Automotive anniversaries are a thankful topic for any concours d’elegance, and this year, the Zoute Concours featured five major categories celebrating anniversaries of legendary models. The models include classics like the 70-year-old year Alfa 1900 and the iconic Jaguar E-type that celebrated its 60th birthday this year.
The 50-year-old Countach and Citroen SM are also well-respected classics by now. On the other hand, the 40 years old Quattro brought a pinch of modernism with its rectangular design into the immense field of the Zoute Golf Club.
Of course, don’t expect some average joes for this Concours, as most cars were coachbuilt unique versions, and each would steal the show at brand meets.
The 70th anniversary of the Alfa 1900 was honoured with rare exotics
The Alfa Romeo 1900 was a true milestone for the iconic Italian brand, as the marque’s first real production car, built entirely on an assembly line. Following the 1959 amendments of the Italian traffic regulation (yes, there is such a thing 🙂 ), it was the first Alfa Romeo offered with a left-hand drive layout. It was also the first production car without a separate chassis, giving a hard time to the legendary Italian coachbuilders, who provided tailor-made bodywork for the wealthy customers.
This was a severe concern, as the unibody chassis design threatened the very existence of the legendary Italian carrozzerie. At the same time, Alfa Romeo did not forget about its long-standing allies and built five different variations of the 1900 unibody chassis specifically for independent coachbuilders. The Zoute Concours honoured them with four rare coachbuilt specimens.
The first one is a dark blue 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Corto Gara Stradale, one of the few coupés built on the Corto (Short) 1900 platform. This specimen is one of 11 Corto Gara models built, and three of them were Stradale (road legal) versions (and only two survived).
The lightweight Corto Gara was built exclusively for racing with Plexi rear windows and a purpose-built dashboard. At the same time, the boot lid was fixed, and the bumpers were removed.
The better-equipped road-legal Corto Gara Stradale versions featured luxuries like tubular bumpers, lightweight door panels, Plexiglas windows, an abbreviated boot lid, and cockpit ventilation.
The second one is a green 1954 1900 CSS Touring. This Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS is constructed using the patented Touring Superleggera construction of aluminium body panels wrapped around a tube frame.
The third car is a red 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Zagato. Elio Zagato purchased this 1900C chassis in September 1954 and furnished it with lightweight aluminium coachwork and a very… ahem… particular design 🙂 .
The new body featured a sculpted nose and bulged hood with dual inlets designed to clear the higher-profile Weber carburettors of the 115 bhp 2.0 DOHC inline four-cylinder engine.
The 1900 SSZ featured a five-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension, hydraulic shock absorbers, independent rear suspension, and four-wheel drum brakes.
The last one is a red 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900C SS Coupe Ghia. This coachbuilt Alfa was designed by Giovanni Savonuzzi at Ghia and is one of 9 produced and one of only 6 remaining cars.
The E-Type’s 60th birthday is among the most celebrated anniversaries of the year
One of the anniversary highlights of 2021 proved to be the 60th anniversary of the E-Type. This model became a featured topic of several museums and events, including this exhibition. I am not going into much detail, as we wrote extensively about model history in the article covering Autoworld’s E-Type exhibition this summer.
Autoworld threw a birthday party for the 60 years old E-Type
Unlike in Autoworld, the lineup is limited to the pure forms of E-Types, and the six cars cover all factory-built production versions.
The Countach changed supercars forever
The birthday boy is an automotive icon of the ’80s and also of the Lamborghini car company. The Countach was a breakthrough achievement of the wedge-shaped design by star designer Marcello Gandini.
Suffice to say that Lamborghini still offers a Countach-like, flat, mid-engine model since then (while many other models flopped or went extinct). Each model was breathtaking at its time and successfully reinterpreted but also honoured Gandini’s original idea. To celebrate this icon, a selection of four cars were showcased to illustrate the four generations of the Countach model.
The first car is an early steel grey 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP 400, with the production number 15. This concrete car was shown at the 1975 Turin car show. Following several owners, the car was recommissioned in Italy under the supervision of the legendary Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni.
The second car is a yellow 1982 500S. This evolution of the Countach arrived after the takeover by the Minram brothers. In 1980, Lamborghini deployed a massive five-litre V12 to counter new competitors.
They also furnished an imposing new bodywork, with body-coloured wheel arch extensions and a new front bumper with a front spoiler. Nearly 400 specimens were built between March 1982 and March 1985.
The third car is a red 1985 Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole.
The 1985 facelift brought another engine upgrade to a 5.2 Litre V12 and an enhanced injection system. The redesigned body used Kevlar materials more intensively. Some 600 cars were built in this specification.
The last car is a yellow Countach 25th Anniversario edition. This ultimate version of the Countach was not drawn by Marcello Gandini but by penned by Horacio Pagani.
The 25th anniversary of Lamborghini Automobili was celebrated in the presence of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini and Lee Iacocca, then Chrysler CEO.
