2012 Mercedes Benz Best Performance Pebble Concours d'Elegance

62nd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Names 1928 Mercedes-Benz “Best of Show”
THE COMPETITION SHOWCASED 220 CARS FROM 33 STATES AND 15 COUNTRIES

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (August 19, 2012) — A 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo owned by Paul & Judy Andrews of Fort Worth, Texas, was named Best of Show at the 62nd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, held Sunday on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. The event showcased 220 cars from 33 states and 15 countries and raised $1,077,220 for charity.

“I’m not sure I can put into words how I feel,” said Paul Andrews, founder and CEO of TTI. “It’s probably the most wonderful feeling I’ve had in my life. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people. We’re all excited. We’re tickled to death.”

Of his car, he said, “It’s the whole package. There’s not a bad line on this car. It was the sports car, the high performance car of its era, and then Saoutchik gave it style and grace. It has power and it has beauty.”

Jacques Saoutchik made seven avant-garde Torpedo bodies for the Mercedes-Benz 680S chassis, each differing in their details. The combination of chrome accents and low windshield make this car, shown first at the 1928 New York Auto Show, both a sports car and a luxury touring car.

“This car really has everything,” said Concours Chairman Sandra Button. “It has fantastic German engineering, elegant French styling, and a wonderful restoration by Paul Russell. It’s a car you can imagine racing as well as touring. It’s just a marvelous embodiment of everything that is Mercedes-Benz.”

The judging process at the Pebble Beach Concours is two-fold: Class Judges focus primarily on originality and authenticity, while Honorary Judges direct their attention to design, styling and elegance. To be eligible to win Best of Show—the event’s top award—a car must first win its class.

Other nominees for Best of Show included a 1935 Duesenberg J Gurney-Nutting Speedster owned by the William Lyon Family of Newport Beach, California; a 1931 Duesenberg J Derham Tourster owned by Joseph and Margie Cassini III, of West Orange, New Jersey; and a 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Figoni Coupé owned by David and Adele Cohen of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

In addition to Saoutchik Coachwork, the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance featured Maharaja Cars, Mercer, Fiat, Mercedes SLs, Sport Customs and German Motorcycles.

Tonight Show host Jay Leno made a guest appearance at the event, offering tickets to his show and tours of his Big Dog Garage, raising over $50,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County. The previous evening, at the Pebble Beach Auction presented by Gooding & Company, Leno’s Fiat 500 Prima Edizione, initially valued at $25,000 to 35,000, sold for $385,000 and attracted an additional $215,000, raising a total of $600,000 for the Fisher House Foundation. Also in attendance were Steve Carrell, George Lucas, Adrien Brody and Adam Carolla.

The 63rd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will take place on Sunday, August 18, 2013.

source : www.pebblebeachconcours.net

Exclusive high-performance sports car

The 6.8-litre engine of the S Type, the model on which all the others were based, produced an output of 120 bhp (88 kW) without a supercharger and 180 bhp (132 kW) with the supercharger engaged. This made the S Type one of the fastest and most sought-after sports cars of its time. Its debut public appearance at the opening race at the Nürburgring in 1927 ended with a threefold victory for Mercedes-Benz. Rudolf Caracciola drove his S Type across the finishing line in first place.

Only 146 of these exclusive high-performance sports cars were ever made, the vast majority of them sold as open-top four-seaters with a Sindelfingen body. A select few, however, such as this year’s Best in Show winner at Pebble Beach, were delivered as a chassis to have their bodywork made by the most famous coachbuilders of the era. For many years now, the Mercedes-Benz S Type has been one of the most popular collector’s cars and also one of the most valuable.

At a Gooding & Company auction held at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a Mercedes-Benz 540 K Special Roadster from 1936 was sold for $11.8 million. “Mercedes-Benz vehicles always achieve top prices at international auctions,” says Michael Bock, Head of Mercedes-Benz Classic.

“And the Special Roadster is one of the most coveted cars among prominent collectors.” This particular vehicle has an fascinating history. First bought by an aristocratic Prussian family, it soon passed into the ownership of Baroness Gisela von Krieger. During the Second World War, she took the Special Roadster first to Switzerland and from there to the USA, where it remained unused in a garage for more than 40 years until her death. The car was then restored to immaculate condition.
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the USA is among the world’s most prestigious classic car shows. This year there was a separate class for the creations of Jacques Saoutchik. Originally from Russia, the cabinetmaker had emigrated to France and established a coachbuilding company that enjoyed widespread fame in the 1920s and 1930s. He produced many extravagant designs for Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz cars have a very special place on the hallowed turf of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, winning Best of Show seven times and collecting more than 120 First in Class and Special Awards as part of a long list of successes since 1950.

Did you know ...?

At the Goodwood Revival (14-16 September 2012) Mercedes-Benz Classic will be represented by five original Silver Arrows from the 1930s – and is organising a staged race for them together with Auto Union which will be the biggest gathering of Silver Arrows for a number of decades.

from Mercedes-Benz Press Release

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