I have attended Salon Prive now for three years in a row, this was the best one yet.
I have to admit I like the way Salon Prive is set up. Let me explain.
You have a bit of everything from modern supercars, to the newest Tesla X to try. If that was not enough you have some dealers who set up outside on the lawn and you can talk to them and the state about the classic car market (which I did).
Want to know about London property? Or get the newest tips about Italian tailoring – brands like Lilie Square and Canali have you covered respectively. Obviously the main focus is classic cars of which there were some superb examples. Throw in a great Lobster lunch with as much Champagne (and Pims which I tried) as you want and it promises to be a superb day. Ofcourse it did help that the weather was perfect.
Salon Prive in a short amount of time has become a must attend event in the European classic car concours calendar. In my view it ranks with the very best out there and not far behind Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza.
You could have not asked for a more beautiful day out in Blenheim palace. It was marvellous.
When you throw in some elegant Ferraris from the 1960s it does not get any better. (From front to back: 250 S2 Pininfarina Coupe, 400 SA, 275 GTB/4, 330 GTC, and 365 GTB/4 with Plexiglass).
Lets look at some of them more closely. We start off with this beautiful 275/4 GTB in light blue. What a wonderful color.
The back of the car equally beautiful – reminiscent of the 250 GTO with the kamm tail.
Lets take a look at the car on the right above more closely. It is a Ferrari 400 Superamerica covered headlights.
This car was an absolute dream.
This 400SA had a dream color combination, dark blue and tobacco interior.
Another view of the luxurious interior of this dream 400Super America. Notice how the interior looks now has a different brown in the direct sunlight.
The car has plenty of torque and is in my opinion one of the most underrated Ferrari’s out there. Powerful, luxurious – this Ferrari was made for kings and head of state.
Designed by the king of design – Pininfarina.
I absolutely loved the color of this car too. A dream car in my opinion. Another view of the back of the car and in the background Blenheim palace.
Let us take a look at the color more closely. A beautiful dark royal blue. It was a sunny mostly blue sky day.
One last view from the front again. Long, sleek, aggressive but refined – this car is the definition of powerful but understated elegance (the man on the phone is one of the organizers of the event (David Bagley).
The Bagley brothers organised this event to perfection. Lunchtime was exceptional – lobster and champagne – as much as you wanted.
The ladies looked elegant too in their hats sipping champagne (and the cupcakes were delicious too).
Lets get back to cars and continue with Ferrari – and this beautiful dark -blue beige combination of the S2 Pininfarina 250 Coupe.
Again a wonderful color combination of dark blue and beige interior.
The most amazing detail of this 250 S2 Pininfarina Ferrari was that the owner had a period correct Ferrari keychain.
Yes the devil is in the detail (these keychains can cost up to €2-3’000 today)!
Lets compare the two cars from the back. The 250 Pinifarina S2 (left) and the 400SA on the right.
The color of the 250 S2 Pininfarina Ferrari was a dream.
We continue with another rare Ferrari – a 250 Europa short chassis. The driver /owner had a shirt that kind of matched the car.
The front of the 25o Europa was a monster. Big wide open chrome grill. Just wonderful.
Where there are nice vintage cars there are bound to be nice vintage watches. Two beautiful vintage Rolex watches, top a 6234 pre-dayton and bottom and tropical Rolex 6542 GMT Master from the 1950s.
Back to Ferrari and staying with the 250 Ferrari series we look at another nice model, the 250 S2 Pininfarina Cabriolet up in front of the queue.
Notice the different shades of blue in the background of the Ferrari’s behind it.
We finish the Ferrari section with a red one. It is a racing 500 TRC restored by DK Engineering – this car won the best of show.
A view from the drivers seat. What would I give to change places with this American collector who owned the car.
Lets move on to an arch rival of Ferrari – Lamborghini. Since it was the 50th anniversary of the Miura there were quite a few Miura’s present. Like this nice orange coloured one.
Next we look at one of my favourite sports cars of the 1960s. A Ford GT 40 Mk III car. I love the print of the Ford writing as well as the steel screws that are holding the plexi glass lights together.
We move onto Bentleys of which they were a few nice ones present. I would buy a Bentley only to be able to own the B sign.
The last picture is of the wonderful Bentley Continental S1 owned by a Swiss / German collector. The owner and his family were as elegant as the car.
Thank you to the Bagley brothers David and Andrew who put together a superb event. It is fair to say that in my opinion Salon Prive is the best concours event in the United Kingdom right now.
I look forward to 2017.
