Palm Beach, 23rd of January, 2016

After the two track days at the nearby Palm Beach International Raceway finally the engine quiet down for the cars to be shown on the lawn of the famous Breakers Hotel. For the 25th time the cars were lined up on the three lawns in front of the picturesque building sorted by age with the most popular vintage section on the upper lawn and the post-Enzo cars on the lower.

Early in the morning the cars were lined up in the driveway of the hotel to be directed by the numerous volunteers to their designated spot to be judged. But before the group of judges entered the field in the different classes the owners or caretakers of the precious metal lay last hand on the paint and the chrome to make the cars shine in the Florida sun. Fortunately the rain of the previous day was history thanks to the heave wind that took away the clouds over night. Unfortunately this wind also meant chilly temperatures as soon as the sun was covered by the fast moving clouds.

The display on the upper field had a great selection both of race and street cars including the brutish 412 MI that raced the last days, the Norinder GTO from the same stable and a very rare 250 Monza. From the collection of Leslie Wexner two racers in his favourite red paint scheme were present, the 500 Mondial Coupé and the 225 S Vignale Spyder only separated by the yellow 750 Monza.

The street cars included a nice selection of different body styles on the Europa models ranging from the typical PF design to the Vignale Prototype and the Speciale. On the long wheel base with the desirable covered headlights was a duo of 250 GT LWB California Spyder, a duo of the so-called TdF and the white 250 S1 cabriolet.

The short chassis version did not see less than 3 Berlinettas and the renowned Baillon California Spyder that had its last outing in unrestored condition before being brought back to former glory by Paul Russel. As almost usual the two Best of Show cars were among the cars on the upper lawn with the 250 Monza of Dana Mecum taking BoS GT and the 400 Superamerica Superfast II (as seen on the newest edition of the Cavallino magazine) of Lee Herrington. After the car failed to win its class in Pebble Beach it finally got the recognition its owner hoped for.

For the 25. Edition this year’s CC had a special with a superb line-up of former Best of Show winning cars of the previous years. After having a single BoS for the first ten years the show finally separated the BoS in two categories for road and racing cars. Of these 24 BoS winning cars no less than 22 were displayed including a duo of 166 MM Touring Barchetta in addition to the 166 MM Touring  Berlinettas that won the 1950 MM. Compared to these tiny 2-litre engines the brutish 410 Sport in bright yellow drew attention to this small display.

Lined up were also several 250 S1 Cabriolets and Special Coupé as well as the 375 AM Agnelli car and the last 375 MM coupé built. From the former stable of the Belgium royal family the 250 Europa GT car represented its win a few years ago.

Oldest car on the field was the 1948 Ferrari 166 SC from the Collier-Collection.

Due to the extra display the 275 were relocated a few rows further down making the post-Enzo section slightly smaller than usual. This and the fact that the required points for the platinum award was raised from 95 to 97 left more time during the final award ceremony in the ballroom as far less awards ha to presented in the different classes.

After a buffet dinner and a very relaxed atmosphere finally the two BoS were announced. For some owners and their treasured cars the journey will lead home tomorrow whereas a few will stay for another day to display their cars at the nearby Mar-a-Lago, the exclusive club on Donald Trump.

Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de