A sister event to the Hampton Court Concours and organised by the same team, the London Concours has been held since 2016 and has established itself as one of the UK’s leading concours events.
The London Concours is billing itself as “the capital’s leading automotive summer garden party”, and I was able to attend on the first two days.
The venue each year has been the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in the centre of London, an island of greenery in the middle of one of the world’s great cities. The HAC was first established as far back as 1537, but nowadays functions as a charity offering support services to the HAC Regiment and other connected bodies. It’s not where you would expect to find a major classic car event, but it works beautifully.
One downside to the location is that it is very impractical to travel in by car, so the train took the strain and for once, was reliably on time.
The Concours itself featured 80 prestigious classics and this year, included a car that I had a personal hand in getting accepted for the event – an exquisite 1958 Mercedes-Benz 220S Convertible, beautifully restored by my friends at Templar Classics and finished in silver over tobacco. This was a complete nut-and-bolt restoration, with the work taking place over a period of almost two years. I hope ViaRETRO readers will agree that the car looks fantastic – it is one of only 20 RHD models built and certainly the best example in the UK, if not Europe.
Besides the Concours entrants, each day of the event also included a club display – on day one, a couple of dozen McLarens, over 40 E-Types on day two, and 50 supercars on the final day, and around the grounds were the usual high-end specialist dealers, caterers and sponsors marquees.
Thankfully the two days I attended were blessed with largely warm, dry weather, especially the second – a rarity so far this year in the UK – and the line-up of cars looked glorious in the sun.
The Concours entrants were conveniently divided into nine wide-ranging classes, each of which contained some extraordinary cars – let’s take a look at a few highlights, in no particular order and purely subjective, of course!
Let’s start with the Hypercars…while I’m glad that there are manufacturers prepared to make these outrageous cars, and people prepared to buy them, they mostly look the same to me, and generally leave me cold, although there are exceptions, not least the spectacular 2006 Porsche Carrera GT with it’s 5.7-litre, 613bhp V10, it’s 6.0-litre, 651bhp V12 Ferrari alternative, the Enzo and intriguingly, the only road-going Jagur C-X75; James Bond fans among you might recognise it as the car Daniel Craig drove around Rome in a very exciting car chase in the film Spectre.
Who doesn’t like the sound of a howling V12? The Legendary V12 class included fabulous machines such as a Giallo Fly 1989 Ferrari Testarossa – one of just eight in what is my favourite colour on a Ferrari – as well as an equally yellow ’97 Lamborghini Diablo SV; they made a fine and dramatic pair parked together. Most ludicrous car of the day in this and any category was undoubtedly the monstrosity known as “The Beast”, with it’s 27-litre (yes!) RR aero engine – bonkers is the word that comes to mind.
The Wildcards, which included the 220S, also included one of my all-time favourite cars, a superb 1966 Iso Grifo GL350, very rare in RHD, as well as a very lovely 1958 Chevrolet Corvette (more of them later) in a terrific colour scheme, among others – excellent company!
The Carnaby Street (for style) category was missing a couple of the original entrants, but those that made it did not disappoint, especially the Maranello pair of an exquisite 1970 Dino GT in a fairly unusual (for a Ferrari) shade of orange, and a silver ex-Eric Clapton 1970 365GTC with the perfect number plate. I was also very taken with the 1966 Citroën DS21 Décapotable and the ’61 Sunbeam Harrington Le Mans in a very fetching mint green – neither of these would be described as conventionally beautiful but nevertheless gorgeous.
The Coachbuilt class was dedicated this year to Zagato. I’ve always found Zagato’s designs to veer from the beautiful to the bizarre, and occasionally downright ugly, and some of these extremes were featured here. I’ve seen the tiny and dainty 1958 Abarth 750 Zagato DB before, but it’s always a delight to see it, as well as the 1972 Lancia Fulvia Sport. Obviously there had to be a couple of the dramatic wedge Alfa Romeo SZ’s, which I don’t mind, but the Bristol 406, all awkward angles and lines, I’m afraid that’s a fail.
Returning to the Corvette, there was an entire class dedicated to what some consider America’s greatest sports car, with at least one representative of each of the eight generations since 1953. My favourites? The pair of C2 coupés, in contrasting red and white, the former a split-window ’63, the latter a ’66 Sting Ray – lovely!
There was a class assigned to cars with pop-up headlamps, designated Aero – Front Enlightened (no, me neither!), but what glorious cars…among them, one of Gandini’s masterpieces, a 1967 Miura P400 originally owned by Thomas Cook of travel agency fame, a genuine 1975 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale, a gorgeous 1969 Maserati Ghibli Spyder alongside it’s stablemate, a 1971 Indy and a huge 1970 Dodge Charger, beautifully finished in Burnt Metallic Orange and black vinyl roof. Possibly my favourite of the nine classes.
The Great British Racing class was self-explanatory, and included examples from the 1950’s – the 1951 Jaguar XK120 – through the 1962 Lotus Elite Type 14, a trio of ‘70s Grand Prix cars to a mighty 1986 Jaguar XJR-9, this last car having finished fourth at Le Mans in 1988.
