The American
Alfa MiTo Jeans for Genes
A Horch Wins At Pebble Beach
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n ultra-rare car bearing the name of Audi’s “founding father” August Horch has won the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, California, appropriately crowning Audi’s centenary celebrations. The 1937 Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet, owned by American private collector Robert M. Lee, was named “Best of Show” at the event, held along the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Competitors from almost 20 countries brought their lovingly restored cars for judging in 28 classes. A 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet won the “Best in Show” award in 2004. Mr. Lee, from Nevada, spent five years restoring the Pebble Beach winning vehicle, and which features coachwork by the Berlin coachbuilder Voll & Ruhrbeck, to a show-worthy condition requiring specialized parts and information to be sourced from Germany. “I had never seen anything like it when I first saw it,” reflected Mr. Lee. “I drove it almost 100 miles a day before the competition and it ran beautifully. It’s a wonderful car and I
wanted to share it with others.” The Horch company was founded in 1899 and began manufacturing cars in 1901. It merged with Audi, DKW and Wanderer to form Auto Union, which today is known as Audi. In fact, Audi is the Latin translation of Horch. In 1935, the Horch Company introduced the Horch 850 with a five-liter, straight-eight engine. The shorter wheelbase 853 model, which won this year’s Best of Show was very popular among Germany’s rich and famous, offering luxury at a very competitive price. The last Horch roadcar was built in 1958.
Also at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance: Bentley Motors unveiled the company’s all-new flagship grand tourer, the Bentley Mulsanne, inspired by company founder WO Bentley’s win at the 1930 Le Mans 24 hour race for the fourth year in a row.
lfa Romeo claims its funky MiTo hatchback has genes inherited from all its sports cars right up to the 8C Competizione supercar. To help support the charity Jeans for Genes, a national children’s charity that helps children with genetic disorders, Alfa has paired up with TV fashion expert Louise Roe and fashion designers Bjork and McElligott to create a line of women’s jeans as cool and desirable as the MiTo and raise money for charity. The result is a one-off series of limited edition ultra-trendy skinny fit jeans that, they say “echo the genealogy concept by deconstructing first generation jeans”, creating new, high fashion jeans complete with a high quality leather waistband, Alfa Romeo red stitching and embroidered rear pockets featuring iconic Alfa badges. Alfa are obviously into the concept of genes – MiTos feature a ‘DNA’ button – Dynamic, Normal and All Weather – that alters the responsiveness of the accelerator, brakes and traction to suit different driving conditions. Sophie McElligott said: “The DNA button gave us an extra framework to operate within. The Alfa MiTo’s parentage from the Alfa 8C and the concept that DNA is in your genes made the project’s beneficiary an easy choice.” Priced at £75 a pair, the jeans can be bought at Donna Ida shops or at www.mitojeans.co.uk
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