One of the many great sights at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was a pair of unique Ferraris lined up side by side that had both been commissioned by the Belgian royal family. Ordered for King Leopold himself was this 375 Plus Pinin Farina Cabriolet. It shares its underpinnings with Ferrari's 1954 Le Mans winner and is the only one of eight chassis produced that received a luxurious, road-going body. Power comes from a formidable 5-litre V12 engine that pumps out well over 300 bhp. The one-off body is crafted by Pinin Farina and combines classic elegance with modern cues that would later appear on other 'production' Ferraris like the covered headlights. Owned by the same collector since 1969, it is only very rarely seen in public. It starred at Pebble Beach after a full restoration, which was awarded with two major trophies. You can judge the result by yourself by going through our 12-shot gallery of the spectacular machine.
Of slightly earlier vintage is the 250 Europa GT Vignale Coupe, which was first owned by Belgian's Princess Liliane de Rethy. This striking machine was the second ever 250 GT produced and the penultimate Ferrari clothed by Vignale. Combining a two-tone finish and remarkably understated lines, it is more elegant than most Vignale bodied Ferraris of the period. Following its Belgian royal ownership, the car spent many years in the United States until joining the Kroymans collection in 1989. The current owner acquired the Vignale Coupe recently and had it completely restored ahead of brining it to Pebble Beach. As can be seen in our 12-shot gallery, he also exercised the car during the Tour d'Elegance.

Arguably the most desirable prize in the classic car world, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 'Best of Show' award was won last week by this Mercedes-Benz 680 S Saoutchik Torpedo Roadster. Combining the the sophisticated chassis and engine developed by Ferdinand Porsche with the ever striking lines of Jacques Saoutchik, it was certainly a well deserved winner. The car was one of around a dozen built with this style and was originally ordered by an American who did not take delivery. To add to its appeal, Mercedes-Benz had the car re-painted and it has been yellow ever since, until the recent restoration by Paul Russell. For a vast majority of that period, the car was owned by the same family. The current owner only very recently acquired the car and is the fourth custodian. During the Concours d'Elegance and earlier Tour d'Elegance, we captured every angle of the Saoutchik Torpedo. This has allowed us to create this 30-shot gallery, which serves a detailed article covering both the type's and chassis' complete history.
With some imagination, the new Porsche 911 Carrera 4 can be considered a distant descendent of aforementioned Mercedes-Benz. Based on the new '991' generation of the 911, it is slated as a major step forward. Compared to the outgoing four-wheel drive model, the new Carrera 4 boasts a longer wheelbase, yet is considerably lighter. Like the rear-wheel drive version, the latest addition to the 911 range is available as both a Coupe and a Cabriolet. For body styles there is also the choice of engines between the 'base' 350 hp variant or the 400 hp 'S'.

One of the founding events of the Monterey classic car week is the historic race meeting at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, known these days as the Monterey Motorsports Reunion. While the name has changed in recent years, the event is still very much the same in spirit and execution and remains as one of the absolute highlights of the historic racing calendar. At this year's edition the Shelby Cobra's fiftieth anniversary took centre stage. The highlight of the celebrations was a special Cobra race, with no fewer than 41 entrants. This was more than a fitting tribute to the car's legendary creator, Carroll Shelby, who recently passed away. The Cobra race was just one of 17 races on the busy schedule. These were open to a wide variety of cars ranging from the earliest pioneer racers to much more recent IMSA GTPs and disc-brake Stock Cars. Among the many stars of this year's Reunion were one of the National team cars that raced in the inaugural Indy 500, the actual Chevron B16 that Brian Redman raced to a debut victory at the Nurburgring and drove once again at Laguna Seca, and a full flock of Lola T70s sporting some of the most evocative liveries.
Our photographers were at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for as much as the notoriously busy classic car week schedule allowed. The result is this concise report, illustrated by an action-packed 270-shot gallery with at least ten shots of each of the 17 race groups.

