Last year the main theme was the finale of the magazine’s “The Best of British” project, where through the
year readers were invited to cast votes for their choice, and slowly the number was whittled down to a “Top
Ten” by a panel of experts, collectors, celebrities and motoring journalists, where the eventual choice went to
the Jaguar E-Type. This year a similar format was adopted for the “Greatest Supercar of the Past 100 Years”,
where the top ten finalists were, one from each decade, a Bentley 4.5 Litre Blower, an Alfa Romeo 8C, a
Jaguar XK120, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” Coupe, a Lamborghini Miura, a Lamborghini Countach, a
Ferrari F40, a Mclaren F1, a Bugatti Veyron and a McLaren P1. The winning car was announced on the
Friday morning of the show, by John Surtees CBE, and the vote went to the nineties Mclaren F1, without
doubt a masterful piece of no expense spared engineering and design by the legendary Gordon Murray.
The bulk of the car displays were provided by classic car dealers and specialist restorers, including The
Gallery from Brummen in The Netherlands, who had a very varied array of cars on offer, with once again a
picture of their expansive premises forming an attractive backdrop to their stand, together with compatriots
Compliment cars from Arnhem, whilst another European exhibitor was Arthur Bechtel Classic Motors from
Boeblingen in Germany, with a fine display on Mercedes-Benz models. Amongst the well known British
classic car specialists, there was DD Classics with a number of tempting offerings ranging from a cute little
1954 Fiat 500C Topolino Belvedere station wagon to a Ferrari 599 GTO, and Stanley Mann racing with an
impressive selection of pre-war Bentleys. Desmond Smail had a nice array of sixties Aston Martins on offer,
including a mid-construction replica of a DB4 GT Zagato on an original DB4 chassis, whilst there were further
more modern Aston Martins on the Oselli stand, including a DB7 V12 Vantage Prototype. Classic Motor Cars
(CMC) had a pair of Partially restored projects on their stand, which also featured craftsmen working on
panels, one of which was the unique 1954 Pinin Farina bodied Jaguar XK120, making its first public
appearance in 40 years. GTO Engineering had the last Ferrari 250 GT S1 PF Cabriolet built, chassis # 1475
GT, on their stand, which also featured one of their 250 GT SWB Berlinetta replicas and a partially complete
250 Testa Rossa replica.
A new addition to the show this year was a Coys Auction, which necessitated the construction of a separate
marquee accessed from the auction hall, to house all the cars. The auction was held on the Saturday
afternoon, and featured a wide variety of makes and models, the star attraction, no pun intended, was a 1971
Lamborghini MiuraP400 S once owned by recently knighted rock star Sir Rod Stewart, which sold for
£909,000. Other highlights at the auction were a one owner from new 1964 Aston Martin DB5, that
achieved £450,000, and a Dino 246 GT sold for £371,000. Another new feature this year were the
demonstration runs on the road outside the palace, with the star attraction there being the 1977 Tyrrell P34
six-wheeler F1 car which was run by Rob Hall.
Each day there were guests on the Goodwood Racing Live Stage, being interviewed, including former Jaguar
chief test driver Norman Dewis OBE, multiple Motorcycle and 1964 F1 World Champion John Surtees CBE,
and sports and saloon car great John Fitzpatrick, who was also signing copies of his new book “Fitz My Life
at The Wheel”, all with great tales to tell. There were also a number of artists displaying their work, along with
all the usual peripheral memorabilia, book and model stands, which are an integral part of any classic car
show.
Keith Bluemel
10/2016
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