Postcard from St. James’s Concours of Elegance 2013
If you missed this event, then you really did miss out. For the very reasonable sum of £35 (Adult) and £12.50 (child) you could have seen some of the beautiful, we’d say exquisite cars at the St James’s Concours of Elegance.
Having left Salon Privé on the Friday, we attended St James’s Concours of Elegance on the Saturday. Checking out our Twitter feed we noticed that Tom Callow (ex. Autosport Journalist) had questioned those people tweeting that Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance was as good as St James’s Concours of Elegance. I’d have to agree that of both events, Salon Privé is more exclusive and less crowded, but the rarity of cars we’ve seen at St James’s Concours of Elegance and last years Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance is unsurpassed in the UK by any other classic car show.
We arrived early at Marlborough House Gardens at 9am and there were a selection of classic cars outside the gardens, that everyone could view. There were well in excess of 100 cars, maybe as many as 200 lined up outside the venue and down The Mall. Some of those cars that caught out attention included:
The Pagani Huayra that had won an award the previous day at Salon Privé for “Most Stylish Hypercar“.
We also saw a friends unique purple (yes purple) Ferrari Daytona, the lovely Lancia Appia GTE Zagato (below) that was sold by Silverstone Auctions earlier in the year at Race Retro and many Lamborghini’s, E-Types and Ferrari’s.
Other cars…
Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota
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Unfortunately the weather was not playing its part and it was raining ever so slightly, which meant that all the concours cars had canopies over them, as you may see from some of the pictures.
The cars on display were certainly rare cars and we had not seen many of them before. Many cars we’d define more as works of art and their beauty was astounding. Look at some of the cars here that stood out for us, have you ever seen such beauty? Have you even ever heard of these cars before?
1953 Siata 208 CS Balbo Berlinetta (watch our video here) 
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1937 Horch 853 Voll and Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet (watch our video here)
Inside the Malborough House gardens we were treated to 60 cars on show, and wow were they special. In no particular order here are just a few of the world’s rarest, most beautiful, coolest and wondrous cars on display, many of which we had never seen before, and may not see again.
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1939 Bugatti Type 57C Voll and Ruhrbeck Roadster (watch our video here)
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1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Erdmann and Rossi Streamline Roadster (watch our video here)
Then there were other cars we’d seen before, but here were exquisite examples, in pristine condition, with a fascinating history, and/ or a uniqueness, be it colour scheme, coach built, etc.
Just look at this Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster (below). Ok, so most of you may have seen a 300 SL Roadster, but one in this condition, this colour scheme and by the way Clark Gable owned it once. How cool is that?
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster (watch our video here)
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Of the new cars on show, Eric Clapton’s bespoke Ferrari SP12 EC (below) was lovely, a truly special car and him and Ferrari should be applauded. We love the colour scheme, the contours, the rear end, hell, the whole car is lovely.
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Ferrari SP12 EC (watch our video here)
There was also a white Bugatti EB110 Super Sports on show (below), what a car, love it!
1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sports (watch our video here)
The weather improved during the day and mid morning all the covers were taken off, hooray! The sun came out and we could see the cars in all their glory in the September sun. We’ve only included a few of the 179 pictures that we took on the day here in this post. For more awesome pictures you can view our previous article here or see all our pictures on our Facebook album.
Given we love the look and purpose of racing cars, many of the racing cars caught our attention.
There was the 1953 Ferrari 166 MM Oblin Barchetta. Video here.
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There was 1962 Ferrari 268 SP. Wow, love this car.
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There was the Aston Martin DB1/4. Super, super cool!
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There was the 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Aprile Spider Corsa.
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There was the 1958 Maserati Eldorado Tipo M 58 Eldorado. How cool is this?
We could go on all day…
All in all it was again a great event, however, although the venue was great, was it as magnificent as Winsdor Castle the year before, no, was it a great venue, yes. We had seen all the cars within 3-4 hours, compared to last year where there were many more cars and there was a funnel of great cars up to the castle where the concours cars were located. We did not wait around for the car exit procession this year, so we’re afraid no parade video like last year. This event is still our no.1 event to not miss every year, because no other event gives you the chance to see so many cars that you’ve never seen before and to get so close to them and mingle with the owners in wondrous surroundings. An event for the car connoisseur for sure, the appreciator of beauty and artistry, the lover of fine surroundings and buildings of historical significance, a truly magnificent event, a wonderful souvenir programme and again the event organisers must be congratulated for making this man feel like boy in a candy shop for the first time again. Superb!
Next onto Goodwood Revival…
