Pebble Beach Concours d’elegance
Re-animated Pininfarina Ferrari Modulo concept stuns the Monterey fairways
The Pebble Beach Concours d’elegance awarded the coveted Best in Show to the 1937 Paris Auto Salon Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta, winner of the Most Elegant Closed Car award at the 2001 event. This year’s recognition came as a result of a fresh restoration that saw the car returned to its 1938 Berlin Motor Show specification. However, elsewhere on the fairways of Monterey, previously unseen cars vied for the classic car world’s attention.
Ferrari Modulo
This is the first time Pininfarina’s most radical concept, complete with forward-sliding roof entry, has been seen outside of Italy by the public. And this time, it’s running.
Explained owner James Glickenhaus, ‘I have always wanted to buy the Modulo, but initially Pininfarina wouldn’t sell it to me. However, I stayed in touch with the design house over the years and one day they called and agreed to sell.’
‘It was built on a 512S platform that had also later been modified to 612 specification to race in Can-am, but was never driven since it became the Modulo in 1970 because the engine and transmission didn’t even have any internal parts. There is a video out there somewhere supposedly showing it moving, but it had actually been rolled down a hill!’ The Modulo was one of the many concepts that ultimately led to the Ferrari 365GT/4 Berlinetta Boxer.
‘We put a huge amount of time turning it into a running car, which is what I always wanted, and now that it is together I plan to drive it and enjoy it, like I do with all my cars,’ said Glickenhaus.
Duesenberg JN
This film-star’s Duesenberg JN is unique thanks to the directions of its original owner, but also hides a heart-breaking story behind its swooping lines and pristine coachwork.
‘It was originally commissioned by Clark Gable in 1935,’ said owner Sam Mann. ‘It started off with a Rolston body, but Gable had it modified by Bohman & Schwartz. Gable actually sketched out what he wanted, and I still have his drawings.
‘He had a romance with the actress Carrol Lombard [the highest paid star in Hollywood in the late Thirties] and the pair married in 1939. She was sadly killed in 1942 in an aircraft crash, flying home from entertaining the American troops in Europe. Gable was heartbroken and never wanted to see the car again because it reminded him of her.
‘After that, the car passed through a series of owners until I acquired it about 15 years ago. I spent three years restoring it and have done about 7000 miles in it since.’
The Duesenberg was also a Special Award winner at the 2007 Concours d’elegance.
Bugatti Type 57C
This striking green Bugatti was making its postrestoration concours debut, and thanks to some diligent restorative detective work, we can see its vivid original hue again.
‘When I bought this car, it needed absolutely everything doing,’ explained owner Jim Hull. ‘The body was in good condition thanks to having spent 40 years almost never leaving its garage in Southern California, but mechanically there isn’t a nut or bolt on the car that we haven’t touched during the restoration.
‘I knew the family who owned this car for 66 years prior to me. In the Fifties it was given to the son of the owner who drove it around for a while and then painted it “resale red”, which was popular at the time for Bugattis. Luckily, when we stripped the bodywork for repainting, we found this original green paint in the door jambs. Now it’s restored, this is how it appeared when coachbuilder Letourneur & Marchand built it in 1938.’
Ruxton Model C
This 1930 Ruxton made its post-restoration Pebble Beach debut, and the work was tricky because of its paint job, complex even for a Ruxton. But owner Jim Fasnacht found an unusual way to get it just right, ‘It took us four years to restore this car. I didn’t want to proceed past any step until I was sure it was exactly right. Getting the colours right for this restoration was very hard! But we were desperate to revive this colour scheme and have it be authentic. We had mixed over 90 colours by the time we were done.
‘When we started, all we knew was that the bottom colour was Brewster Green and the top was Light Mint Green. But we only had black and white photos of this car, plus some details from another, similar car which used a similar progression colour scheme, but in blue. We fed all the details into a computer and let it extrapolate the colours. Then we converted the output to black and white to try to match it as best as we could. After that we had a colourist come in and tweak our formulas.
Ruxton Model C continued
‘I have owned and restored a number of cars over the years including Cords and Mercedes Gullwings – anyone can restore a Gullwing, I wanted to leave a little impact on the hobby and raising awareness of these cars allows me to do that. Hopefully it is something that people will remember long after I am gone. We started on our first one sixteen years ago and now my wife and I own ten of the 19 Ruxtons known to exist.’
Steyr Type VI Targa Florio
This imposing Targa Florio-veteran Steyr is back in original racing condition for the first time in more than 40 years, and is an early example of the engineering of Hans Ledwinka, best known for his Tatras. His work directly influenced Ferdinand Porsche. ‘I got this car about five years ago,’ said owner William Evans. ‘It had been discovered back in the Seventies and was in pretty rough shape, having been altered and modified a lot by various owners over the decades. We restored it so that everything on it is now actually right, back to racing specification.
‘This car contested the Targa Florio four times, in 1923, 1926, 1927 and 1928. It is both awesome and scary to drive!’
Osca MT4 TN
This Osca is now back to original condition. ‘When I got the car it had been cosmetically restored, but I wanted to use it as well,’ said owner Mitch Eitel. ‘I have now mechanically restored it back to the way it was on day one.
‘The car was first owned by “Gentleman” Jim Kimberley, nicknamed for his polite on- and off-track conduct. He was one of the earliest members of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), and raced the car successfully through the US in 1956. At that year’s Road America endurance race it was co-driven by Carroll Shelby and the pair finished in first place.
‘It was also raced and had wins at Sebring, Nassau and Marlboro. I was lucky enough to meet Carrol Shelby once and he even signed the inside of the door for me.’
Talbot-lago T26 Grand
This recently-restored Talbot-lago remained part-restored for decades, but following owner Robert Kudela’s restoration, it’s now as it was when new in 1948. It was first built for an M Fayolle, a French tailor who was known as ‘the zipper king’ on account of being one of the first to incorporate zip-flies into men’s trousers. In tribute to this innovation, it sports a unique line of horizontal chrome strips above the centre headlight, resembling a zip. Despite its eccentric appearance, nothing is currently known about its history between its creation in 1948 and its arrival in the United States in the Sixties.