At last week's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, BMW surprised the world with the introduction of the Zagato Roadster; most expected the German manufacturer to bring the Coupe version that had been introduced earlier this year. In fact, even the official program listed the Coupe instead of the similarly styled Roadster.
Next month the biennial Mondial de l'Automobile will be held in Paris. Among the new cars due in the French capital is the all-new Range Rover. Even though it looks and is bigger than the outgoing model, the new car is actually as much as 420kg lighter thanks to the use of exotic materials. No further technical details have been released other than that the Range Rover will be available with a choice of a petrol V8 and both V6 and V8 diesel engines. Bentley will use the Paris show to reveal the Mulsanne Convertible Concept. Based on the opulent four-door Mulsanne sedan, the show car could very well be followed by a production version. It would be the replacement for the Azure, which was discontinued back in 2008.
From Down Under news reached us of the 'most hard-core GT' yet produced by Ford Special Vehicles (FPV). Dubbed the RSPEC, this limited production model is based on the current generation GT. With this high performance sedan, it shares the BOSS 335 V8, which produces around 450 bhp. What set it apart is the optimised suspension, which has further improved the GT's handling. Production is limited to just 350 examples.
In the last week, Toyota Motorsport GmbH have announced two competition versions of Toyota production models. Aimed at the entry level of rallying is the Yaris R1A. Despite its modest price of just EUR 22,500, it is eligible for all the major national and international championships, including the World Rally Championship. Also targeting racers with a limited budget is the GT 86 CS-V3. It has been built to comply with the German long distance championship (VLN), which is based around the Nurburgring. As with the Yaris R1A, most modifications have focused on handling, safety features and weight saving.

This Sunday the Monterey Motoring Week had its traditional climax at the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Lodge golf course. The 62nd annual Concours d'Elegance had various featured themes, which included the 50th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra, Saoutchik Coachwork, Cars of the Maharajas, Mercer and Fiat. The entrants of these classes formed but a fraction of the over 200 cars and motorcycles that graced the finely manicured field. They were subjected to the scrutiny of the judges and also of the thousands of keen enthusiasts that ventured to the exclusive Pebble Beach Lodge. The event had actually already kicked off a few days earlier with the traditional Tour d'Elegance, which saw a remarkably large number of entrants exercise their highly valuable machines on the public roads.
Our photographers were on hand to capture every aspect of this ever impressive event. The result is a detailed report, illustrated by a 70-shot gallery of the Tour and a 310-shot gallery of the Concours.
In the coming days and weeks, you can expect in-depth features of the stars of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and also further reports from the other events and auctions that were also held on the Monterey Peninsula.

This weekend's Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is very much a salute to the late Carroll Shelby with the 50th anniversary of his Cobra taking centre stage. In the paddock of the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca a big tent has been erected where some of the most important Cobras are displayed. Earlier today, Shelby American and the Ford Motor Company revealed a tribute car in this tent. Dubbed the Shelby GT500 Cobra, this one-off is based on the recently updated GT500 Mustang. Finished in the famous metallic blue with white stripes, the spectacular machine boasts a wider body and a modified V8 engine which produces in excess of 850 bhp. In the coming months the GT500 Cobra will be taken on a tour around the country and most likely auctioned for charity. Ford also announced that a street running through the heart of the Ford Development Center in Dearborn has been renamed the Carroll Shelby Way.
At the nearby Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, McLaren Special Operations took the wraps off their first one-off creation. Known as the X-1 the MP4-12C based machine features unique lines penned by McLaren's Hong Yeo. It was built to special order from a client that already owned a McLaren F1 and a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. Although the design was inspired by several classic show and production cars, it is thoroughly futuristic. Today's debut will most likely be the McLaren X-1 Concept's only public appearance before it joins its owner's collection.
We are on the Monterey Peninsula this week and in the coming days and weeks you can expect detailed reports from both the Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Quail, a Motorsports Gathering.

At this weekend's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, McLaren Automotive will celebrate the achievements of Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup with the release of the MP4-12C Can-Am Edition. Built by the company's racing subsidiary, McLaren GT, the one-off is a non road legal design study. Compared to the 'standard' MP4-12C, it features a competition-inspired bodykit, lower weight and at 630 bhp, a more powerful engine. Like McLaren's legendary Can-Am racers of the past, the new MP4-12C Can-Am Edition is finished in 'papaya orange'.
Serving as the traditional warm-up for the Monterey Motoring Week, the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca hosted the Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion this past weekend. As the name suggests, it gives participants of the upcoming Motorsports Reunion additional time on the undulating track. As always so many drivers used this opportunity, that the entry list would rival that of many national and international events. Among the many exciting machines that starred were a Ferrari 250 LM driven at the limit, fire-breathing rotary Mazdas and one of the National team cars that competed in the first ever Indy 500. We were trackside throughout the weekend and have created a 130-shot gallery, featuring each of the 12 groups that were out on track.

