Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance Review - Part 2

This is part two of the review of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance event for 2020. This piece will cover the next four classes of the event from Classes H to K, with each section detailing the cars entered as well as announcing the best in class winners.

The first class of this section is the Post War Touring (Open) class which is for convertible cars or roofless cars from the post war era and there were some gems in this class. The first car is a 1948 Delahaye 135 M by Pennock. This French luxury sports car was completely bespoke and generally have coachbuilt bodies meaning no two Delahaye 135 Ms are the same. Fitted with a cast iron 3.6l Inline-Six, it produced 115hp which gave it a top speed of only 100mph but 0-60mph could be achieved in under 10 seconds which for 1948 is truly, incredibly fast. It had to be fast too, as it has history in Grand Prix, rally and endurance racing making it a true sports car of the time. Auction records show that the prices have hovered over £150,000 consistently, making it affordable for all that class. Next up is the 1949 MG YT, fully restored by Bridge Classic Cars, which is one of only 877 produced and was not a commercial success. Launched at Geneva in 1948, this was available in right and left hand drive as an open topped version of the YA, known as the Y Tourer. This was at a time when many British manufacturers were failing to sell open topped variants of their cars and unfortunately this car was axed two years after its launch. At auction, they tend to top around £25,000 as they're not too desirable in today's market. Next up is a 1961 Fiat-OSCA 1500-S Pininfarina which is mostly famous for preceding the legendary Fiat 124 Spider. Built by Fiat in the classic style of two doors, two seats, front engined and rear drive, which they would continue with sports cars they made up until this day. As this example is the OSCA version, it had a peppier 1.5 litre twin-cam engine which gave it 71bhp but in a car that weighed less than a tonne that was more than enough. Pricing at auction is generally around £80,000 which seems like a good investment for a car like that. The next car is the 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Short Chassis Volante by Touring. This car is a masterpiece. Built to replace the legendary DB5, the DB6 was a bit slow off the starting blocks with the design being passed from Touring to Aston Martin and then back again meaning the car looked dated even when it first launched, with resemblances to the old DB5 and was therefore not popular with the standard Aston Martin fanbase at the time. Overtime though, like many cars, people came to love and appreciate the DB6 and especially the Volante as shown in the auction results as, in the last few years especially, the prices are around £500,000 increasing to £600,000 quickly. The final car is a 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS by Scaglietti which won this class with flying colours, those colours being dark blue with a tan interior which is one of the best specs for any Ferrari. This example had just undergone a full nut and bolt by DK Engineering making it absolutely spotless. This restoration took three years to complete and has to be one of the most pristine Ferrari Dino 246 GTSs in the world. Known as one of the best V6 cars that Ferrari ever made, the 246 Dino GTS shared the same engine as the legendary Lancia Stratos rally car and gave the road going Ferrari a top speed of 148mph which was ridiculous for 1973. Auction results show this particular model is on the rise much like the other cars featured in the concours, with prices rising above the £250,000 barrier.

The next class is the Post War Touring (Closed, Two-Seater) and features a lot of valuable machinery beginning with a one off 1958 Jaguar XK150. This one is bodied by Bertone and is thought to be the only remaining Bertone XK150. Jaguar had previously sent three XK120s and XK140s to be converted by Bertone into a fixed-head coupe, drophead coupe and a roadster and the XK150 was no exception. It is alleged that they were sent to Bertone to try to come up with a concept to replace the XK150. This is the only one believed to remain as the other two haven't been seen for decades. Next up is the winner of the class being a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 Series II. The Series I DB4 has an issue with overheating in the oil cooler and therefore the Series II fixes this issue. Based on the same body as the Series I, the Series II features Touring design and only around 350 examples were built between 1960 and 1961. In terms of auctions, the DB4 has always been a high seller, especially in Zagato form, and can range between £450,000 and £550,000. This car also won the best in class for this category. Next is a 1966 Ford GT40 Mk1, a car famous for beating Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but this is the road legal version. Built at the same time as the race cars, there were 30 out of 87 cars built for the road making them a rarity among rarities. The road car was obviously downgraded from the racing version but with 335bhp from the Ford Fairline V8 fitted by Shelby American is still no slouch. When it comes to auctioning these, there is hardly a car that dips under £2 million. The last Ford GT40 Mk1 to sell at auction came in 2016 where one sold for £2.9 million. The penultimate car in this class was the 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S, which to many is regarded as the first supercar. Some believe the Mercedes 300SL was a supercar before the Miura but it focused more on luxury than speed. The Miura is one of the true great cars, featured in the opening of The Italian Job, a 0-60mph time of under 6 seconds and with only 140 produced, rare as anything. In terms of auction history, Miuras of any variation always do well and the P400S is currently hovering around the £1 million price tag but as time goes on, the price will only go up. Finally for this class is the 1974 Dino 246 GT, not badged as a Ferrari Dino which is unique. This is because the 206 Dino was not a true Ferrari with heavy steering and pig-looks, so much so that people called them Dinos and not Ferraris. This example of the 246 GT is unique as it is finished with a green exterior and green leather interior, making it a true one off. The last Dino 246 GT to sell at auction sold for a respectable £440,000 as it is the mid range car, but even so the prices keep on rising. 

