The Windsor Castle Concours, held as the name might suggest, within the grounds of Windsor Castle in September 2012, as part of a series of events marking The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was such a success that almost as soon as it was over, we were assured that plans were afoot for something similar, but not the same for 2013. With patronage from HRH Price Michael of Kent, an avid motoring enthusiast, what emerged was that a similar sort of Concours would be held, but this time in the grounds of St James’ Palace in central London, just off The Mall. Historic St James’ has predominantly been home to royalty and aristocracy since the mid 17th Century. Today, amongst the many Royal Palaces and fine houses, it is the exclusive address for major corporations, gentlemen’s clubs, tailors, wine merchants and fine art houses, to name but a few, so it seemed a particularly fitting area in which to display what would amount to literally millions of pounds worth of rare and classic cars. Needless to say, the scope and ambition of the event increased beyond just the specially invited cars, so what became known as the 2013 St James’ Concours of Elegance ended up being held in an area that encompasses the gardens of Marlborough House, Marlborough Road and St James’ Palace, the official residence of the Sovereign. Parked up on Marlborough Road when I got there were a series of lovely cars, mostly post war machines which would almost have made the trip worth while in their own right, and these were freely accessible to anyone passing, so not even inside the ticketed area. When I emerged at lunchtime, I found that a much larger collection of cars had been parked up along the side of The Mall, grouped together by marque, with a lot of Lamborghini models looking ready for action. That turned out to be because they were, as at lunchtime they all set off on a special display run (they were far too fast to call this a “parade”) before they returned and parked up on Marlborough Road where they created a lot of interest all afternoon. So there was lots to see, and indeed I only left the area during the day in quest of sandwiches, having arrived more or less when the Concours opened. and staying to watch all the display cars depart. This might not be Pebble Beach, but it was a mightily impressive event, well worth the trip to central London.
THE CONCOURS
Just over 60 very special cars were collected together and presented on the lawns of the Palace. Many of them had never been seen in the UK before, and even those that had were carefully selected for their originality, beauty, uniqueness or some other defining attribute to justify their conclusion. Every single one of them was utterly magnificent. Here they are in chronological order:
1907 Darracq 18hp Double-Phaeton
1907 Itala 120hp
1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Vanden Plas Torpedo Grande Luxe
1922 Hispano-Suiza H6 Chapron Coupé-Chauffeur Landaulet
1923 Delage Type DH V12
1923 Newton Brooklands 200 Miles Race Car
1925 Hispano-Suiza Boulogne
1925 Bentley 3 litre Team Car
This 1928 Bugatti Type 35B won the Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 (undepicted).
1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Jarvis Torpedo Experimental
1929 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Cabriolet C
1929 OM 665 SSMM
1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Brewster Derby Phaeton
1930 Bugatti Type 43A
1930 Bentley Speed-Six Vanden Plas Open Tourer ‘Old Number 3’
This 1930 Bentley Speed-Six Gurney Nutting Sportsman Coupé was awarded the “Best of Show” accolade by fellow competitors. Built to special order for Woolf Barnato, this is the famous “Blue Train” Bentley, conceived to commemorate his epic race against the Blue Train in his Speed Six saloon.
1930 Cadillac V16 2 Passenger Roadster
1930 Stutz SV16 Weymann Monte Carlo
1931 Bentley 41⁄2 litre Van den Plas Supercharged Sports Tourer
1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Aprile Spider Corsa
1931 Bentley 8 litre Park Ward Drophead Coupé
1932 Bugatti Type 50T Coach Profilée
1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Freestone & Webb Drophead Coupé
You can usually see this 1933 Napier-Railton 24 litre Special at Brooklands, but it does come out for special events like this one, and it was attracting a lot of attention, even though unlike most of the other exhibits, it is a car that a number of the attendees are likely to have seen before.
1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Brianza
1934 Duesenberg Model J Willoughby Sedan Limousine (undepicted).
1934 Aston Martin 11⁄2 Litre ‘Ulster’
One of the most striking cars of the day was this, the 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Erdmann & Rossi Streamline Roadster. The car was ordered by King Ghazi of the Iraqi Royal Family at the 1935 Berlin Motor Show, and was delivered in 1936. decades later it passed to Saddam Hussein, who then lent it to King Hussein of Jordan. He had it shipped to a pre-war Mercedes specialist in Germany, where a replica was painstakingly constructed. The original was then shipped back to Iraq, before the second Gulf War, and it disappeared from view, presumed hidden away somewhere in Baghdad. The replica body was mated to an original Mercedes-Benz chassis, number 113640, and although there was a plan for it to be sent to Jordan on completion, owing to the conflict in the Middle East and the King’s illness and subsequent death in 1999, it ended up staying in Germany. It is now owned by the Schaefer family and is usually displayed at the Technik Museum in Sinsheim in Germany.
1936 Bentley 41⁄4 litre H.J. Mulliner Streamlined Drophead Coupé
1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Barker Sedanca de Ville
This stunning 1937 Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet was the overall winner at Pebble Beach in 2006
This 1937 Delahaye 135M Figoni et Falaschi Torpedo Cabriolet belongs to Peter Mullin, known for his amazing collection of 1930s French coachbuilt cars.
1938 Lancia Astura 4e Série Boneschi Cabriolet
This 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Voll & Ruhrbeck Roadster regained its very striking waterfall style grille in a meticulous restoration that took place between 2002 and 2006.
1940 Aston Martin Type C Speed Model
I have seen this 1953 Ferrari 166MM Vignale Barchetta a number of times before, as its owner, Bernard Worth, is kind enough to bring it to Prescott. I recall him telling me that he bought it for “not a lot of money” from a small ad in the back of a motoring magazine in about 1960 and he has had the car ever since.
