patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
33543
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2023 Winner Announced: a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster
Watch the entire awards ceremony online thanks to modern technology here:
The winner was not the car I predicted would win, I predicted a 1930 Rolls Royce would win. But this beautiful and elegant pre-war 1937 Mercedes Benz 540K Special Roadster won instead. What a beautiful machine. Just beautiful. I personally have an affinity for pre-war cars as they are the most beautiful in my eyes. That long fox nose bonnet and those sweeping fenders. Goodness. Just gorgeous! Some of you know that I have a special affinity for this exact pre-war car too. Mercedes-Benz 500K and 540K models in general.
Bravo to the winner, who is Mr. James Patterson from Louisville, Kentucky, USA! Bravo! Remember to enjoy your new watch Mr. Patterson (winners get a Rolex watch).
The provenance of this car is extremely special; this vehicle was formerly one of the Royal State vehicles for the Shah of Afghanistan!
Please watch the video to see the other winners. All very deserving. This year is also the 60th anniversary for Lamborghini and thus, there was a special Lamborghini class. Great job judges!
Now, I'm not qualified to be an expert witness in a courthouse for vintage cars - never worked on them professionally. So my comments are simply reflective of a passionate individual who has been going to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance for the past 20 years. But, that being said, having been analyzing the winners of the show for 20 years, I would say this one is definitely not a surprise and a very deserved win. Again, huge congrats to the owner, his restoration and maintenance team, and the entire Pebble Beach team! Bravo!
Screen shot from Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance show.
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2023 Winner Announced: a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster
Watch the entire awards ceremony online thanks to modern technology here: The winner was not the car I predicted would win, I predicted a 1930 Rolls Royce would win. But this beautiful and elegant pre-war 1937 Mercedes Benz 540K Special Roadster won inste...
Well...easier than winning Wimbledon.
All ya gotta do is spend a very large pile of cash!
Let's be gracious and give the benefit of the doubt that the winners also know a bit about the subject...
Yes... The winners are hiring experts and doing the restoration. They're not making body panels themselves. They might even be hiring consultants and entering multiple cars a year in a strategic manner. But they're still doing something that's very specia...
Sorry...my post was meant to be funny.
I know these people and I know that they put heart and soul into their endeavors. So no slight or disrespect was intended. It was only supposed to be a watch joke. Please accept my apologies for the offense.
No offense taken at all!
Ahh, I understand now, you're mostly referring to the watch! Yes, this is one very expensive way to get a watch! With no guarantees too!
And that's the crux / problem of this event.
They seem to promote vehicles without much progress / evolution of the 'rules'. Very, very old people thanking one another for their efforts is good and all, yet does not bring in 'new blood'. It is as if vehicles made after WWII do not exist (to some ext...
I'd say they're progressing. Slowly. And they allude to that in the video.
Look at this year, you had some actually modern cars like the Lamborghini Diablo and some fairly modern McLaren vehicles in the mix. It's turning more modern. You also have to realize that the older cars are simply more fascinating. These older cars were ...
Good points...
Yes, watched live and they understand the dynamics. Agree about older being true handmade one at a time. Still, imho the Porsche was far more important than what did win this year. The plus side is 10 years from now we'll have different judges, etc.
The Porsche owned by the Ruf family was definitely historic...
I felt that there were A LOT of great cars this year. And while we may each have our strong opinions - only one of the cars I liked even made it up to the final four - we're not the professional judges nor experts on this class. Nor do we know exactly wha...
Well said. In the end am glad to see these vehicles bring shown to the public.
Various luxury shows seem challenged between the Old Ways and the more youthful generations. Market forces over time will sort it out. 👍
Yes!
The war effort brought so much industrialization, standardization of parts, and assembly line pass production to the world... So this really was a HUGE turning point for the automotive industry. So... It's natural to have this separation of time and for p...
Pebble Beach Concours 2023 Mega Gallery: The rarest rare cars in the world...
Both pre-war and post-war cars: www.autoblog.com
Laguna Seca
The Pebble event is fun, but the racing on Saturday is why I keep returning. Driving on that track ( with the Corkscrew) is fantastic!