The penultimate class of this list is the Post War Touring (Closed, 4-Seater) and the first car in this class is actually the class winner, being the 1960 Citroen DS19 Le Paris. This was a small production, custom build by the French coachbuilder, Henri Chapron and he was the person to create the Citroen DS Decapotable, the convertible DS as Citroen did not agree with it being a model in their range. The Le Paris was a coupe hard-top version of the DS convertible conversion and was produced in a tiny run of nine cars, as Chapron had run out of money to buy the DS Coupes in 1959. Due to the rarity of this car, the auction records are very slim but one sold for £148,560. Next is a 1962 Maserati 3500 GTI, which is believed to be the first car to wear the famous GTI badge. Bodied by Touring, this car cost over £10,000 new which was the same sort of price as the top range Ferraris at the time, with 235bhp and a top speed of 144mph it was truly a brilliant sports car even though it looks more like a GT car. This car also preceded the legendary 5000 GT and the most recent to sell at auction sold for just over £126,000. Next is an extremely famous car being a 1963 Aston Martin DB5 by Superleggera. Known mostly for being the James Bond Aston Martin, the DB5 is possibly the most famous Aston Martin car ever produced and to some extent one of the rarest with just 886 produced in the three years it was in production. Even though this example doesn't have machine guns in the front headlamps, spikes in the bumper or an ejector seat but it is still a brilliantly beautiful car. Auction prices of DB5s have always been high and recently have gotten over the £500,000 mark. The final car in the class is another Aston Martin being the 1966 DB6 Vantage Sports Series, which was a performance version of the DB6 that was produced at the same sort of time as the DB5 which is strange considering the DB6 is the successor to the DB5. The Vantage specification had 325bhp which for 1966 was unheard of and had a top speed of around 150mph, it is not known because as each car was coachbuilt so many figures were different. At auctions, the DB6 is still undervalued compared to the 4 and the 5 but the average price of a DB6 is still around £300,000. 

The final class to be covered in this section is the Passione Ferrari class which, quite obviously, is a showcase of the best Ferraris the world has ever seen. The first of these masterpieces is the 1949 166 Inter Coupe which was the first road car Ferrari made, derived from the technology used in their racing cars at the time. Rumoured to be one of only 20 produced, the car produced 110bhp which is a similar figure to many small cars today and had a top speed of just 105mph which, by today's standards, is extraordinarily slow. However the sheer beauty of this car is something else and its production led to one of the greatest manufacturers of all time, which is reflected in auction results with the most recent sale recorded just shy of £1million. Next is the 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Coupe which followed the 166 in the evolution of Ferrari and came at a time when Enzo Ferrari was selling detuned racing cars (the 212 being an example). The interesting thing about the 212 is that no two are the same, as many coachbuilders were responsible for the design elements. The Vignale bodied cars are famous due to the fact Ferrari sent two to be a part of the Carrera Panamericana, a rally in the US, which it won with flying colours to the surprise of the runners of Ford and other American muscle cars. The last example to sell at auction went for £1.6million and much like many of these cars, that value continues to rise. Next is the class winner, the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, one of the more famous in class. The 250 nameplate in the automotive world is renowned for style and expense especially the GT models such as this one. The 250 Lusso was known as the luxury version of the standard 250 GT sports car but inherited racing DNA from its bigger brother, the legendary 250 GTO, and therefore many of their owners took the GT/L racing. This led to the later models of the Short Wheelbase and the Competitzione coming to sale. This car is the first big seller at auction for this class with prices averaging at £1.5million but some examples increase to over two million. Next is the beautiful 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C built originally because the previous generation of racing car, the 250LM, could not meet homologation standards and therefore Ferrari had to race the 275 instead. It's beautiful curves make it one of the prettiest cars of all time, some would say even rivalling the likes of the Lamborghini Miura or the Mercedes 300SL. The body while similar to that of the 250 GTO, several elements were changed thanks to the Pininfarina design and Scaglietti construction. This example is also finished in blue with a cream interior which is an insane specification. Auction prices are on the rise like many classic Ferraris with the last one to cross the block selling for £3,010,000. Next is a car already covered in a previous class being a 1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GT and due to the fact it's already been covered, there's no need to repeat it. Next then is a 1973 Ferrari Daytona which to some is the greatest looking car ever made. The last classic-era front engined V12, the Daytona features a long stretching bonnet and took over where the 275 left off. The Daytona had a very big rival in the form of the Lamborghini Miura and there are still debates to this day about which is the better car and which is the prettier car, but in terms of being a supercar, the Daytona wins with a top speed of 170mph if the owner was brave enough to use fifth gear, making it the world's fastest car at the time. Auction records show Daytonas selling for a wide variety of prices but they currently sell for around £700,000. Finally in this class is the 1975 Ferrari 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer which is the rarest car of the Ferrari BB series and ended up being a pinnacle for Ferrari as it featured an F1 derived V12 engine and was the first mid engined Ferrari sports car. While Lamborghini had introduced the Espada and Silhoette which was wowing the world, Ferrari and their mid engined layout kept the 365 a capable sports car. With only 387 examples created before being replaced by the 512 Berlinetta Boxer, it remains to be exceptionally rare with the last auction sale recording just over £420,000.

This concludes the second part of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance review which is proving to be a challenge but it has started so it will be finished. The next section will include Classes L to O which are Milestones of Endurance Racing, Milestones of Endurance Racing (V12s), Celebrating the McLaren F1 (Road) and Celebrating the McLaren F1 (Race) which should be really interesting as endurance racing cars are incredibly interesting and the McLaren F1 is an outright legend.