1953 Fiat 8V Zagato Berlinetta
1953 Fiat 8V Vignale Mille Miglia
1953 Siata 208 CS Balbo Berlinetta
1953 Ferrari 166MM Oblin Barchetta
1954 Frazer Nash Sebring
The body style of this 1954 Ferrari 375MM Scaglietti Berlinetta is unique, created by Scaglietti for film director Roberto Rossellini when he crashed the original competition spider.
1954 Bentley Continental Park Ward Drophead Coupé
1955 Jaguar D-Type
1955 Maserati A6G/54 2000 Zagato Spyder
1955 Maserati 300s
1955 Pegaso Z-102B 2.8 Touring Berlinetta
1956 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Zagato Berlinetta
1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
This 1958 Maserati Tipo 420 M 58 ‘Eldorado’ was raced by Sir Stirling Moss at Indianapolis in 1958, though sadly he crashed out of the race.
1959 Aston Martin DBR1/4
1961 Ferrari 250 GT Scaglietti SWB California Spyder
1962 Ferrari 268 SP
1963 Ferrari 250 GTO Scaglietti 64 C
1964 Jaguar ‘Semi-lightweight’ E-Type
1964 Ferrari 250 Pininfarina Le Mans Berlinetta
1966 Jaguar XJ13
With a sister car to this 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Pininfarina NART Spyder selling recently for $27 million, this was probably the most valuable car at the event.
1969 Porsche 917 Kurzheck Coupé 023 Sports Prototype
1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sports
This 1995 McLaren F1 GTR ‘Ueno Clinic’ is a former le Mans winner
An Eagle GT Coupe, based on the E Type Jaguar
The Bentley Continental GTZ, with special Zagato body
Supply an Alfa 8C Competizione and Touring will turn it into this stunning looking car, the Disco Volante.
Eric Clapton’s one-off Ferrari SP12 EC
In addition to a few carefully selected trade stands, there was a display of new Ferraris which comprised an FF and a 458 Spider.
There were also a trio of cars that were going to be auctioned.
THE OTHER DISPLAY CARS
When I arrived, there was a whole line of cars parked up on Marlborough Road, and then when I nipped out at lunchtime in quest of a sandwich, I found a much longer line of cars assembled under the trees down one side of The Mall. This free display would almost have made the trip worthwhile in its own right, with an impressive collection of a wide variety of marques on show.
AC
Cobra
ALFA-ROMEO
This was actually the last car I saw, as it was parked at the end of the line on The Mall, and I came across it as I was heading back to the tube station, and just before the owner turned up, got in and created that amazing sound that emanates from one of these beautiful cars.
ASTON-MARTIN
DB5
DB6
DBS and V8
Virage Vantage
V12 Vantage
BENTLEY
A lovely collection of 1930s Bentleys included the thunderous 3 and 4.5 litre cars famous for the exploits at le Mans and elsewhere, as well as some touring models.
There was more than one of the lovely Continental Type R
This is the Flying Spur version of the follow on S Type car.
This is a rare Continental Convertible version of the car more often seen as a Rolls Royce Corniche. With body coloured bumpers, it is clearly one of the late model cars.
The Continental name was revived in the 1990s with a body design that was unique to Bentley, and very elegant it was.
Needless to say there were plenty of examples of the more recent Bentleys including the Speed.
BMW
507
3.0 CSL
This E3 2500 Saloon is one of very few survivors of BMW’ large saloon car offering from the late 1960s and early 1970s. I have a soft spot for these cars, which look very elegant, and which by all accounts were very good to drive (especially in the 3.0 Si version).
BRISTOL
400
403
404 Coupe
412
CITROEN
SM
FERRARI
246 GT Dino
365 GTB/4 Daytona
550 Maranello
599 GTO
California
FF
458 Italia
F12 Berlinetta
JAGUAR
Oldest Jaguar on show was this fabulous 1933 SS1 Coupe.
C Type
XK150
Needless to say, there were plenty of E Types on show. The appeal of this never wanes and when you see the perfectly judged lines, it is easy to see why.
Mark 2
XJS
LANCIA
Appia Zagato Coupe
LOTUS
Elan Sprint
MERCEDES-BENZ
The very lovely 280SL “Pagoda”
MG
SV
PAGANI
This Huayra was parked right by the entrance, and needless to say, it was attracting an awful lot of attention. I did well to get a quiet couple of minutes to get photos without the crowds of people thronging round it which seemed to be the case for almost all the day.
THE LAMBORGHINI COLLECTION
The Lamborghini Owners Club had decided to make this one of many events where they could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the marque, and to their credit they had assembled a large collection of cars, with examples of every model type made in that 50 year period. At lunchtime they all set off for a short blast around the neighbouring streets, special dispensation (or a blind eye) clearly having been given judging by the way they all blasted off down The Mall. When they returned, they were all parked up on Marlborough Road, and crowds swarmed around what has to be one of the most comprehensive displays of Lamborghini one is likely to see in a long time.
400GT
Miura
Espada
Islero
Jarama
Countach
Urraco
Silhouette
Jalpa
LM002
Diablo
Murcielago
Gallardo
I even came across these three cars parked up on the street around the event, and very splendid they are, too: Citroen SM, Jaguar XK150 and a Lagonda Rapier.
When I first went to book my ticket, I was a little taken aback to discover it was going to cost £35. Couple that with the travel to London, and it was clear that even taking advantage of cheap Saturday rail fares, this was not a bargain day out. But by goodness, was it a good day out, and worth every penny. I understand that plans are afoot for a 2014 event, back at Windsor Castle.
