Post-war classics at the Antwerp Concours

As with most Concours, the fleet of the Antwerp Concours d’Elegance is divided into classes. Therefore classics are competing in their own weight within a particular group. Following the modern and contemporary supercars presented in the intro article, this article will present some pretty spectacular post-war classics.

The best part of these Concours is still the jury’s work when the members in their distinctive uniforms start the inspect the cars, and the owners open up the cars and start the engine. Seeing classic legends like prewar Bugattis and post-war Ferrari 250 being revived is a whole different ballgame than looking at a few brand-new hypercars in the grass…

Arriving from the entrance, the garden’s fleet kicks off with an astonishing frontline of classics selected into the category of post-war European exotica (1945-1955).

I was sure that the Black Delahaye would take this category effortlessly. I was, in fact, wrong., but only slightly as the 1948 Delahaye 135M Cabriolet Figoni & Falaschi ‘El Glaoui’ won the best of the show award.

The ide of the 20^th century was not particularly kind to the French car industry. What was not appropriated by Third Reich and survived allied bombings had to satisfy the post-war reconstruction needs.

Delahaye resumed production with the revised 135M, an evolution of the prewar model featuring an upgraded 3,5-litre six-cylinder engine peaking at 160 horsepower.

Following the prewar tradition, Delahaye commissioned the greatest French coachbuilders such as Chapron, Franay, and Letourner & Marchand for tailor-made 135M chassis.

The most iconic version of all is the rolling sculpture created by Figoni et Falaschi, a design that became one with the model’s iconic Art Deco presence.

I also had high hopes for the next car, the Pegaso, another iconic model of the post-war European coachbuilding.

Pegaso was a Spanish company noted for its trucks and motor coaches and also produced high-end sports cars for a short but memorable period of seven years.

Pegaso’s chief technical manager was Wifredo Ricart, who earned a reputation as chief engineer at Alfa Romeo during the prewar years. For the history of the brand and its iconic sportscar, I recommend revisiting the article on Autoworld’s 70 years of Pegaso exhibition.

This particular Pegaso I could already witness at the Bonhams Paris auction last year.

The blue 1952 Z-102 Cabriolet was coachbuilt by the factory ENASA studio. Personally, I am not so fond of it, as the iconic yellow Cupula (exhibited at the Louwman Museum) or the red Thrill.

The green 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 was another breath-taking beauty, but judging from the jury’s reaction to the engine bay, I suspected that it would not win awards here.

The red 1955 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport Luxe is undoubtedly an incredibly cool car, with its inline-six 4.5-litre engine, and to my surprise, this was not the best car of the line-up.

In fact, it was the red 1956 Arnolt Bristol Deluxe S Bertone that claimed victory. These cars owe their existence to Chicago-based foreign car importer S. H. “Wacky” Arnolt. He imported custom-bodied cars built for him by Italian coachbuilder Bertone.

I am not sure if it was launched in the same class, but there was a blue 1961 Warwick GT 350, a model respawned from the defunct British Peerless Cars.

The next category was dedicated to the 70year Lancia Aurelia with 5 beautiful specimens from the brand’s post-war golden age.

The line-up included two Aurelia Spider B24 Convertibles, and the 1957 blue one got the best of class. The event thus gave me another chance to replenish my photos on the B24, since the my camera was tricked by the lighting of Lukas Hüni’s Lancia stage at Retromobile 2019.

The Lancia Aurelia Spider was produced only for two years, in 1954-1955, and thus a total of 240 cars were built. It combined state of the art tech with Pininfarina styling making it an iconic car of Italy’s Dolce Vita period. The Cabriolet was a small series production from 1955 onwards.

All these factors result now in auction prices north of 1.5 million euros.

The 1954 Aurelia B20 is also a fine classic and was paired with two four-doors Aurelias.

Another class worth highlighting was the category of Ferraris designed by Pininfarina. This section was really comprehensive in terms of epochs and layouts.

This line-up was large and diverse, so the winner would surely get a shot at the best of the show title, so I thought…

The red 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe takes prime stages at the grandest auctions, but not here, though.

The category winner was the steel grey 1954 Ferrari 250GT Europa. A beautiful masterpiece of that era.

My money was indeed on the blue 1960 250 Short-Wheel-Base version, and I wasn’t alone, as the car won the prize of the public.

As for the rest, there were a few more recent Ferraris, like a Daytona, Dino, a Testarossa and an almost contemporary F12.

Porsche is probably the most ubiquitous brand of the classic car world, and the backyard of the Chateau clearly reflected that.

The category of Porsche Speedsters & Spiders encompassed over a dozen cars from the early 550 models up to the latest 911 Speedster.

In addition to a selection of race cars, there was a selection of micro and bubble cars to complement the supercar madness of the event.

One car I would particularly highlight from this category is the 1956 DKW Apal.

Here we take another break before we continue with the prewar cars…