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Zoute Grand Prix 2013 – Report and Photos

1965 TVR Griffith 400 DIRK_DE_JAGER
1965 TVR Griffith 400

Report and photos by Dirk de Jager

The Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 was held 3-6 October in town of Knokke-Zoute on the coast of Belgium. Now in its fifth year the Zoute Grand Prix has made its mark as a permanent part of the Belgian classic car scene. Billed as more than a rally over the Flemish countryside, it’s more a society and luxury lifestyle event, a gathering of friends that all have a passion for cars and feel like spending a long weekend at the coast.

With every major luxury car brand as a sponsor it is no surprise to see the latest high-end model of every marque running around town, joined by their clients’ own pride and joy. Yet most are there to run their classic counterpart, with 170 cars appearing at the start line for the 2013 Zoute Grand Prix rally. Participants ranged from Porsche 356s, Austin-Healeys, Jaguar XKs and Mercedes-Benz 190SLs, 300SL Gullwings and Roadsters to the Aston Martin DB4GT, BMW 507 and even a Ford Thunderbird.

The pre-war representatives were a bit light with only barely 20 cars against the rest of the field. Luckily those where pretty good, with a Mercedes-Benz SSK run by none other than Jochen Mass leading the charge. Other highlights included a Wanderer, Invicta, Delage, Bentley, Bugatti and Lagonda. Regardless of the age of the car, two entrants really stood out – a 1930 Packard 734 Boattail Roadster and a 1947 Cisitalia 202 SMM Nuvolari Spider. Both were utterly gorgeous and equally rare.

While the weather took a turn for the worse on Thursday with heavy rain and winds, it calmed down some on Friday so that the routes were mostly muddy but with little rain just cold. Organising a rally in the Flemish side of Belgium isn’t an easy feat. The country is basically flat and densely populated, so finding some fun small back roads is a hard task. Yet the organisation managed to do just that and keep the biggest part of the roadbook on those preferred roads. Friday evening also featured Bonhams’ inaugural auction headlined by a Ferrari 250 Europa Prototype, Maserati A6G/54 GT Allemano Coupe and a Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet A. The rest of the sale aimed at the more regular popular cars drawing attention to them as possible entrants for next year. With this as the first specialised car auction in the Flemish side of the country ever held, Bonhams managed to have a 64.5% sales rate with total sales of €2,345,800. That led to a positive signal that the Belgian market is ready for some further sales.

For the second day of the 2013 Zoute Grand Prix there was finally some nice sunshine and clear blue skies, allowing several cars to drive with the top down again and bringing more smiles on the participants their faces. Although Friday’s drive was shorter to the prior day, the scenery and the route made up for the shorter distance. The lunch stop was held at the Hippodrome of Ostende where, as a surprise test, all participants had to do two laps of the track at an average speed of 50km/h including the start and several straw bale chicanes.

For the final day of the weekend the Zoute Concours d’Elegance was set and this time the weather took a terrible turn for the worse again. Even though 48 top-tier cars graced the field it was nearly impossible to stay outside and enjoy the cars on hand. The selection committee, led by Philip Kantor of Bonhams, did a stellar job outclassing themselves compared to last year. But the one thing that nobody can control is the weather and it was painfully obvious that nobody would be able to spend much time outside with the cars. How can you not like a field that hosts a Porsche 917K flanked by a Ferrari 512M? Or some amazing pre-war cars all with special history or custom bodywork? Or take the Pierce-Arrow that was delivered new to actress Carole Lombard. The undisputed star of the show was the 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C Pourtout Special Roadster, a one-off design that has never been publicly shown. The owner managed to acquire the car 22 years ago, and it took him a further 10 years to gather the missing pieces before the restoration could even start. Yet to my dismay the car did not win anything. The Best of Show was reserved for the Maserati Boomerang, a Giugiaro design. Although this is a very striking and forward thinking design, it would not have been my choice. It was one of a few decisions by a well-established panel of judges that I didn’t agree with.

The same goes for the Iconic Car award that went to a beautifully restored Bentley Continental R-Type Fastback Mulliner Sports Saloon. Yet, to me, Iconic means a car that stands out for several reasons, specifically a car that is instantly recognized by the general public, especially if they are not car enthusiasts. With a field that included an Aston Martin DB5 in Silver Birch (Skyfall anybody?) and a separate class of Porsche 911s, the honour should have gone to the Porsche. (I can assure you that I’m far from a Porsche guy). The 911 is after all the longest model type in production with a shape that everyone immediately knows and gets to see on a daily basis on the street.

