Fun sprints and an overlooked concours winner at Het Loo

The Concours d'Elegance Het Loo at the former royal palace in Apeldoorn, Holland had a good contract with the weather gods. It was a splendid weekend. The only factor causing unexpected clouds was the use of alternative fuels like pipe tobacco (single seater Austin 7 Special 'Bob') and wood gas (the Opel Kapitän in the background). Central event of the Concours are the short track sprints organised by Dutch Vintage Sports Car Club. This year with new regulations that forced competitors to copy their own first time as close as possible. Big fun for public and the 40 vintage car pilots that partipated. A newby at the strip was this Rolls-Royce Panhard special named 'Monster' (yes also referring to its design) propelled by an aircooled 8 boxer spooned from a french tank. One point, the gearchange didn't have that typical Edwardian clunk, more a Borg-Warner-ish whoosh.
Official results of the Concours can be found here (scroll past the first Dutch lines). Best of show in the eyes of the jury was a very nice 1929 Hispano Suiza Cabriolet de Ville. Great car, yet we were utterly surprised not to find in the listings the car which deserves a pedestal in itself. A fabulous original 1923 Bugatti T23 with boattail body (possibly by Lavocat et Marsaud). An unique car showing its age with pride and still highly usable. To describe its well preserved detailing the word 'lovely' is an understatement. Enjoy the fine inlaywork of the boattail's body top. Check the dashboard. And now let's zoom in on the 'xs' left door, or better let's open it: check that! Isn't that a work of art? An atmosphere absolutely positively impossible to copy by a restorer. It just makes us wonder. Isn't it the task of a concours jury to award the best cars of a bygone era? Or is it their task to judge perfectionist restoration & refrabrication work?

Publié:

mardi juin 24th, 2014

Inconnu

26 Juin 2014, 13:56

I was one of the judges at Paleis Het Loo and the owner of the Bugatti is a close friend of mine. The Bugatti could have been a contender for a special award, perhaps a preservation award, had there been one. Though a very desirable car, it was not a 'Best of Show' candidate. A Class winner? Perhaps, but the Class judges, following the event's guidelines - each event has its own guidelines helping the judges to make their dÃ©cisions - decided otherwise. The judges suggested to the organisers to have a few additional awards in the future to deal with cars like the Bugatti, definitely deserving recognition but not properly fitting within the existing rules. Overall, I would say the Hispano Suiza was an outstanding car and a deserving Best of Show, which even the Bugatti owner (and former Hispano Suiza owner) agrees with.

william hearne

25 Juin 2014, 11:35

[quote name="David Haywood"]New paint can look very false, unless it is cellulose, or a modern type which has been slightly distressed .Some concours d'elegance cars look more like ornaments than cars.
So the Bugatti gets my vote.[/quote]

The Bugatti also gets my vote without question.

Inconnu

25 Juin 2014, 08:55

New paint can look very false, unless it is cellulose, or a modern type which has been slightly distressed .Some concours d'elegance cars look more like ornaments than cars.
So the Bugatti gets my vote.

Inconnu

25 Juin 2014, 04:36

The problem with the T23 may be that restoration that has been done is to a poor standard. The paintwork looks very old, but I doubt it is original and the very small view of the seats suggest these may also have been recovered. Almost no roadworthy 90 year old cars can now be truly original so the question becomes whether or not old but poor restoration work should be retained, I had the body of my 1933 car repainted in the original colours because it had been repainted twice before, and the original leather was professionally fed and recoloured- but nothing truly original was replaced. Personally I believe this is a good approach. Leather, in particular, needs treatment at some point or it will just crumble away.

editor: yes, the paintwork is old but and yes probably not the first paint. Leather was new and not very pretty. Not sure if anything of the old leather was there before.In my view they better had used old leather which is quite easily available. Taking all into account the car is in this way far better off than with a full restoration, which would destroy the vintage atmosphere of the car. Better retain a 40-50 year old paint job which has become part of the car's history than adding a glitzy layer which would make everything around that looking poor.

Fun sprints and an overlooked concours winner at Het Loo

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