I never expected my daughter to develop an interest in cars, but I was hopeful one of my two grandsons might catch the bug. I took them with me to the Concours several times. In 2015, the judge was to be judged. For the first time, I entered a car in the Concours—a 1926 Bentley 3 Litre— and we finished second in class. The boys will never forget being on the ramp. Within minutes, pictures were posted on Instagram. The future will tell if their lives will be influenced by Pebble Beach as much as mine has been…
THAT ONE PARTICULAR CAR PA U L P O L LO C K ( PA U L @ W E B - C A R S . C O M ) JOURNALIST
The Best of Show is always the highlight of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The award goes to the car that is somehow above all the others—for that particular year. This begs an interesting question: Which car would be the best of the best? In other words, of all the Best of Show winners, which one stands out? The answer could be debated for hours—and wouldn’t that be fun? I’ve been attending the Pebble Beach Concours for 30 years. And to me, the absolute best of the best would have to be the 1998 winner: the 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Corsica Roadster (chassis 75793) owned by John Mozart. Why do I think that? Just look at it, I say. The car is nothing less than a sculpture on wheels. Perhaps my enthusiasm is the result of my preference for cars with long hoods and minimal, two-seat passenger areas. And convertibles. The original owner was Col. G. M. Giles, a British Colonel who commissioned Corsica, a London custom coachbuilder, to build the body on Bugatti chassis 57593 (engine 41S). His brother Eric was responsible for the styling. The silver spear, which starts at the front of the passenger area and ends at the top of the radiator is a definite strong point. It serves to connect the other chrome bits, such as the wire wheels. It also superbly integrates and highlights the classic Bugatti grille. Some have criticized the windshield for being too high in the center and too low at the ends, but to me it works perfectly. Can it be topped? One should never say never, but at this point, it appears doubtful.
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Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Insider
John Mozart hoists the Best of Show Trophy overhead after his 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Corsica Roadster's 1998 win.
A SHAH’S DELIGHT WA L L A C E W Y S S , A U T H O R & A R T I S T
Of the forty or so Pebble Beach Concours that I’ve been to, I’d like to tell the story of one car that sticks indelibly in my memory—the Bugatti Type 57 whose first owner was the Shah of Iran. It is a car that has been shown at Pebble Beach on several occasions, most recently in 2015. It rises above all the others I’ve seen at Pebble because now that I’m a fine artist—a career I took up after leaving the magazine world—I look at things differently. Artists judge on aesthetics. The car in question may have a flawed engine or transmission design but we like it because it’s beautiful. It qualifies for all those words that so few modern cars do: poise, stance, ambiance. And as a historian I like it because it has what moviemakers call a good “back story.” Its gestation was a bit odd. It was built on a 1937 Bugatti Type 57C chassis (57808) but is often listed as a 1939 car because it was given to the Shah of Iran as a wedding present by the country of France in 1939. The Shah, then mere Royal prince, was next in line to take over the throne whilst Europe was on the downslide toward World War II, and each country wanted to do something memorable. All the combatants knew they would need oil during the war! France asked the future Shah what he wanted as a wedding gift, and he named a Delahaye 165 with Figoni et Falaschi coachwork that he had seen at the Paris Auto Show—but by