The colour pictured is "Pepper red" and makes a Ford Mondeo look like a family car! How I know? Don't ask...

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Vive la Marque !!

You're welcome Johan

I share your opinion on the selection of judges for the 2009 Best of Show. My heart would have looked more for the Delage or the Bugatti Atalante #57523 or the Type 51 Dubos #51133. As a big fan of the masterpieces of the French body. I disappoint me too !! I think the taste may be a case of everyone, but I liked that a majority would have had a better view ... without laughter. Although Bugatti and the French bodywork won several awards at Pebble Beach, I don't think it could harm the competition.

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Make your dream devour your life, so that life doesn't devour your dream.
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

dear buganttics !

I do share my love for bugattis with you, but sometimes, you have to think it over, that there have been
many, many masterpieces of motoring, design, coachwork beside bugatti. the T57s have won several
prices at pebble beach, as did cars with my also beloved french coachwork.
so, I`m not a fan of german baroche coachwork, but bear in mind, the horch is a one off car, and not
a atalante which has survived in a great number....

and what`s about the 193o blue train bentley, the extreme rare ruxton or the duesenberg bohman & schwarz and last but not least the iltimative cord L29 speedster????

lets celebrate the moslheim masterpieces as long as we live, but don`t let us be so stupid to forget the
other classic still around us....

regards
mike

I'm not sectarian. I don't think the Bugatti and the masterpieces of the French coachwork, some American classics are beautiful as you quote, Duesenberg, Cord ect ... The Blue Train Bentley reminds me of the famous spoke of Ettore Bugatti on the Bentleys : ''fastest trucks in the world.'' But I respect these machines and I like the legend of Bentleys boys at Le Mans.

_________________
Make your dream devour your life, so that life doesn't devour your dream.
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

- Custom Coachwork Bugatti Type 57s At Pebble Beach -

From Autoblog.com : http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/custom- ... bble-beach

_________________
Make your dream devour your life, so that life doesn't devour your dream.
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

Classic Bugatti in Pebble Beach



All Photo:
http://www.supercars.net/gallery/119513/2137/7.html

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I Live only for... Bugatti!!! "Nothing Is Too Beautiful, Nothing Is Too Expensive..." -Ettore Bugatti-

Hi Mike

I think you misunderstood the concerns over the Horch ; the problem is not that it is not a Bugatti, but that it simply is not the very best example of automotive haute-couture at Pebble Beach 2009. Voll & Ruhrbeck occasionally produced some very elegant bodies, but this is not one of them ; the details are simply overdone, the tail is too long and those headlamps are overdone to the point of caricature. And too much, way too much chrome.

It must also be kept in mind that a car does not have to be unique to win Pebble Beach; Mercedes Benz 500/540K Spezial Roadster, both long and short-tail versions, Alfa Romeo 8C 2.9 Touring Roadster and Berlina, Talbot Lago Teardrop Coupe and both surviving Atlantics have all taken car of the show and none of them are one-offs.

Pebble Beach Concours is certainly the most established and the most prestigious event of its kind in the world. Villa d' Este and a few others may have a longer history, but they were dormant for most of the latter half of the 20th century. When the Villa 'd Este was resurrected Pebble Beach was used as the template. It is my belief that they owe it themselves, and to all those of us who care a great deal about automotive styling, to hold the entrants to the highest standard possible and since beauty in cars, as in people, is damn near impossible to define there will always be controversy surrounding the results. When the Corsica Daimler won in 2006 the restorer of the Mercedes Benz 540K Autobahn Kourier dismissed the result as a travesty ; he was wrong, careful analysis of the Daimler shows it to be a styling great, well worthy of the crown. The Mercedes was merely unusual. Neither the Horch which won in 2004 or this year's winner are up to this standard. When 57374 won in 2003 it, quite rightfully, relegated 51133 to also-ran status. This year 51133 was one of at least 5 entrants much more worthy than that over-blown Horch.

I would go as far as to say that 2009's winner is the most unworthy since Sam Mann's Chrysler won in 1991. Other egregious error in judgements were : 2007 - Duesenberg special ; 2004 - Horch ; 2000 - Delahaye ; 1987 - Minerva ; 1985 - Bugatti T57 and how a 4-year old Maserati Mistral took the crown in 1968 is a most troubling aberration. But none of the cars I've just mentioned are in any way second-rate, they just don't take the breath away. That is what the Car of the Show at Pebble Beach should do ; it should leave the observer breathless and in awe. Anything less is simply not good enough. That is what is wrong this year's winning Horch - instead of being a styling masterpiece it is an object of derision, a caricature. Not good enough.

