The
Best of Show award at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2019 went
to the 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer
of Sir Michael Kadoorie of Hong Kong, founder of The Quail, and Peninsula Classics Best of the Best award.
of Sir Michael Kadoorie of Hong Kong, founder of The Quail, and Peninsula Classics Best of the Best award.
Tom O'Neal/©Rolex/Tom O'Neal
Bentley celebrates 100 years by taking the world's most prestigious concours.
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the world's most prestigious and best known concours event by some margin, having grown out of the post-war Pebble Beach races on the Monterey Peninsula, and since then it has created its very own ecosystem in the form of Monterey Car Week.
Last Sunday, August 18, 2019 saw 216 classic cars from 17 countries and 31 states assembled on the 17th and 18th holes of the Pebble Beach Golf Course for the 69th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and not surprisingly, Bentley triumphed in its centenary year, with a 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer, owned by Sir Michael Kadoorie of Hong Kong, taking out the Best of Show award.
"The Centennial of Bentley may have played a role in this award," Kadoorie said, "but the 8 Litre is the ultimate W. O. Bentley–era automobile. This is the car that represents Bentley at its finest, and I have been very fortunate to have a car that has this elegance and finish, and that the Pebble Beach Concours feels is worthy."
Sir Michael hopes and imagines W. O. Bentley was looking down on the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach, feeling proud of his accomplishment and his company’s centennial celebration. “This is a high I have not known before,” he said.
The Best of Show award contenders come from the class winners (listed below), and those cars were distilled down to four contenders for the world's best known award, though there is some irony that the man whose car won the award, Sir Michael Kadoorie, is the co-founder of The Quail, a motorsport Gathering, which is held in Monterey on the Friday prior to the Pebble Beach Concours, and the Peninsula Classics Best-of-the-Best Award, which is in effect fast becoming the defacto world concours championship.
Sir Michael is now in the position to win the award he founded, as a win in Pebble Beach makes him one of the eight entrants in the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best award next February in Paris.
Bentleys were in plentiful supply at Pebble Beach with some gorgeous examples gracing the lawns and taking part in the Tour D'Elegance, with this 1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Pourtout Aerodynamic Coupe from the Keller Collection at The Pyramids being one of the stand-outs, ..........MUCH MORE
Slide show: View 65 Images
If interested see also two posts from 2016's Concours:
When Driving is a Thing of the Past: The Beautiful Cars of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Could Represent The End of an Era
The Pebble Beach Concours ain’t just for browsing anymore: The rich are there to buy, buy, buy
