From the 21st to the 23rd April 2022, the organisers of the coveted Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance at Blenheim Palace introduced their new London based show on the lawns of the Royal Chelsea Hospital.
It’s a unique show with both manufacturers unveiling their latest hypercars and prestigious classic car dealers entering cars into the ‘Concours de Vente’ – a bespoke concours in which every car shown has to be available for sale from an established dealer.
All other concours events are only open to privately owned cars, so this style of event gives the dealers the opportunity to prepare and enter a car to the competition.
We’ll start today’s article with some of my personal highlights from the concours display and then we’ll make our way to the newer cars and some of the other interesting bits around the show.
Lets start with the 1934 Bentley Barnato Hassan special. The car was built for Bentley ex-chairman Woolf Barnato solely to take the outer lap record at Brooklands. It competed in 25 races in its’ pre-war career and broke the lap record several times- officially at 142.6mph and unofficially at 143.1mph in September 1938.
I love the simple lever valve to open and close the fuel line!
Jaguar E-Type Lightweight Low-Drag Competition Coupe built by Lynx.
This little screen on the front is a rather odd feature. If anyone knows what it’s for, please let me know!
Joe Macari are a name that I’ve seen at a lot of different shows and they always bring out a quality line up of cars. I’d love to have a look around their showroom one day.
Dylan Miles presented this lovely Aston Martin ‘Oscar India’ V8 Vantage. Note the blanked off front grill.
There were a pair of stunning 300SLs. A Gullwing coupe with a very unusual tartan interior presented by DD Classics.
The other was this beautiful jade convertible with dark green wheels, roof and interior.
Porsche 959 from 24/7 Online Auctions
Delahaye 135.
There was also a huge collection of Minis. These were in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year.
H. R. Owen is a luxury car retailer with showrooms across the U.K. They deal in a number of high value marques and had a large presence at the show.
On their Ferrari stand they had a SP2 Monza. The first one of the Icona Monzas I’ve seen in person and I’m pleased to say it’s as good looking in person as it is in photos and videos. It looks incredibly fun to drive!
The 296 GTB made its’ U.K debut at Salon Privé. Plug in hybrid, 818bhp and rear wheel driven.
They also had the SP3 Daytona. It was very popular on the day, and its’ most certainly a striking thing!
On the Bugatti stand, H. R. Owen brought a Chiron.
They also brought a Chiron Pur Sport; the light-weight, track focused version of the Chiron.
The Veyron. I know the Chiron is technically the better car, but I’d still have the original Veyron if for some reason I was able to justify owning a modern Bugatti. It was an engineering marvel when it was released and it holds a special place in my heart.
H. R. Owen also had a Lamborghini stand:
They also brought out Maserati’s new MC20, which looked very elegant and understated in the grey.
A little further along was Aston Martin London/Stratstone’s stand.
They had this beautiful DBS Zagato taking centre stage. It’s one of only 19 cars so incredibly exclusive, but still very useable with it’s GT style layout. This would be a great car to take on the Gumball Rally.
Performance luxury SUVs seem to be the ‘in thing’ at the moment. This is Aston Martin’s DBX707.
If you want to actually take your SUV off road, then the Prodrive Hunter may be more your thing. Built to tackle the steepest of sand dunes and the roughest of mountain tracks. It means business!
Overfinch’s heritage line really impressed me. They’re beautifully restored and tastefully enhanced. They really managed to keep the original feel of these old Range Rovers whilst making them a little more livable.
Why cross rough terrain though when you could just fly over it? The Pal-V Liberty is a car that turns into a helicopter.
If you fancied being flown rather than flying there were a couple of private helicopters for sale. They’re much nicer inside than the Hueys and Blackhawks that have featured on this blog before. A nice way to travel!
If you prefer to have your feet on solid ground and want to be taken from place to place then Clive Sutton has the solution for you.
I completely ignored this stand as from a distance it looked to contain a GT500 (which I didn’t photograph, I’m sorry!) a Mercedes van and a London Taxi. It’s only when I glanced inside that I realised the van and taxi were actually rather luxurious inside, and that this was a way for the elite to cross the city without drawing any unwanted attention. Very nice!
Now to something that will draw a lot of attention. The Koenigsegg Agera. This is the first Koenigsegg that I’ve actually seen in person. I want one. Especially in the coloured carbon. It looks so good!
Though it’s been in production for a year or so now, this is the first time I’ve seen the Automobili Pininfarina Battista in person. Hopefully the first in a long line up of electric vehicles for the subsidiary of the famous design house.
Slovenian based Tushek unveiled their latest hypercar the TS900 Apex. It boasts a 1:1 power to weight ratio at 1351hp and 1343kg.
I’ve saved the best for last. This is Aston Martin’s Valkyrie AMR Pro.
Valkyrie is a track oriented hybrid hyper car built in collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing.
The AMR Pro is a heavily, heavily modified version of Valkyrie, built without the inhibitions of road legalities. It’s been stretched 380mm with the front track widened by 96mm at the front and 115mm at the rear. The aerodynamics of the car have been revised and the AMR produces twice as much downforce as the road going variant.
Hopefully my pictures show some of the shapes and trickery going on with the aerodynamics of this car.
I would absolutely love to see one run in person. Hopefully some of the 40 cars being built will see proper use at the track.
Salon Privé was a really nice day out. It was a great opportunity to get close to some really special cars at an event with a really nice atmosphere. Hopefully I’ll be able to come again next year!
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By Richard Francis
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