Pebble Beach Crowns a new Winner

Once each year, on the third Sunday in August, about 200 of the most prized collector cars and motorcycles from across the globe are showcased at what is often called the best finishing hole in golf — the famed eighteenth fairway at Pebble Beach. The event is considered to be one of the most important and prestigious concours events in the world, and it’s called the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

At the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, there were a number of reasons to celebrate marques and special classes. Some of these special celebrations were for Lincoln Custom Coachwork, Vanvooren Coachwork, the Aston Martin Centennial, Lamborghini, 50 years of the Porsche 911, BMW 507 and French Motorcycles.

But the main attraction for this glamorous event is the Best in Show award, which goes to the best car put up for display. The judges examine the authenticity, originality, design, styling and elegance of each car on display. This year, the 2013 Best in Show winner was a Custom 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria (quite a mouthful) that belongs to Joseph and Margie Cassini of West Orange, NJ. This is actually Mr. Cassini’s second triumph at Pebble Beach, as he also won the Best in Show in 2004 with a 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet. It is also the first time an American car has won since 2007, and only the second time in nearly 20 years.

The Packard might be relatively unknown outside the concours world, but, at this year’s event, it beat out a whole lot of worthy contenders. The Packard was a giant open touring car, and it featured a beautiful L-head V12 engine that could produce roughly 150bhp. In fact, the Packard Twelve is considered to be one of the most significant designs of the classic era. Between 1933 and 1939, Packard built about 35,000 cars and most of these cars were sold with factory bodies, but this beauty was the only car that featured custom bodywork by coachbuilder Raymond Dietrich. Some of the unique additions were the teardrop fenders and dual rear-mounted spares.

“This Packard is the epitome of American style and grace in the Classic Era – it embodies that period,” said Concours Chairman Sandra Button. This year more than 250 cars were showcased from across 36 states in the US and 12 countries. Other very interesting cars that were at the show, and that competed for Best of Show, included a 1932 Lincoln KB Murphy Roadster, a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Coupé, and a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Van den Plas Belgium Torpedo.