The spectators at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance were treated to some truly exceptional sights on and off the show field at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. From the trio of Ballots built for the 1919 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race to the quartet of Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix raced by greats like Tazio Nuvolari, this year’s Concours d’Elegance highlighted race cars that competed on the show field in the following classes: Ferrari Competition; Zagato Centennial; Bentley Centennial; Bugatti Grand Prix and Ballot Indianapolis Race Cars.
Choosing favorites at an event like the Pebble Beach Concours is tougher than it sounds, as virtually of all the entrants are the best of the best in their respective categories. While the task was difficult and we gave it our best efforts, we welcome your comments below if we missed your favorite.
In no particular order, here are the Top 20 race cars we would like to see at the SCD Garage:
Pebble Beach Concours 2019 – Race Car Photo Gallery (photos as credited)
1952 Siata 208S Motto Spider, Jack and Kingsley Croul, Corona Del Mar, California – Introduced in 1952, the first SIATA 208S was powered by Fiat’s 2-liter, 70-degree V8 engine and had a barchetta body styled by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Carrozzeria Motto. After around 200 engines had been built and just 114 Fiat 8Vs had been finished, production came to a halt and the remaining “8V” engines were given to SIATA, as they had been deeply involved in its development. With its cutting-edge chassis design and high-torque engine, many 208s were exported to America and raced successfully by leading drivers of the day. This car (chassis BS526) is one of 35 barchettas sold to McAfee Engineering, owned by Ernie McAfee, a race driver and dealer of Italian racing cars in Los Angeles. Its first race was actually its first win; driving it, Dick Hayward placed first overall at the Santa Barbara Road Races in March 1956. The car was raced throughout 1956 by Hayward and its next owner, George Dillaway. Its current owner bought the SIATA in 1994, and it ran in almost every Mille Miglia retrospective, as well as the Colorado Grand, until 2000. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1932 Mercedes-Benz SSKL Avus Race Car, Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany – The fourth and final S-series Mercedes-Benz was this shorter and lighter SSKL (Super-Sport-Kurz-Leicht). The 7.1-liter, 6-cylinder SSKL, unlike the earlier models of the late 1920s, was an outright competition car with its entire frame drilled to reduce weight. Just a few SSKLs were built in 1931, but they were not part of the official Mercedes-Benz catalog. This special-bodied SSKL was designed by aerodynamics expert Baron Koenig-Fachsenfeld, who persuaded racing driver Manfred von Brauchitsch to have his own SSKL fitted with this new streamlined body, built by the Walter Vetter Karosserie in Cannstatt. The aluminum bodywork was finished just in time for von Brauchitsch to drive the car straight to Berlin to practice for the International Avusrennen, the fastest auto race in Europe, held on the famous Avus circuit. Affectionately dubbed “the Cucumber” by von Brauchitsch, the car raced with an unpainted silver body, which prompted German radio broadcasters to refer to it as a “Silver Arrow.” Von Brauchitsch went on to win the race largely due to the streamlining that gave the car an extra 12 mph. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider, Jonathan Feiber and Heather Buhr, Atherton, California – Following the success of his 8-cylinder P2, Alfa Romeo engineer Vittorio Jano created the 8C, an engine built on a common crankcase with two separated 4-cylinder alloy blocks topped with detachable, alloy cylinder heads. The 8C was first raced at the 1931 Mille Miglia. This famous Alfa Romeo 8C Short Chassis Spider (chassis 2111007) is one of the earliest Alfa 8Cs to survive and is one of two 2.3-liter cars built specifically for the 1931 factory race team. This car’s first race was the grueling Targa Florio in Sicily, and it is believed to be the actual winning car driven by Tazio Nuvolari. After the Targa, the car was sold to Scuderia Ferrari and was driven by Enzo Ferrari in his last competitive race on the Circuito delle Tre Province. It was later driven to victory by Piero Taruffi in the Coppa Grand Sasso, one of his first races driving for Scuderia Ferrari. Enzo Ferrari sold the car at the end of 1931, but it continued to be entered in numerous races, including the Mille Miglia in 1932, 1933 and 1934. After 1934 it was owned by several British collectors and remained in unrestored condition for 70 years. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Corto Spider, Scuderia N. E., Stamford, Connecticut – This Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spyder (chassis 2211109) was built by Zagato in 1933 and delivered to the French racing driver Raymond Sommer in Paris. Sommer modified the car by fitting a set of separate tear-drop fenders and a longer tail that had been designed by Joseph Figoni and used on his Le Mans–winning Alfa Romeo in 1932. Sommer and Tazio Nuvolari drove this 8C in 1933’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which they went on to win. Two weeks later, with its original Zagato panels refitted, Sommer and Henri Stoffel finished second in the 24 Hour race at Spa-Francorchamps. Afterward, the car was returned to Alfa Romeo and sold to Tazio Nuvolari, who used it as his personal road car for the next two years. In 1936, when Nuvolari came to New York for the Vanderbilt Cup, he brought the Alfa with him. It was later sold by George Rand at Zumbach Motors to Barron Collier, who went on to win the 1937 Mount Washington Hillclimb. Its current owner bought this race-winning Alfa 8C 2300 in 1992 and it was restored in 1994. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1958 Ferrari 250 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta, David F. MacNeil, Fort Lauderdale, Florida – The Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta \’TdF\’ earned its moniker after Alfonso de Portago’s victory in the 1956 Tour de France courtesy of his Ferrari 250 Berlinetta. The 250 GT TdF was such a success that Ferrari ultimately produced another 77 cars in four different series. This particular TdF (chassis 0909GT) is the seventh of the 36 cars from the final series. The distinguishing features of this series are the single louvers over the rear sail panels and the enclosed headlamps. The body was designed by Pinin Farina and built by Scaglietti, with body and interior panels in aluminum. This car’s racing record began with its first owner, amateur racer Walter Lambert of Switzerland. He campaigned the car in 22 hill climbs and achieved 18 podium finishes, 13 of them as winner. The car’s successes continued with its next owner, Tommy Spychiger, during the 1961 European hill climb season. The car remained in Europe and has been raced competitively by its subsequent owners in a host of historic events. Its current owner bought the car in 2017 and has just had it restored. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1953 Ferrari 340 MM Competition Vignale Spyder, Michael and Katharina Leventhal, Beverly Hills, California – This is one of only four 340 MM Competition Vignale Spyders built by Ferrari. The car (chassis 0324 AM) was sold to American racing driver Bill Spear in April 1953 for that year’s sports car championship. Painted in the American racing colors of blue and white, its first race was the 12 Hours at Reims in northern France. Spear enlisted Phil Hill as his co-driver for the race, and they collected the car from the factory in Maranello, but on the drive to Reims, Spear had an accident while following behind Hill in the Ferrari, cutting his leg severely, and the car was sadly forced to withdraw from the race. Later that July, Spear drove his new Ferrari to fourth place in a support race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in England before it was shipped to the United States in August 1953, where it was raced extensively until the end of 1955. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix, Private Collection, United States – This Bugatti Type 59 (chassis 59121, fitted with engine number three) is the first of the four Type 59s supplied to private British owners in 1935 by the Molsheim Bugatti factory. As a Bugatti works team car it was entered into the 1933 Spanish Grand Prix at San Sebastian, driven by René Dreyfus, and later the 1934 Monaco Grand Prix, driven by Robert Benoist. During the 1935 race season, it was driven by its new owner, Charlie Martin, at both Brooklands and the Isle of Man, as well as at the Marne Grand Prix at Reims. In 1936, the car was driven by John Fitzroy, the 9th Duke of Grafton, in the Limerick Grand Prix in Ireland. It was later acquired by Arthur Baron, who rebuilt the car and fitted a pre-selector gearbox for speed trials and hill climbs. Post war, the car was campaigned by George Abecassis (of HWM car fame) and amateur driver Kenneth Bear before spending 56 years with Bear’s mechanic, E. A. Stafford East. From 2016 to 2018 a fresh restoration was carried out and its original engine was found and installed. Today the car is presented with its dark green livery and pale blue tail band as driven by Charlie Martin in the Junior Car Club International Trophy Race at Brooklands in 1935. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix, Mark Newson, London, England – This Bugatti Type 59 (chassis 59124) was driven by Rene Dreyfus for the factory at five major Grand Prix events during the 1934 season, winning the Belgian Grand Prix and a commendable third place at the Swiss Grand Prix the following month. Aristocratic amateur racer Brian Lewis became the car’s custodian in 1935, and he continued its racing exploits, running the car at Brooklands, the Isle of Man, Reims and Dieppe. Jack Lemon Burton purchased the car in 1937 before selling it to Ian Craig, who drove the car, painted in a striking combination of cream and black, at the Prescott Hill Climb as well as at British speed events at Brighton and Poole. During the early postwar years, this Type 59 was owned by Rodney Clarke, who drove it at Prescott and achieved several class wins. In 1952 Clarke sold the car to Francis Ludington in New York, who retained the car for 15 years before passing it to fellow American Dieter Holterbosch. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix, Private Collection, Germany – This Bugatti Type 59 (chassis 59123) was originally sold to Earl Howe, a favorite client of Ettore Bugatti. He raced the car for the first time at the Monaco Grand Prix of 1935. Sadly, he retired due to brake problems, but the Type 59 was repaired and made ready for the Picardie Grand Prix in May that year. For the 1936 season, Earl Howe added a British ERA to his racing stable, and the Type 59 was used less. Its last race was the Swiss Grand Prix in August 1936. Thereafter, it was sold to South Africa, where it remained from 1937 to 1962. It then returned to England and into the hands of W. A. F. “Doc” Taylor, who had the car restored. In 1966 it was sold to Sir Ralph Millais, who participated regularly in the Prescott Hill Climb. And during his ownership the car was driven by several historic racers, including Patrick Lindsay and A. F. Rivers Fletcher. In 1975 the car was sold to Neil Corner, who kept it until the mid-1990s. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix, Ralph Lauren, New York, New York – This Bugatti Type 59 (chassis 59122) was first raced by Achille Varzi at the Spanish Grand Prix in September 1933, and it was driven by Tazio Nuvolari at Monaco in 1934. It was then sold by the factory to the amateur racer Lindsay Eccles, who entered the car in speed and hill climb events throughout 1935 before enlarging the engine to nearly 3.8 liters for a race at the 1936 Whitsun meeting at Brooklands. Jack Lemon Burton, the leading London Bugatti specialist, purchased the car in 1938 and raced it for two seasons. Then in 1946 it went to Rodney Clarke of the Connaught racing car company, who registered it for the road. Denis de Ferranti purchased it not once but twice, in 1953 and 1959. In the meantime, throughout much of the 1950s, it was owned, completely rebuilt and well used by Bob Roberts. Ferranti sold the car again in 1986 to its present owner, Ralph Lauren. The car’s final restoration was begun by Crosthwaithe and Gardiner in England and completed by Paul Russell. It has been shown in Lauren’s signature black paintwork at various concours over the years and has won numerous awards. (photo: Tim Scott Fluid Images)
1966 Ford GT40 Lightweight Coupe, Rex and Vicki Myers, Berne, Indiana – The GT40 was developed by Ford to beat Ferrari and win the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans — and, on its second attempt in 1966, a GT40 did just that. Privateer racing team owner Alan Mann was involved with two versions of the GT40: the small block 4.7-liter MK I, and the big block 7-liter MK II, the car that won Le Mans in ’66. This GT40 (chassis AM GT40/1), is one of five cars built for Alan Mann by Abbey Panels, and is one of two aluminum-bodied cars built on the GT40 MK I chassis with Ford’s 4.7-liter V8 engine. The car was driven by Sir John Whitmore and Frank Gardner at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1966, and today it is the only aluminum-bodied MK I to survive intact. This car became famous after it was featured on the covers of several magazines at the time of the 1966 Le Mans race. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
1954 Ferrari 375 Plus Pinin Farina Spider, Les Wexner, New Albany, Ohio – Starting with the race-proven 375 MM, Ferrari constructed a small number of large-capacity competition Spyders to compete in the 1954 Sports Car World Championship. The Lampredi-designed 41⁄2-liter Grand Prix V12 engine was bored out to nearly 5 liters, and a rear-mounted gearbox and de Dion rear suspension were fitted. The resulting car was known by the French racing community as \’Le Monstre\’ and by the British as \’The Fearsome Four-Nine.\’ Five of the eight cars built were kept for the Ferrari team, including this car (chassis 0384 AM), which is one of four remaining today. It was driven by some of the finest drivers of the 1950s, including Froilan Gonzalez, Umberto Maglioli, and Paolo Marzotto, and it ran in both the Mille Miglia and Le Mans in 1954. The car was later raced extensively in the United States by Jim Kimberly and Howard Hively. Toward the end of the 1950s, the car was damaged by fire and was literally put out to grass, being stored in the woods near Cincinnati for many years. Now restored, this is the car’s first appearance at Pebble Beach. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
