July 21, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The World's Finest Automobiles Head to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance via Plane, Boat, Train, Truck - and their own Four Wheels
Some will cross many borders, others oceans, all headed for "the world's Concours"
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (July 21, 2011) – The countdown to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is on. This week, Dr. Christian Jenny of Thalwil, Switzerland, carefully loads his 1961 Jaguar E-Type Fixed Head Coupé on a transporter to Luxembourg—the first of several stages in its long journey to Pebble Beach. The automobile is one of 44 classic automobiles crossing international borders to participate in “the world’s concours.”
“It takes a great deal of effort and time for Concours participants from Europe or Australia to bring their cars here,” said Sandra Button, chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. “For them, the reward comes when their car is one of the select few to drive onto the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Concours Sunday.”
More than 220 beautiful and elegant vehicles are traveling from 14 different countries—and one principality—to participate in the Aug. 21 Concours. In some cases the trip takes days; for others, it takes weeks or months. Here’s how three overseas participants are getting to Pebble Beach.
From Zurich (5,870 miles / 9,450 km)
For Dr. Jenny’s E-type—the very E-type (chassis 885005) that was first unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show fifty years ago—stage two in the journey involves a transatlantic flight to California via the cargo airline Cargolux. Then the show car will ultimately be placed on another transporter for delivery to the Monterey Peninsula, where it will be stored at a friend’s home on 17-Mile Drive until the start of Pebble Beach Automotive Week.
“I consider a classic automobile to be a living cultural object of historical value, and I feel an obligation to its creators to present the car to the public,” said Dr. Jenny. “Exhibiting a classic automobile at a Concours is an honor, and it will be the ultimate honor for 885005 to be shown at Pebble Beach. No name is better known among enthusiasts.”
From Brisbane (7,060 miles / 11,400 km)
The 1946 Allard J1 Supercharged owned by Peter and Robin Briggs begins its trek to Pebble Beach on July 29, departing from Brisbane, Australia. One of the original Allard team cars that raced under the moniker “Candidi Provocatores” (the white challengers), the car has undergone months of preparation and is now in Concours-ready condition.
The Allard J1 will be shipped 580 miles (930 km) by road from Brisbane to Sydney, where it will be securely fastened into an airline container for the trip across the Pacific Ocean.
After arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 1, the car will be trucked 1,150 miles (1,840 km) north to Seattle, Washington. Then Peter, Robin and their Allard will participate in the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic, a nine-day, 1,500-mile tour through the Pacific Northwest on their way to Pebble Beach.
From Monte Carlo (6,040 miles / 9,720 km)
Hugo Modderman’s 1950 Delahaye Guillore Atlas, one of only five still in existence, has taken a somewhat circuitous path from Europe to the Aug. 21 Concours. Through experience he discovered “the fastest way to get a car to the U.S. is to ship it from Rotterdam, Holland.” Fastest, that is, if you’re not going by air.
“The stories of how cars from around the world travel to the Concours each year are always an interesting component of our event’s story,” says Button. “But Hugo’s adventure may require an entire chapter.”
Starting in Monaco, Hugo drove three hours through southern France to Alessandria, Italy and loaded the Delahaye on the Autotrain for a 15-hour trip north through Switzerland and on to Dusseldorf, Germany. From there, Modderman again was behind the wheel for a two-and-a-half hour drive to Rotterdam. The fact that the car was not yet registered in Modderman’s name presented a few complications—but these were surmounted. And in Rotterdam, the car was loaded onto an APL container vessel for a 27-day voyage across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and through the Panama Canal to Oakland.
From there it would have been a quick two-hour jaunt south to Pebble Beach. But the Delahaye, like the Allard, is joining the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic, so it was trucked 800 miles north to Seattle, Washington.
“All in all, it’s quite an expedition,” says Modderman. “Monaco through France to Italy to Germany to Holland, then up and down the West Coast. The good news is that I was able to get the Delahaye (which he recently purchased) registered in my name in Monaco while it was floating on the Atlantic.”
At least the trip home will be a little simpler.
Contact:
Dan Smith, PCGCampbell
(310) 224-4954
dsmith@pcgcampbell.com
