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FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This Sunday, California hosts the 73rd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, one of the highlights of the classic car year, where hundreds of the world’s rarest and most beautiful cars compete for the title of “Best of Show.” Last year’s winner was a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster that originally belonged to the Shah of Afghanistan.
For those more interested in becoming a potential future winner, the Pebble Beach auctions on Friday and Saturday (presented by Gooding & Company) are the focus of the week and offer the chance to snap up a piece of automotive history of your own. The 200 lots range from 1908 to the present and include classic European marques such as Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Maserati and Jaguar, as well as US icons such as the Ford Thunderbird, Cadillac Phaeton, half-wooden Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Challenger.
The top car is a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider (estimate: $16-20 million). The car is one of only five long-chassis 8C 2900B Touring Spiders believed to remain. It has already won the Concours d’Elegance, taking first place in its class at the 2000 event. It made headlines two years ago when it was stolen from a South Carolina parking lot en route to a restoration in Maine. A $50,000 reward was offered for information and the car was eventually found by the FBI.
Other exceptional lots include a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider (est. $15-17 million), which served as the official parade car for Kimi Räikkönen at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix; a 1955 Ferrari 857 Sport Spider (est. $6-8 million), purchased by Andy Warhol after a distinguished racing career; a one-of-a-kind 1954 Ferrari 250 Europa GT Coupe Speciale (est. $4.5-6.5 million), commissioned by Princess Lilian de Réthy of Belgium, the second wife (and former governess) of King Leopold III of Belgium; and the very first Porsche 935 (est. $4.5-5.5 million), a prototype of the model that went on to win at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring.
Further highlights of the auction:
1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante
Estimate: $9 to $11 million
Only 42 of the 57S were built. The “C” in this model’s name means that it was a supercharged version with around 200 horsepower, making it one of the fastest production cars built before World War II.
1938 Delahaye 135M Torpedo Roadster
Estimate: $2 to $3 million
The curvaceous version of the 135M by French marque Delahaye, with roadster bodywork by Figoni et Falaschi, was first shown at the 1936 Paris Motor Show and popularized the style known as “French Curves.” It is believed that only five of the eleven Torpédo Roadsters built still exist. This model was discovered in 1992 in the house of a scrap dealer in the Algerian mountains.
1970 Lamborghini Aventador S
Estimate: $2 to $2.5 million
The P400 S was first shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1968 and was named the fastest road car in 1970 with a top speed of 270 km/h. Road & Route Magazine. This example had three owners in Turin before being shipped to the United States in the early 1980s, where it sat, undriven, in the living room of a car enthusiast’s modest East Rockaway home. When it was sold earlier this year, the house had to be partially demolished to get it out.
1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle Tourer
Estimate: $3.5 to $4 million
This heavily modified, lightweight Silver Ghost was built by James Radley, son of the aviator and coal baron, for the gruelling 1914 Alpine Trial. It won by a wide margin, reaching a speed of 98mph at the Brooklands race track in Surrey a week later. The car was subsequently sold and shipped to the USA, passing through many hands before a farmer bought it and used it as a tractor before being relegated to a shed where it sat derelict for 60 years. Now fully restored, it has won many awards at concours and competed in the Alpine Trial’s 100th anniversary event in 2013.
1959 Maserati Tipo 61 birdcage
(Estimate: $5 to $6 million)
When this car was built, sports car design was changing, and engines were moving from the front to the middle of the car. Nevertheless, Maserati’s chief engineer Giulio Alfieri persisted with the traditional front engine and created an exceptionally lightweight “birdcage” chassis, and the car was successful at the highest levels of racing for many years. This example is one of only 17 built.
1914 Sunbeam Tourist Trophy Racing Car
Estimate: $1 million to $1.4 million
This is a very rare relic of the pre-1918 racing era and one of only three Sunbeam Tourist Trophy models in existence dating from 1914. After the First World War it was rebuilt on a new chassis to be sold as a road car but a later owner restored it to its original Tourist Trophy specifications.
Pebble Beach AuctionsAugust 16 (4:00 p.m. PDT) and August 17 (11:00 a.m. PDT); public viewing August 14-17, Pebble Beach Parc du Concours