1954 Ferrari 735 S Monza Scaglietti Spider, Thomas Peck, Huntington Beach, California – In 1953, Ferrari introduced a range of 4-cylinder race cars aimed at privateer race drivers. The 2-liter Mondials and the 3-liter 735 S Monzas were hugely successful as well as good looking, having been designed and built by Scaglietti. This Monza (chassis 0428MD) was the first 4-cylinder, 3-liter 735 S to be finished and was crashed by Nino Farina in its second race at Monza. It was returned to Ferrari and rebodied by Scaglietti for its next race, the Grand Prix of Portugal at Monsanto in July 1954, where it was driven by Froilan Gonzales. At the end of 1954 it was bought by Alfonso de Portago, who painted it black and took it to the Carrera Panamericana in November. The second owner, Sterling Edwards, raced the car at Sebring before bringing it to the Pebble Beach Road Races in April 1955, where he finished second behind Phil Hill. Edwards continued to race the car, notching up five wins before the car’s final race at Pebble Beach in 1956. Over the following 60 years the car fell into disrepair until it was acquired by its current owner in 2016, and a two- year restoration was undertaken. It is presented here in its 1954 Carrera Panamericana livery. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spider, Patrick and Carolyn Ottis, Berkeley, California – This Ferrari 750 Monza was raced by three of America’s greatest racing drivers. In its first race, in March 1955, Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby drove the car at the Sebring 12 Hours race and were declared the winners before having to concede victory on a technicality to Briggs Cunningham’s D-type Jaguar. In April, Phil Hill won the Pebble Beach Road Races with the car and he continued to race it for the rest of the year. The car changed drivers in 1956 when Carroll Shelby took it over, winning the Pebble Beach races again as well as other events in California. Jim Hall raced the car for the 1957 season and was just as successful as his predecessors. Hall owned the car until 2016 when its current owner acquired it. This historic American-raced Ferrari has just finished a complete, two-year mechanical and cosmetic restoration and is shown today just as it looked when it won here at Pebble Beach, not once, but twice. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
1932 Maserati V4 Zagato Spider, Lawrence Auriana, Greenwich, Connecticut – This is one of two 16-cylinder race cars built by Maserati to race in 1933 and 1934. Maserati used two 8-cylinder engines and combined them on a single crankcase; the result was this 4-liter V16 engine. Maserati prepared the V4 for the Gran Premio di Monza on September 15, 1929. The V4’s claim to fame came at the Cremona Flying 10 land speed competition where Baconin Borzacchini set Maserati’s first world record by averaging 246 kilometers an hour. With modifications to the tires and rear axle ratio, the V4 won the Gran Premio di Tripoli, placed third at the Gran Premio di Monza and third at the Coppa Acerbo. This car (chassis 4002) crashed at the Coppa Acerbo in 1934 and was rebodied by Zagato for owner Riccardo Galeazzi. It was sold to Dutch collector Erik Verhade in 1940, then was dismantled and hidden away during World War II. In 1950, Charles Lewis bought the car to race in England. Its current owner restored the car after acquiring it in 1999. It is the sole surviving Tipo 4 that retains its original body, chassis and engine. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
1919 Ballot Indianapolis Race Car, Miles Collier Collections at Revs Institute, Naples, Florida – Before the First World War, Ernest Ballot made his name building engines for several European car manufacturers. When peace returned in 1918, Ballot decided to build his own motorcars for racing and made the wise decision to employ Swiss engineer Ernest Henry as his designer. Henry had already developed several racing engines for Peugeot that were dominating road racing. The first Ballots were created for the 1919 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race; a team of four, 5-liter, straight-eight racers were built in record time and shipped across the Atlantic. These Ballots proved to be the fastest cars in practice, all qualifying in the front two rows on the grid — but they suffered from mechanical setbacks in the race. In the end, one Ballot driver, Albert Guyot, finished in fourth place behind two Peugeots and a Stutz. Paul Bablot, the driver of the car shown here, crashed on the 63rd lap. The Ballot team returned to Indy the following year and the French driver René Thomas finished in second place, while the other Ballots finished fifth and seventh. Over the next decade the two Ernests, Ballot and Henry, entered their cars in many other European and American races and built their own fast road cars until, in 1931, the company was taken over by Hispano-Suiza. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
1929 Bentley Speed Six Old Number 1 Gurney Nutting Sports Two Seater, Bruce R. McCaw, Bellevue, Washington – This famous Speed Six, known as \’Old Number 1,\’ was the second Speed Six to be completed. Built specifically as a race car, it is a two-time Le Mans winner driven by Woolf Barnato and Tim Birkin in 1929 and by Birkin and Glen Kidston in 1930. Throughout its career the car was continually modified to keep it as competitive as possible. Originally fitted with a 4-seat sports body by Vanden Plas for the 1929 Le Mans race, a different body was built for Brooklands racing, and these were changed around as needed. In 1931, after being fitted with this new body with streamlined tail by Gurney Nutting, it competed in the 1931 Brooklands 500 Mile race and later in the 1932 Brooklands Empire Trophy. Then, for the 1932 Brooklands 500 Mile race it was driven by Clive Dunfee, who tragically crashed over the banking at 127 mph and died. Woolf Barnato eventually had the car rebuilt as a road-going coupé, but in 2001, Old Number 1 was restored to its appearance prior to its final race at Brooklands. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
