Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2005 August 21st, 2005

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'Best of Show' 2005 - 1937 Delage D8-120 S Pourtout Aéro Coupe, owners Sam & Emily Mann & Alfredo Brener.

" If it goes by swiftly and silently, it must be a Delage " was a common phrase in the 30s in Europe. Louis Delage studied the fine arts at the renowned École Nationale d'Arts et Métiers at Angers in the late 19th century, which influenced the automobiles he would create nearly half a century later. Delage automobiles with coachworks by Letourneur & Marchand, Figoni & Falaschi, Labourdette, Chapron, Saoutchik, DeVillars and Paulin dominated the Concours d'Elegance of that era. This Aéro Coupe was designed by Georges Paulin - the chief stylist of Pourtout - and executed within only seven month, and in time to being displayed at the Paris Auto Salon in October of that year.

Pininfarina 75th Anniversary Historical Display

1931 Cadillac 452A Pinin Farina Roadster.	1949 Cisitalia 202SC Pinin Farina Cabriolet.	1956 Ferrari 410 SA Superfast Pinin Farina.
Battista "Pinin" Farina was born in 1893 as the tenth of eleven children, which gained him his middle name Pinin, meaning "the small one" or "baby of the family". In 1905, he joined his older brother Giovanni at Stablimenti Industriali Farina S.A., a body repair shop. By 1930, he had enough experiences and knowledge - as well as reputation - to found his own company: the S.A. Carrozzeria Pinin Farina. His first client in 1930 was Vincenzo Lancia, and in 1931 he was commissioned by the Maharaja of Orcha to create a roadster on a Cadillac V16 chassis. Commissions for Alfa Romeo followed and the company grew until the war brought the development to a sudden halt. Within months of the end of the war, he continued his work for Lancia and Alfa Romeo. Being excluded from the Paris Auto Show of 1946, he displayed his creations - a Lancia Aprilia and an Alfa Romeo 2500 - across the street from the show's entrance, stirring a sensation. Next was the display of a Cisitalia 202 Coupe at the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance in 1947. In 1948, Max Hoffman - who would later initiate the production of the Porsche Speedster and the distribution of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in the US - showcased the Cisitalia 202 Pinin Farina Coupe at his New York Park Avenue showroom. Only four years later, a 202 would go on permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300b Pinin Farina Coupe.	1963 Nash Healey Pinin Farina Roadster.	1965 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL Pininfarina Coupe, the Springer Pagoda.

Alfa Romeo Historical Display

1953 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 5 with a design by Bertone.	1955 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 9 1954 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7 1953 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 5.	1954 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7 another Bertone design.
The Società Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili or ALFA started out in 1910 in the vicinity of Milan on an industrial site called Il Portello. Giuseppe Merosi, the chief designer in the early years, designed the first ALFA, a sturdy four-cylinder automobil with 24 horsepower. The first attempt to enter Grand Prix racing was made in 1914 - even though ALFA did not manage to compete internationally, mostly due to the outbreak of World War I. In 1915, the situation dired and ALFA went into receivership. The engineer and industrialist Nicola Romeo came to the rescue and integrated ALFA into his own company. Following World War I, all produced automobiles would bear the new name Alfa Romeo.