Lastly, no Bugatti enthusiast can claim to be hard done by the judges at pebble Beach - Bugatti has taken the crown no less than 9 times, followed by Duesenberg and Mercedes Benz with 6 wins each. Not being a Bugatti is not a crime - being an obese insult to aesthetics is.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

But Johan, you always say about what a crime it was to over restore Ralph Laurens Atlantic.
I put it to you that if that car was entered original condition, it would never have won Pebble.
Amazing beauty contest it may be, but it completely destroys for evermore any trace of originality forever.

dear johann !

you do the same, as you "punish " the jury at pebble beach. allways here or in sport, when a human jury is voting a winner, there are allways personal aspects for voting.
and sorry my friend. : if you have a closer look at the horch, you`ll see that the long tail matches superbly
to the rest of the body lines. look at a picture when the hood is down, wonderfull...too much chrome: okay, thats the way american restaurations are not "my way", but you can have a look in various "google" when the car was black, a colour that I would perfore more..
and also bear in mind that the horch 853A rank among the best sports/touring cars of the mid 3o`s.
driving, technics etc much better than the T57.
I, same as you never have been a friend of german classics or german coachstyling, but this is really an outstanding example. I´ve read an add on the 1999 pebble beach conc., when the same car, then painted in black got this feature: "this car only showed up, not in the concoeurs, where it shure would have been a winner " !!!!!!!!!!!
the same you say about this car, some other can say about your beloved T51 : too short, the colour
is not right for such a bugatti , why disc wheels when a period pic has GP-wheels...

lets say, in every competition concoeurs you will have favourites, which will not show up as a winner. but never "blame" the winner as far from beeing a star. the horch maybe was`nt the very, very best car on show, but it`s a great winner for shure......

mike

Hi Greg

Not necessarily. It is a fiction to believe a car can be restored back to original - a car is either original or it is restored, and once it has been restored it can be restored again and again without making it any less original. The damage is done once the originality is wiped away - what happens then is merely a matter of taste and discernment. EXK 6 was not totally original before Paul Russell got his claws stuck into her, both Barrie Price and Anthony Bamford had had restorations carried out, and Tom Price commissioned a very sensitive mechanical refurbishment.

My problem is the invasive nature of the Russell restoration - all trace of her hand-built nature has been removed, rendering that body utterly devoid of both soul and history. But that the Atlantic is worthy of being celebrated as one of the finest pieces of automotive styling is fact, not even a gruesome restoration can take that away.

I must admit I'm getting quite pissed off at the intolerance of certain enthusiasts who really should know better - blow a T35's engine at Monaco and you're a hero for using it as it was intended, restore a car well and suddenly you're a vandal. The King Leopold T59 being a case in point ; for years enthusiasts, myself included, were led to believe that this car was one of the few correct untouched Bugattis left - when the car was rebuilt at Dutton's it was discovered that the engine was nearly destroyed during a particularly nasty rebuild a few years earlier. So no matter how shot the paintwork, how dishevelled the upholstery, that precious patina is nothing but illusion, the mechanics (surely the very soul of a car?) required a Mt. Rushmore rebuild. Debate originality all you like but this is a restored car.

And of course we must keep in mind the shoddy workmanship of some coachbuilders and the tragic lack of taste of the original owner. John Mozart was insulted and humiliated because he finished the Col. Giles Bugatti to a better than original standard (and that body was particularly shoddily built and finished diabolically) while Alain de Cadenet is lauded for improving the performance of his 8C by fitting a bigger blower. That, Sir, is hypocrisy at its most crass and stupid and I will have none of it.

The modern concours d' elegance is just as relevant as the pre-war concours. Today's historic racing is nothing more than a near-meaningless past-time for owners. ALL old racing cars have already achieved their greatness, have paid their dues - no amount of modern 'racing' will add to its provenance. People who take historic racing seriously always, but always sacrifice their cars on the altar to their egos. Appreciating beauty, which is what a concours is, is timeless ; what was beautiful in 1939 is beautiful in 2009.

Yet the nature of our hobby is such that everyone feels entitled to take cheap shots at concours cars and/or their owners, while to criticize the moron who crash a Testa Rossa into a 250 swb is to risk excommunication from the movement. Not many cars get crashed at Pebble Beach. How many cars were destroyed, sorry, what I mean to say is : How many cars acquired a patina of use at Prescott over the years? But somehow this raises nary a murmur, yet to make something beautiful out of something already visually pleasing is looked down upon.

An amateur trying to get a replica quicker around Goodwood than the next amateur (a dick-waving contest in other words) is hailed as a modern gladiator, while we able to venerate beauty and appreciate craftsmanship have become the new lepers.

What times, what mores.

Johan Buchner

PS. Mike I hear what you are saying, but I still disagree with you. The Horch is extravagant certainly, but it is not elegant. That is the great thing about the beauty of cars ; we can all hold different opinions. I would get worried if we all start agreeing!

Can anyone tell whether the headlights are correct? I can hardly believe that. Very bad styling.
Bugwrench

57523's headlights were enlarged 'in period' I believe. I've seen a photo of this car being rallied in the snow - perhaps the reason better lighting was needed? I agree, they do look a little over-size.

Johan

The taste is differently - the headlights please me - a little aggressive and brutal

Bugatti Atalante #57523 with large headlights in the 50's :




... and two different bumpers !

_________________
Make your dream devour your life, so that life doesn't devour your dream.
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

Thanks, but I still consider the moulding of these lights into the fenders VERY ugly.
An Atalante is certainly not my favorite design. Look at the front screen shown in the front view. I think the wider top than bottom of the screen makes the car very bulky. The light colors do not help either in this case.
Bugwrench