Concours of Elegance 2025: Pre-War Cars

Welcome back to my coverage of the 2025 Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace.

The definition of pre-war I use for this blog is simply built prior to 1945 – so we’re actually going to be looking at a wide range of vehicles today ranging back to the brass/Edwardian era. I know that technically brass and veteran cars are their own category, but for these posts I find it makes sense to lump them all in together.

We’ll start with this MG PA Airline Coupe.

Carbodies built a run of 51 of these Airline Coupes as a option for those who wanted the performance and driving characteristics of an MG but with a solid roof.

As the same suggests, coachbuilders in the 1930s were very much inspired by the aerodynamic shapes forged by the growing aviation industry, which appealed to the types of people who could afford coachbuilt cars – when flying was very much a pleasure of the higher classes.

William Arnold Ltd of Manchester were a coachbuilding company who were experimenting with aerodynamic bodywork through their ‘Slipstream’ and ‘Airline’ range of bodies.

Bentley had this 3.5 litre chassis dressed by William Arnold for the 1935 Olympia Motor Exhibition.

The car was originally painted either an off-white or light grey but unfortunately the true colour has been lost from the annals of history. William Arnold often painted cars lighter colours, so the sage and cream is in keeping with the original builder’s tastes. I think the colours really suit the car too!

There were a number of other Bentleys’ on show.

The most notable for me was UU 5872. I did a bit of a deep dive on this car in my post covering the racing cars of the show, which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2025/09/07/concours-of-elegance-2025-racing-cars/ but the long of the short of it is that I built Airfix’s 1/12 Blower as UU 5872 some years ago, and it’s one of the most frequently read articles I’ve ever written, so the car holds a special place in my heart. (You can read that build here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2021/12/17/airfix-112-bentley-blower/)

Of course we can’t have Bentley without Rolls-Royce

HOE 1 (great number plate!) is a 1934 Phantom II Continental Sports Saloon.

Another Phantom II, this one with a body by Park Ward. Presented to us by Essex based Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialists P&A Wood

A 1925 Silver Ghost with a Piccadilly Roadster body.

Finally from Rolls Royce with have the magnificent 1926 Phantom I ‘The Phantom of Love’.

This incredible automobile was commissioned by Clarence Gasque, the financial director of the UK arm of Woolworth & Co, for his wife (who was the heiress of the Woolworth fortune).

Gasque and his wife had visited the Victoria & Albert Museum in London where on display was a sedan chair that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. The couple were smitten with the seat, and that acted as the inspiration for the car’s palatial interior.

Gasque appraoched Charles Clark & Son to build the car with the emphasis that cost was not a consideration, which was fortunate as it set him back £6500 (the average price of a house in the U.K was £500 at the time!)

Ladies – you’re getting upset over a man who wanted to split the bill with you at a restaurant, meanwhile Clarence Gasque is out here treating his wife to a handbuilt car that cost the same as 13 houses. You can find better sister!

‘The Phantom of Love’ did take the best of show trophy home, which I think is very well deserved.

There were a pair of Lagondas.

There were a couple of Packards from the far side of the pond. Firstly – a beautiful 1912 Model 48 Phaeton.

Along with an 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible from 1934.

This car was originally ordered by Louise Arner Boyd, the sole heiress of John Franklin Boyd’s fortune (John Boyd co-owned a gold mine in a town called Bodie which is near the California/Nevada border).

Louise would become an explorer of the Arctic and Greenland (note the polar bear radiator cap).

In 1937 she published Polish Countrysides which featured more than 500 photographs of, believe it or not, the Polish countryside. A lot of the images featured the Packard and these photographs would be an important source of information during the car’s restoration along with 200 original blueprints from Dietrich.

The restoration itself was carried out by LaVine Restorations in Nappanee, Indiana. More than 10,000 hours were spent working on the car and documenting it over a period of multiple years.

Also from the States was a supercharged Auburn 851 brought along by the Beaulieu Motor Museum.

There was also this very traditional hot-rod which looked fantastic!

Travelling over the channel now to France and we have the 1936 Delahaye Type 135 M presented to us by The Pearl Collection.

The Rally Grandsport Type S also got a long feature in my race cars post.

As did the Bugatti Type 13

As well as the Type 13 there were also two Type 57s.

The first was a 1940 Type 57 Atalante.

The car was originally purchased as a rolling chassis by coach builder Letourneur Et Marchand in January 1939 and was first registered in February 1940. In May 1940 Germany invaded France and it is believed that the car was hidden from the occupiers, although the history remains cloudy. The car was acquired by French sculptor James Jacques Brown in the early 1950s who built a new body it.

In 1994 the current owner Mark Lowther took custody of the car and it has been restored over the last two decades. This was it’s first public show!

The second was a Type 57 Stelvio.

The Stelvio is Bugatti’s four seat cabriolet named after the Passo dello Stelvio – a mountain pass in northern Italy. The bodies were made by Gangloff who made each one slightly different.

Bugatti and Gangloff produced around 80 Stelvios of which 17 have not been found.

Finally in the French section of this post we have my personal favourite car of the show – a 1907 De Dion Bouton Type AX with a landaulet body.

The car had been found in a “semi-derelict” state and has been loving bought back to life by Autohistoric and Fairbourne Carriages for the owner.

It’s had a few upgrades to help it cope better with modern traffic and has been used on trips around the U.K and in Europe.

Note the unusual left to right leaf spring with the little damper at each end. I’ve not seen that set up on my travels before!

The interior was gorgeous!

There were a couple of Italian cars. This is an 8C. I recently learnt that the cars painted red were cars used in competition and white cars were development cars.

There was also this lovely little Fiat 508S Balilla.

The handbook on the Merlin engine on the passenger seat was a nice touch.

Finally we have a Lanchester 18 Sports Saloon that was once owned by King George VI who was a a Lanchester devotee!

The car was the King’s personal car until his death in 1952.

Thanks for reading!

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By Richard Francis.