing their traditional flyover. Most of the year La Jolla is a sunny paradise. Dr. Seuss even lived there, and he could have lived anywhere he wanted. Here’s hoping for a sunny 2025.
Now get out there and concours! Next up is Greenwich May 31 to June 2 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Then, not in order: Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Amelia Island, Cavallino Classic, Hampton Court Palace, Chantilly Arts & Elegance, all three Goodwoods, Villa d’Este, and Audrain Concours in Newport, Rhode Island. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.