With most of the major companies hosting a sale, the annual Monterey Motoring Week is key for the auctioneers. Behind the scenes, they have worked hard for many months to consign the very best cars. This year they succeeded again with gem-packed catalogs across the board. Today we take a look at a selection of cars that will cross the block later in the week.
One of the most spectacular machines on sale is this unique Plymouth XNR. Built in 1960, the show car was named after designer Virgil Exner and explored the possibility of a Plymouth sports car. Ultimately the asymmetric machine remained a one-off and was sold to Europe. It has since survived a revolution and a civil war before finally resurfacing at Amelia last year. We captured the XNR both on the Pebble Beach Tour and during the Concours d'Elegance. Other stars of the RM sale are this Ferrari 410 S, the 2004 Pebble winning Horch 853 A, a rare Porsche 904/6 and the ex-Ginger Rogers Duesenberg J.
Bonhams meanwhile decided to focus on sports and racing cars for their 15th annual auction on the Monterey Peninsula. Their sale is headlined by the final McLaren F1 GTR Longtail produced. Sporting legendary Gulf colours, the chassis on offer (28R) was raced during the second half of the 1997 season. It has been restored by the factory and has since seen little use. This weekend we ran into the car and added it to our gallery, which now comprises of 36 shots of five different examples.
According to David Gooding, his company's annual auction has the strongest line-up ever. He could very well be right and some of the highlights include this unique Bugatti Type 55, the 1999 Pebble winning Daimler Double Six, the Maserati A6G Frua Coupe from the collection of Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay and the recently restored Ferrari 857 Sport.

At the upcoming Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Shelby Cobra will be the main feature. Due the sad passing of their creator, Carroll Shelby, three months ago, the occasion will also serve as a tribute to the 'Texas chicken farmer's' many contributions to the world of motorsport. As a warm up, we have today taken a closer look at one of his creations; the King Cobra. Like the legendary Cobra, this sports racer was a hybrid of a British chassis and a Ford V8 drivetrain. In this case, the base car was a Cooper T61M, which was developed specifically to house big engines. Ready for the lucrative fall season of 1963, Shelby's latest creation proved quick straight out of the box but not quite reliable enough. Those issues were quickly sorted, allowing Dave MacDonald to score an outright victory in the prestigious Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside. Additional cars were built for the 1964 season but Shelby had to balance his time and resources between too many projects and eventually abandoned the King Cobra program altogether. At previous editions of the Motorsports Reunion we have captured MacDonald's Riverside winning example, which is the feature car of our in-depth article.
To illustrate the startlingly rapid progress made in the racing car design during the 1960s and early 1970s, we have also today added this Lola T282 Cosworth. Built only ten years after the King Cobra, it looks much more than a generation apart. It was based on the T280, which had been developed specifically for the World Championship. Compared to the earlier model, the T282 features mostly aerodynamic changes, with a sharper nose and a full-width rear wing as the most prominent. Due to the low demand for the three-litre cars, the T282 remained a one-off. Sporting Gitanes colours, it was raced with considerable success by Scuderia Fillipinetti and proved to be the quickest privateer entry in the championship. At last year's Monterey Motorsports Reunion, we captured the unique T282 Cosworth from every angle.

In 1999, Giorgietto Giugiaro was named the 'Car Designer of the Century' by a jury of 132 international journalists. He had started as a 17-year-old at Fiat and subsequently worked for Bertone and Ghia before establishing ItalDesign in 1968. Eager to make his mark, he launched his company with this Bizzarrini Manta later in the year at the Turin Motor Show. The fully functional show car was based on a Bizzarrini P538 chassis that had two years earlier raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After Giugiaro was done with it, there was little that reminded of the car's racing roots. He penned a ground-breaking 'one-box' design with a profile that consisted of a single line. Painted acid-green, the Manta was definitely one of the stars of the show and certainly established ItalDesign as one of the leading automotive stylists.
In 2005, the Manta returned to the public eye, sporting its original colours again for the first time since 1968. In the following years we captured every detail of the still spectacular Bizzarrini at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. The owner has now decided to part with the car and consigned it to Gooding & Company, who will offer it next week at their annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The estimate for this unique piece of history is a hefty $1 - $1.5 million.

