Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance 2020

Some of the finest and rarest cars on the planet were on view to a select 1500 visitors a day. Along with six of the best Alfas, here are our picks of the concours treats…

Concours classics from the 1920s through to post2000 assembled outside Blenheim Palace this year with a third more space in order to accommodate spacing guidelines.

Alfa Romeos from around the world were drafted in to wow visitors, with a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza Zagato Spider winning the class trophy. Once driven by Italian racing ace Tazio Nuvolari, with Enzo Ferrari running the works team, it reportedly drives as well as it did almost 90 years ago.

Rare and unique classics including a Citroën DS19 LeParis and a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso went on to win ‘Post-War Touring’ and ‘Passione Ferrari’ trophies respectively. Gaining just as much attention were two McLaren F1s, in incredible condition. Safety was paramount, with all visitors having temperature checks and a pioneering and easy-to-use mobile app ensuring that all were healthy before entering.

David Bagley of Salon Privé said: ‘ You can’t feel, hear and touch cars at a virtual car event, and it is certainly not as social. We have a duty of care to ensure it’s safe for people to come. It has been very concerning as whether we were doing the right thing, but the app helps make it very safe. It’s also been emotional in hoping the event will still go ahead, but we were ahead of the curve when restricting ticket sales, and sold out our allocation within seven hours!’

With 3500 visitors to Saturday’s sell-out event, we look forward to the same again next year. Salon Privé has set a great example of how outdoor events can be organised with success.

Ian Livingston won the ‘Celebrating 110 years of Alfa Romeo’ trophy with his 1933 Monza Zagato Spider. He said it drives almost like a modern car today, being extremely light and also reliable.

‘So comfortable you could fall asleep,’ says Mary Reeve of this 1960 Citroën DS19 LeParis from the Peter Mullin collection. She adds that it’s like driving an armchair, and very smooth on the road. It also won the ‘Closed 4-seater Post-War touring’ trophy at Salon Privé.

This 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0 was delivered new to F1 pioneer Lord Hesketh and later used by (in)famous Formula One racing driver, James Hunt, to drive himself ‘from parties to races’. It is one of only six right-hand-drive models known to exist in the UK.

The ‘Milestones of Endurance Racing’ class featured a 1978 Ferrari 512 and a Le Manswinning 1988 Jaguar XJR9.

Two 1995 McLaren F1s wowed onlookers.