Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance This Weekend in Carmel, California

Motoring fans and automobile collectors (mostly the richest ones) from around the world will be converging on the famed 18th Hole of the Pebble Beach Golf Course to inspect some of the world's finest collector cars on Sunday, August 18, 2008, all the while drinking too much champagne and paying exorbitant amounts for a box lunch.

And don't forget to hit the vintage races at the Laguna Seca race track, just a few miles from the Concours itself. It's where the world's vintage racing craze was begun more than 20 years ago, thanks to the pioneering work of Steve Earle and his many (mostly rich) friends.

We'll have complete results from the event soon, so check back with us.  (Download the (18" x 24" Concours' poster by clicking here, right mouse click and "Save As" onto your computer.)

The 58th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach™, will showcase the historic Italian marque Lancia, Italian super sports car Lamborghini and celebrate the General Motors centennial. The full field of 175 collector cars will also include several special classes.

“Fantastic styling, an impressive race history and innovative engineering are earmarks of Lancia’s more than 100 years of automotive manufacturing,” says Sandra Kasky Button, chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours. “Lamborghini, the ‘bad boy’ from Italy, is less than half the age of Lancia, but the brand has captured the heart of auto connoisseurs worldwide and has ‘A-plus’ collect ability.

“And then there’s GM, the world’s largest auto company. Their history, achievements and multitude of vehicles built during the last century are legendary, so we can only focus on a few highlights. In particular, we’re concentrating on the engineering, styling and forward-thinking of the GM Motorama road show, the striking, high-powered Cadillac V-16, the GM Woodies and GM-powered sports cars.”

Click below for more on the Concours, and cars being shown there this weekend including Lancia, Lamborghini and many important General Motors products on the company's 100th Anniversary.

$10,894,900 --- 1961 FERRARI CALIFORNIA BREAKS AUCTION RECORDS

One of 55 Ferrari 250 short wheelbase (SWB) models ever built has sold at a European auction for over USD $10,890,000 a record for any car ever sold at public auction. The beautiful car was bought by a UK-based Ferrari enthusiast and "radio personality," and his wife, a professional golfer. They both must be doing alright.

(From RM Auctions press release): Car enthusiasts and Ferrari collectors from across the globe descended on Maranello, Italy this past weekend for RM Auctions' second annual "Ferrari Leggenda e Passione" auction event to witness a new auction record established for a 1961 Ferrari California Spyder formerly owned by actor James Coburn. The rare car exceeded all expectations by selling for a world record auction price for a vintage car at auction in the amount of $10,894,900 U.S., surpassing the previous record set at Sotheby's Monaco in 1990 for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO at $10,756,000 U.S. (Editing note --- James Coburn? I thought he drove a Lark ... No, forgive us, he smoked Larks (and did all their advertising in Japan, starting in the late 1960s, when very few American actors would "lower" themselves doing advertising outside the US. Boy, have times changed).

The annual RM Ferrari auction, held in association with Sotheby's, put under the hammer an unrivaled collection of historic Ferraris at the legendary home of Ferrari in Maranello, Italy. Among the attendees was one extremely well known Ferrari enthusiast, and British television and radio personality Chris Evans. Chris, accompanied by his wife, golf pro and writer Natasha Shishmanian, attended the Gala reception on Saturday, May 17th where he fell for the considerable charms of a black 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The following day, Chris made the successful bid for his dream machine, which will now take pride of place in his own celebrated collection and the honor of "the most valuable car sold in auction history." (End of press release). The car does not look too much unlike another two-seater of the same era, this one from the UK, from a company called AC. (Photo --- This most expensive Ferrari was once owned by actor James Coburn, seen below; the two Ferrari owners, both Coburn and Steve McQueen, were pallbearers at the funeral of action star Bruce Lee ... Small world, huh? Coburn was in some great movies, like the "Flint" spy spoof series of the '60s, the Magnificent Seven, 1960, and the Great Escape, 1963, where he appeared with McQueen. These are some Ferraris with heavy acting karma!).

Replacing their long wheelbase (LWB) California Spyder with a SWB version, which made for better- handling and lightened the car's weight quite a bit, Ferrari designer Scaglietti showed a new Spyder California at the Geneva Show in 1960. Based on the 250 GT SWB, it also introduced disc brakes and a 280 hp version of the 250 V12. About 55 were built. (Photo --- UK radio personality and Ferrari collector Chris Adams stepped up in a big way and spent almost USD $11,000,000; witnesses say his wife did not attack him after he made the winning bid ... Lucky guy!).

The 250 models were a series of Ferrari sports cars built from the 1950s and into early 1960s. It was the company's most successful early line of vehicles, produced for over a decade from 1953 to 1964 and resulting in several variants for both road and track. The 250 was replaced by the 275 and the 330.

The most celebrated 250 is the 1962 250 GTO, a true supercar that spawned numerous imitators. Other 250 Ferraris closely-related to this record-setting sports car include the Lusso, Monza, Testa Rossa, GTO and the P and LM (LeMans) racing versions. Some of these cars are those which literally take your breath away when seen in person and in context, on either a race track or the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach's Concours d'Elegance. The long wheelbase (LWB) 250 GT theme was expanded with their 2+2 model 250 GT/E. That car was the first large production four-seat Ferrari (earlier four seaters were made in very small numbers).

