Estoril Classics 2019 Part III – The Concours d’Elegance

One of the most enjoyable parts of the Estoril Classics event is the ACP Concours d’Elegance. Now, it’s certainly not a massive affair, but there’s always something neat parked at the Casino’s gardens.

Before going any further though, a note: the weather was…unstable…to say the least. One minute the sun was shining bright and the next it looked like night had fallen. This makes some pictures which were taken seconds apart seem like they were snapped on completely different days, so bare with us on that aspect.

We’ll take a look at the more modern stuff first and then get into the pre-war cars afterwards. In the small but badass category, the Renault 5 Turbo 2 and the BMW 2002 Turbo were especially noteworthy. If you’re as much into rare Lancias as we are, you’ll be glad to see two Zagato specials: a beautiful Flaminia Super Sport and preciously tiny Appia. A 300SL Gullwing with racing pedigree and fantastic looking Roadster were also very welcome additions to the event, as were two Speedsters, two Maserati Sebring (a Series I and a Series II) and a seldom seen Facel Vega FV2B.

As far as pre-war cars, the undisputed star of the show was the absolutely massive Hispano-Suiza H6C Torpedo (sadly shown here with its rain, mini tent cover thingy on). Equipped with an 8L straight 6 and fitted with a competition style body, this particular example was ordered by legendary con artist and refined bamboozler Artur Alves dos Reis. If you don’t know who that is, take a moment to Google it because Alves dos Reis was responsible for one the biggest frauds ever committed and the way he pulled it off was as simple as it is fascinating. Reis, as one does when one as hundreds of thousands of [semi]fake bills printed, ordered himself two Hispano-Suizas but ended up never taking delivery of either one because by the time the cars were completed, the jig was up and he was in jail.

Besides the H6C, a couple of other rarities caught our attention, namely the Caramulo Museum’s stylish Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio, a gorgeous Mercedes 320 Cabriolet A Special, a very nice 3 Litre Bentley Tourer and of course, we couldn’t possibly overlook the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport, a stunner from a time when Alfa wasn’t even making its own bodyworks yet and, in the case of the 1750 GS, leaving that job in Zagato’s very capable hands.

In order to make it a particularly nice send-off, we’ll finish part III of the Estoril Classics 2019 coverage with some fetching Rolls Royces. There were some great examples on the lawn; the Silver Ghost was, of course, notable but the rolling chassis stole the show simply because it exists.