Masterpieces & Style Concours d’Elégance
Schloss Dyck, Germany 8-9 July
NOW IN ITS third year, the Masterpieces & Style Concours d’Elégance, set in the gardens of the Dyck Castle near Düsseldorf, featured 60 entries in 15 categories.
This year’s edition marked 70 years of Ferrari and 60 years of the Mercedes 300 SL, while the racing category brought Jochen Mass, Marco Werner and Jürgen Barth, with five Le Mans victories between them, to the event.
Competition was vigorous for Masterpieces honours. In the Noblesse Design category, the BMW 328 Roadster that finished third in the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix rolled straight out of the restoration shop to pick up the Best in Class trophy. Similarly impressive was the 1957 Maserati 1500 GT carrying a beautiful one-off Fantuzzi body designed by Frua. This UKdelivered car is now back in its original ivory white; it duly took its own Best in Class award.
The 1959 Jaguar XK150S that Douglas Hull converted to an estate car in 1967 still does the job for which it was conceived: towing. It pulled a trailer carrying a shiny 1958 ListerJaguar Knobbly from Switzerland to the Dyck Castle, and received a special award for longest distance travelled. ‘I mistook it for one of the new cars,’ deadpanned Jochen Mass.
However, it had to yield class honours to a one-off Vignale-bodied Fiat 8V, finished in two-tone metallic blue. In 2002, shortly after restoration, it was good enough to win its class at Pebble Beach, and it’s still collecting prizes today. A second 8V, a 1953 Rapi-bodied berlinetta, took the honours in Coupés of Class.
The 1952 Mille Miglia-winning 250 S was judged best of the Ferraris, but a German beat the Italian to the Best of Show crown. ‘GP 10’, the 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Rennsport originally owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell, is still very much original, thus wooing the jury. Yet even this car had to concede the award for Most Pristine Masterpiece, which went to a 1929 Packard 645 Phaeton Cabriolet.
A new design trophy was awarded to a Maserati Ghibli, while the Porsche 908/3 in which Richard Attwood and Hans Hermann came second in the 1970 Nürburgring 1000km was judged Best Race Car.
The concours’ private character is also its failing: while the quality of the field is beyond doubt, it’s a shame the public can’t sample it.