Click below for more about the world record-breaking Ferrari California Spyder.

WATCHES OWNED BY PAUL NEWMAN AND FERRARI'S PRESIDENT BRING OVER $2.3 MILLION AT AUCTION!

Most people who like cars also like airplanes ... and boats ... and trains ... and watches. Almost anything mechanical, in fact, attracts our attention.

Two motor racing-related wristwatches once owned by Paul Newman and a former president of Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari's racing team) set records and sold for a total of $2,386,067 at the Geneva, Switzerland, auction on May 12th.

A large gold Patek Philippe chronograph watch which had belonged to Count Carlo Felice Trossi, an Italian Grand Prix-winning driver (what they used to call Formula 1) who became president of Scuderia Ferrari was bought for 2.345 million Swiss francs (current USD$2,219,297). This was the highest price ever reached for a wristwatch at Sotheby’s, according to the auction house. In a sale of almost 200 watches, the Patek Philippe knows as the “Trossi Leggenda” was definitely the star attraction. (Photos --- Above, the Trossi Leggenda which sold at auction for over $2.2 million, in front of a photo of a young Carlo Trossi; Below, a version of the Rolex Paul Newman Oyster Daytona which brought over $166,000 at the same event).

At  the same event, a gold Rolex Cosmograph Oyster Daytona, made around 1980, known as the  "Oyster Daytona Paul Newman," named both after the Florida race track and for the American actor who (perhaps unknowingly) made the style famous, netted 157,000 francs (current USD$166,770), compared to its pre-sale estimate of less than half that amount.

It's important to note that the there was never an official "Paul Newman" watch from Rolex until these were produced by the company after 1980 --- The Rolex Oyster Daytona models which came before are known as "Paul Newman-types".

Geoffery Ader, head of watches at Sotheby’s told a news conference that the watch was one of “great symbolic and historic importance as it came out in 1932, a turning point which also saw car racing and the emergence of airplanes".

Count Carlo Felice Trossi was a wealthy, handsome Piedmontese nobleman who was enormously rich from his family's banking and landholdings and was a serious lover of automobiles and racing. His ancestral castle at Caglianico, near Biella, had a racing shop, entered by a drawbridge, where the Count often joined his small retinue of mechanics to work on his cars, always wearing a pair of white linen gloves.

Trossi was one of that small group of European aristocrats whose daily lives were so far removed from reality that even WWII failed to take them away from their "hobbies." (Photo --- Trossi Roadster version of Mercedes SSK currently in the Ralph Lauren collection).

Enzo Ferrari, an engine mechanic and race car engineer, started the Scuderia as a private Grand Prix team which campaigned race cars for Alfa-Romeo. Carlo Trossi, an early investor in the team, replaced Augosto Caniato as the president of record for Scuderia Ferrari in 1932 at the ripe age of 23; but the title was purely honorary, as Enzo Ferrari ran the operation and Trossi acted as Ferrari's personal ATM, the young company's main source for funding and as a backup driver. Trossi died from a brain tumor at only 41 years of age.

For much more information and many more photos concerning Trossi, Newman and Ferrari and their fantastic cars, click below.

BLING! MOST-EXPENSIVE ROLLS-ROYCE EVER SOLD AND $200,000 JEWELED "FLYING LADY" MASCOT KEEP COMPANY'S IMAGE ALIVE

Time for a quick look at some  recent Rolls-Royce news which some readers may have missed.

First, Rolls' famed mascot, known both as the Spirit of Ecstasy and/or The Flying Lady, has taken on some bling in this era of hip-hop, all good and subtle taste be damned. It's a one-of-a-kind diamond version of the Rolls-Royce mascot designed by Manhattan jeweler Jean Kemanjian and is exclusive to New York City's Manhattan Motorcars. Called "The Spirit of Ecstasy," it measures 4"h x 2"w and consists of mostly diamonds and platinum, plus a few other rare metals. Valued at $200,000. We wonder if Kemanjian's Flying Lady will fit into the "bomb shelter" which the mascot on the latest Rolls' lowers into when the driver so desires, or if that part of the new Phantom's massive grillwork also has to be somehow reworked, though from the photo it looks like it'll fit nicely. (Photos --- Above, The $200,000 jewel-encrusted Spirit of Ecstasy; Below, the fourth-ever Rolls-Royce built sold for almost $7 million at a recent London auction).

When it comes to headlines like these: "Oldest Rolls sells for record sum; The car is in perfect running   condition, says (UK auction house) Bonhams," we're always more than a bit suspicious. There are, admittedly, a huge percentage of all the Rolls-Royce machines ever built still in existence and operated on daily basis; some say this figure is as high as 75%. Many of these vehicles are owned privately, many by museums, some are owned by various groups, clubs, trusts and other kinds of organizations. Because there are so many cars and so many owners (and so many restorations), and with the cars being scattered throughout the world, whenever a Roller sells for a big price at auction, some smart headline writer or newspaper editor (or Rolls PR person) will find some reason for that particular car to have set some sort of "world record."

For more on the original 1907 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and the 1904 machine which sold at auction for almost $7 million, click below.