Next week, all eyes in the classic car world will be on the Monterey Peninsula for both the large number of world class events organised in the area, and the various auctions, where some of the most spectacular machines are expected to change hands. As a warm up to the packed week, we have today taken a closer look at two of of these striking machines that will be offered by RM Auctions in their annual Monterey Sale on August 17 and 18.
Most famous of all is a Ford GT40 Mk I Gulf, which was used by John Wyer's JW Automotive team during the 1968 and 1969 season with great success. The four cars built to this specification were actually based on the original small-block GT40 after a rule change had left the larger-engined variants illegal. Among the many successes scored by the Gulf-liveried machines were back-to-back outright wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car offered by RM Auctions was the first of the four built, which took a win in the World Championship round at Brands Hatch. It was later also used as a camera car for the Steve McQueen movie 'Le Mans'. It has since been restored to its 1968-specification. No estimate is listed in the catalog but we expect it to change hands for over $5 million. In addition to chassis 1074, we have also added images and histories of the other three cars, including the double Le Mans winner. The end result is a 24-shot gallery of these particularly attractive and successful GT40s.
Even more fluorescent is the STP livery used on the Porsche 917/10 to be offered by RM a day later. This particular car was one of two Can-Am specification 917s built and raced in 1971. Although still powered by a naturally aspirated 12-cylinder engine, these 917/10s would form the basis for the 'Turbo Panzer' that would take Can-Am by storm in 1972 and 1973. Chassis 002 was originally raced successfully by the talented and highly versatile Jo Siffert, who sadly crashed fatally later that same year. In 1972, it was used by Willi Kauhsen in the Interserie first with the naturally aspirated engine and later with the more powerful turbo. The car was retired after a big crash and as can be seen in our 12-shot gallery was ultimately restored to its original, STP livery. RM's estimate for this striking machine is $2.9 - $3.5 million.

Originally introduced in 1962, the Ferrari 250 GTO is 50 years old this year. It was the ultimate development of the successful 250 GT range, and built specifically to compete in the World Championship, which was held for Grand Tourers for the first time in 1962. Even though three dozen were built between 1962 and 1964, it ranks as one of the most desirable and valuable cars in the world; in recent months several examples changed hands for over $30 million. Kicked off last year at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the 50th celebrations are ongoing. One of the highlights was the traditionally very private Moet & Chandon GTO Tour, held in France early in July. There was a brief public appearance at the Le Mans Classic where the GTOs were driven on the track for several laps between sessions. At the Goodwood Revival in September, the GTO will again take centre stage with a special parade.
Today we also pay tribute to the great Grand Tourer with a close look at the final, and very rare 1964 version. All owned by noted collectors, the three examples built are relatively rarely seen in public. Part of the Mas du Clos Collection since 1972, chassis 5573GT, for example, had not been shown for a decade until the recent 250 GTO Tour. We used these rare appearances to capture every angle of the cars, resulting in this 30-shot gallery that serves to illustrate a detailed history of the model in general and the three 1964 cars individually.

Gradually building anticipation, Porsche have again released images of the upcoming 918 Spyder super car. Bringing back fond memories of Porsche's 1970s works cars, the latest prototype is painted in the always evocative Martini & Rosso colours. We can only hope that this is a preview of the livery used when Porsche will return to prototype racing in 2014.
One of the last Porsches to sport these colours was the 936 sports prototype that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright no fewer than three times between 1976 and 1981. Over those years the Group 6 racer was gradually developed with much of the work focusing on the engine. It evolved from a relatively straightforward turbo-charged flat six to the sophisticated engine that would continue to power subsequent Porsche prototypes like the 956 and 962C. In its final guise, it featured twin turbos, water-cooled heads with 4 valves per cylinder. Amazingly the three victories were scored by each of the three chassis used by the works team. Towards the end of the program, two more cars appeared, one for privateers Joest and Kremer each, which were most likely also built by Porsche. At the recent Le Mans Classic we shot the two chassis we had not seen before, which included the only works car that is currently in private hands. This has resulted in an all-encompassing 54-shot gallery illustrating the individual details of the five chassis and a detailed article on the type's general history.
At a special event in San Francisco on Monday evening, Lexus revealed a thoroughly refreshed LS. While mechanically the range-topping model is still very similar to the outgoing LS, the new car does sport a completely revised front fascia that follows the marque's current design language. A new addition to the line-up is this F Sport version that is available only with the conventional 4.6 litre drivetrain. The sportiest LS ever features a beefed-up suspension, bigger wheels, Torsen limited-slip differential and a more aggressive body kit. Introduced as a 2013 model, the revised LS will be available later this year.