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June 4, 2007
Some 250 cars were entered for the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Greenwich, Conn., with the European half on display Sunday along with a Christie's auction of about 35 historic cars, including the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante coupé that sold for $775,000, well above Christie's estimate.
The grounds of Roger Sherman Park on the water south of downtown Greenwich, was covered in rare beauties with entire circles of such high-end marques as Jaguar, Roll-Royce/Bentley, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. The Lamborghinis were nestled in with the Ferraris, but unfortunately I did not spy my favorite Lambo, the Muira of the mid-1960s.
The author, looking rather stolid, standing beside a 1,001 horsepower Bugatti Veyron 16.1 at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance on Sunday. Photo by Darren Beurer.
However, I did get to finally see a Bugatti Veyron 16.1 which looks every bit as powerful, like a coiled fist, as its 1,001 horsepower engine. The car is mechanically totally over the top and the price reflects its limited, high-end market - about $1.5 million give or take $100,000 or so.
My old friend Darren Beurer, who I met for the first time at the Concours and who knows more about cars than I'll ever know, snapped my picture standing beside the Veyron and I snapped his just after we had been smirking about other plebs like ourselves snapping pictures of each other sitting in the driving seat of Bentleys.
Yes, it was that kind of venue where brand-new Bentleys were open and available and the Veyron sat placidly, albeit growling, at the mob that surrounded it. It has to be said that the doors of the Veyron and the gynormous 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom nearby(suggested retail price: $351,250) were firmly locked.
But these were new cars. What the punters had come to see were the old classics and exotics. George Dragone's 1905 Renault Town Car was a thing of mega beauty, like everything out of Dragone Classic Motorcars in Bridgeport, Conn. One of the oldest entries, the car was indeed a horseless carriage in red with black trim, white tires and brass fixtures including two brass lamps sticking out in front, communication horns from the exposed driver's seat to the enclosed passenger compartment and horns connected to black rubber bulbs.
One of the most astonishing entries - and about the only American vehicle on the field - was a 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Design Study in brilliant orange. The car was a massive sweep of space-age design with chrome flashes and a bulbous glassy cabin.
In the charm department - Ferraris and Lamborghinis are definitely not charming - was a 1961 slate blue Saab 96 all decaled out for the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Its front lights were protected by grills, a strap crossed over the hood and a somewhat comical spotlight set in the center of its roof.
Also in the charm department, a couple of BMW Isetta bubble cars from 1956 and 1957 respectively. The cars seat two who get in by opening the entire front of the car. Indeed, the front of the car looks somewhat like a fridge door which is not surprising as BMW made the cars under license from Iso, an Italian appliance manufacturer, according to Gregory Homs who owns the green 1956 BMW Isetta 250.
I also loved the bright orange 1976 BMW 2002A which brought back memories of running around the Canary Islands for a few weeks in the early 1970s with a German aquaintence and his French girlfriend while I waited in vain to ship out for the Caribbean on a yacht. (In the end, I took a Spanish tramp steamer back to England for Christmas.)
What else caught my eye? The circle of Jags includes some lovely XK120s whose sensous lines I have talked about in previous blogs. And an area up front devoted to pre-WWII beauties includes a maroon 1937 Bugatti Type 57, a green 1936 Bentley 4-1/4 Derby Special and a black 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost side by side.
Meanwhile, the low-slung Ferraris and Lambos were an aggressive symphony of reds, yellows and blacks, all angles and short curves. By comparison, the circle of Rolls-Royces adn Bentleys looked very staid and the British sports cars - Austin Healeys, Morgans, Triumphs - even an Alpine Sunbeam - looked sweet and sporty. More human scaled, I suppose.
None of this does justice to the scale and quality of the Concours which is also brilliantly organized. The setting is fabulous and even more fabulous is the free parking just across the street - with its own show of parked exotics. By the time I posted this, chairman Burce Wenerstrom had not gotten back to me with the results which he and his wife Genia will publish on their Web site tomorrow (Tuesday).
But a confession of not being able to do justice to the show should whet your appetite to go to next year's show. And remember, the Vanderbilt Concours slated for July 27-29 in Newport. If you love cars, want to see the best and get a dose of automobile history, these shows cannot be beat.
PS I'm going to try to upload some photos later, but being a moron ...
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