Moving on to the Purple Reign category– yes, every entrant was a shade of purple, and very dramatic they looked, too! Obviously I loved the gorgeous ’73 Porsche Carrera RS Touring, and while it’s not a colour to everyone’s taste on a Ferrari, there were two in this class – a 1970 365 GTB/4, or Daytona as they’re more commonly called, and a gorgeous GT 250 Lusso from 1964, though this one will need to have it’s deep purple coat re-done soon, showing quite a bit of wear and tear at the edges…The Best in Show winner came from this category – a stunning 1994 Lamborghini Diablo SE30 .
Among the dealer displays, the stand-out for me was the trio of SL Mercedes with Hilton & Moss – a 280SL Pagoda, a 300SL Roadster and a 190SL, three of the most elegant cars ever built, although I have to say the optional ski rack on the 300SL seemed pretty superfluous, but what a trio…
There was plenty of other classic eye-candy arranged around the grounds, as I hope the gallery below will show. The London Concours organisers have created a genuine premium classic concours in an oasis in central London – they deserve much credit for that.
Hi, I am the owner and restorer of the Iso Grifo mentioned above, which was parked adjacent to the Mercedes 220S. I have to say the 220S is extremely impressive with an absolutely superb restoration.
The Grifo is a magnificent looking car and under appreciated.
Claus would have enjoyed that show with two Alfa Zagatos
Hi Peter, thank you for reading, and for your kind comments regarding the 220S – it was alongside outstanding company in the Iso!
I would have enjoyed a lot at that show, @niels-v. And you are right: Not least the Grifo!
@Peter Wolfers how is the Grifo to drive. It most certainly have the looks and it should have the grunt as well, but does the remaining parameters live up to it
Niels, I have owned this Grifo since 1986, and have been restoring it on snd off as resources and time allowed since. My first drive was last May and I have been debugging it over much of the last year. With all problems overcome recently, my wife and I have enjoyed 3 longish trips in it recently. As you would expect from a car with Giotto Bizzarrini genes in the chassis, the chassis behaviour is exemplary, quite compliant and well damped. It is a pleasure to drive on the open road, and easy to drive in modern traffic conditions. My car is a very early car, and has no power steering making it hard work in tight spaces like carparks etc. I expected to find the ergonomics tough, especially learning where the wiper switch is (no intermittent wipe) but this has caused no issue. Performance-wise, with the lovely ZF 5-speed box, it is absolutely super. It puts a grin on my face each time I drive it, and I am tempted to drive it often.
Hi Peter
Is yours a 327” ? And what intake is it using ?
I actually thought they were made with Borg-Warner gearboxes, is the ZF box a new addition or period?
Interestingly I know a Swede who is also in the process of a multi year on/off restoration of a Blue Grifo.
I am pretty sure I know the feeling you get from it, I suspect it is roughly the same I get from my though more ill-mannered/uncultured Griffith 200.
But the Grifo is absolutely one the best looking cars ever made.
Niels
Interesting and detailed questions.
Yes, my Grifo is a 327 cubic inch, but is the high-performance version ‘L79’ producing 350HP. The ZF S5-325 5-speed box was an option on Isos, and the very last Ford engine Grifos were available with the later aluminium cased S5-24 gearbox as an option.
Just for completeness, my car was originally built in 1966 as a base 300hp, 4-speed, however, the owner chose to upgrade it to the 350hp and ZF 5-speed not long after it arrived in the UK. The Grifo’s original engine and gearbox were transplanted into the 1964 Earls Court Motor Show Iso Rivolta GT 4-carb, from which my car received its differential. I assume the 4-carb engine was pressed into immediate service in an Iso Grifo A3/C or Bizzarrini on the racetrack.
Niels, say hi to Gunnar for me.
Hi Peter.
Have done.
Well have I have a brother with 3 327″ to restore, so its always good to hear others experience’s with specifications.
The thought of a 5 speed box is nice compared with the B-W, and I am guessing the 5th is close to an overdrive. And it copes with the grunt of the US V8 ?
Is the 4 carb intake the side draft weber cross ram intake?
Niels, the ZF S5-325 is an extremely tough gearbox and saw service in period in Astons, and Maseratis as well as ISOs. My car has the standard Holley carburettor setup. To the best of my knowledge, no GL Grifos were equipped with 4 side-draft Webers in period, though the ISO Rivolta GT had this as an option. I have attached a picture of the Rivolta GT that received the donor engine and gearbox from my Grifo. Not the geared together throttles in the very special Bizzarrini manifold.
Peter, Do you know where the Bizzarrini manifold originated from ? was it their own design or the same as used on the Grand Sport Corvette ?
Niels, my understanding is that the manifold was a Bizzarrini designed manifold which was used on the Iso Grifo A3/Cs when equipped with Webers. The accelerator linkage looks quite different on the Bizzarrini manifold than the Corvette one though the designs is contemporaneous.