1930 Bentley Speed Six Old Number 2 Vanden Plas Tourer, Peter Goodwin, Charlottesville, Virginia – This Bentley Speed Six, known as \’Old Number 2\’ (chassis HM2868), is one of the most original Bentley Team Cars in existence. It formed part of the trio of Speed Sixes built by W. O.’s Cricklewood factory specifically to compete in the 1930 24 Hours of Le Mans, in which, driven by “Bentley Boys” Dick Watney and Frank Clement, it came in second behind its stable mate Old Number 1. These racing Speed Six models were all built on a shorter, 11-foot chassis, and their 61⁄2-litre engines were fitted with lightweight aluminum pistons, dry-sump lubrication, twin spark ignition and an advanced valvetrain. Prior to racing at Le Mans, Old Number 2 won the famous Brooklands Double Twelve driven by Bentley Motors Chairman Woolf \’Babe\’ Barnato. The car has enjoyed a long and illustrious history and has always been carefully maintained in largely original condition, but after a previous restoration in 2008, its true brighter green paint color was discovered in 2018, so its original Vanden Plas body has been carefully repainted for a second time while still keeping the patina that made it world famous. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
1967 Ferrari 412 P Coupe, MJJV Cars, Rye, New York – This Ferrari 412 P (chassis 0854) is the second and final 412 P built by Ferrari. It was campaigned during the entire 1967 sports car season by Ferrari’s U.K. agent, Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires. Finished in the distinctive Maranello livery of red with a pale blue stripe, the car first appeared at the 1000 Kilometer race at Spa-Francorchamps, driven by Lucien Bianchi and Richard Attwood, where it finished third overall. Attwood and a young Piers Courage drove it at Le Mans in June before Attwood was joined by another privateer, David Piper, for the BOAC 500 Mile race at Brands Hatch, where it finished seventh. The championship points achieved by this car during 1967 enabled Ferrari to win the Manufacturer’s Championship. British driver and team owner David Piper took over the car at the end of the 1967 season and for the next three years raced it all over the world, including the Grand Prix of Sweden, the 9 Hour Race at Kyalami in South Africa, the Sports Car Grand Prix at Hockenheim, and at the Nürburgring. Today, the car has been fully restored to its original 1967 Brands Hatch livery. It is the only example of this glamorous Ferrari still with its original body, engine and gearbox intact. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
1960 Porsche Carrera Abarth GTL Viarenzo and Filliponi Coupe, Robert Ingram, Durham, North Carolina – At the end of the 1950s, Porsche was fully committed to its Grand Prix program and needed outside input to keep its aging GT Carreras competitive in sports car races. Porsche enlisted the help of Carlo Abarth, who hired designer Franco Scaglione and small Carrozzeria Viarenzo and Filliponi to build a new body for its GT racing cars. The finished car was lower, narrower and shorter than the standard Porsche 356 Carrera GT; with its new aluminum body it weighed very little. This car (chassis 1008), one of just 20 built, was delivered to Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund through Porsche’s Swedish distributor, Scania-Bilar. Hammarlund, whose nickname was “CeGe,” won the Swedish GT Championship twice with the car, accomplishing eleven wins from eleven starts. Amazingly, the car was never crashed during its entire racing career and it is believed to be the most original Carrera Abarth GTL in existence, having only covered 10,450 miles. (photo: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d\’Elegance)
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1967 Ferrari 412 P Coupe is simply the best. Not sure about the Chip Foose wheels on the black 1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix, Ralph Lauren model but still a nice car.
Anyone still wondering about attending Monterey Car Week because of the outrageous cost of the “Shows” needs to make sure they understand much of the joy is available free (except lodging of course). Viewing and hearing so many of these near priceless autos negotiating hills and turns on the Thursday morning Tour is simply amazing.
Re the Walter Lambert Ferrari TdF, the original colour was red. I know this because I sat in it. I grew up in Switzerland, my dad was clerk of the course of the local Mitholz-Kandersteg hill climb. He knew Lambert very well which is why I managed to cadge a aride. Lambert also had a Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloce, I got to ride in that, too. Happy days…
HP Bornhauser is right and the French stripe, probably intended to evoque the “Tour de France” model is a nonsense here since 0909GT never had any link with that race.