All we can now hope is that next year we won’t have a storm going over the Concours anymore and that the organisation will have a tough job outclassing themselves again. With the current format the Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance shows that they learn from every edition and keep growing to become a permanent fixture on the European classic car scene.

Similar to the 2011 and 2012 events, photographer Dirk de Jager also documented the 2013 Zoute Grand Prix, offering the following gallery showing the strong entrants and rainy conditions found at this year’s event. We split up Dirk’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and award winners can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery

 

1925 Bugatti Type 35
1925 Bugatti Type 35
1932 Alvis 2-Seater Sport
1932 Alvis 2-Seater Sport
1949 Bentley Special N1
1949 Bentley Special N1
1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia and 1960 Ferrari 250GT Pininfarina Cabriolet
1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia and 1960 Ferrari 250GT Pinin Farina Cabriolet

 

 

1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
1952 Jaguar XK120
1952 Jaguar XK120
1955 Porsche 550 Spyder
1955 Porsche 550 Spyder
1949 Healey Silverstone
1949 Healey Silverstone

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two

 

1958 MG A
1958 MG A
1957 Austin-Healey 100/6
1957 Austin-Healey 100/6
1961 Aston Martin DB4GT
1961 Aston Martin DB4GT
1957 Porsche 356 Speedster
1957 Porsche 356 Speedster

 

 

1965 Ferrari 275 GTB
1965 Ferrari 275 GTB
1958 Mercedes-Benz 190SL
1958 Mercedes-Benz 190SL
1960 Saab 93 F
1960 Saab 93 F
1961 Austin-Healey 3000 MkII
1961 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Three

 

1957 Lancia Aurelia B24 Convertible
1957 Lancia Aurelia B24 Convertible
1956 Fiat Abarth Zagato
1956 Fiat Abarth 750 GT ‘Double Bubble’ by Zagato
1962 Aston Martin DB4 Cabriolet
1962 Aston Martin DB4 Cabriolet
Zoute Grand Prix coffee stop
Zoute Rally coffee stop

 

 

1925 Bugatti T35
1925 Bugatti Type 35
1962 Mercedes-Benz 190SL
1962 Mercedes-Benz 190SL
1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia
1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia
1959 Jaguar XK150S
1959 Jaguar XK150S

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Four

 

1964 Porsche 356 C
1964 Porsche 356 C
1965 Porsche 356 C
1965 Porsche 356 C
1957 Porsche 356 Speedster
1957 Porsche 356 Speedster
1965 TVR Griffith 400
1965 TVR Griffith 400

 

 

1963 Lancia Appia Sport Zagato
1963 Lancia Appia Sport Zagato
1960 Bentley Continental S2 Cabriolet
1960 Bentley Continental S2 Cabriolet
1954 Bentley Special Le Mans 8
1954 Bentley Special Le Mans 8
1950 Bentley Special Six
1950 Bentley Special Six

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Five

 

1955 Aston Martin DB2/4
1955 Aston Martin DB2/4
1964 Porsche 911
1964 Porsche 911
1961 MG A
1961 MG A
1949 Healey Silverstone
1949 Healey Silverstone

 

 

1936 Wanderer W25K
1936 Wanderer W25K
1956 Austin-Healey 100/4 BN 2
1956 Austin-Healey 100/4 BN 2
1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
1965 Porsche 356C
1965 Porsche 356C

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Six

 

1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK
1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK driven by Jochen Mass
1957 BMW 507
1957 BMW 507
1964 Porsche 356 C
1964 Porsche 356 C
Jochen Mass in the 1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK
Jochen Mass in the 1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK

 

 

1970 Porsche 917K
1970 Porsche 917K
1964 Aston Martin DB5
1964 Aston Martin DB5
1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Rally Car
1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Rally Car
1970 Ferrari 512M
1970 Ferrari 512M

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Seven

 

1952 Ferrari 250 Europa
1952 Ferrari 250 Europa
1954 Fiat 8V Berlinetta Rapi
1954 Fiat 8V Berlinetta Rapi
1972 Maserati Boomerang
1972 Maserati Boomerang won Best of Show
1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK
1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK

 

 

1950 Jaguar XK120 OTS
1950 Jaguar XK120 OTS
1938 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe
1938 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe
1933 Pierce-Arrow V12 Convertible Sedan LeBaron, first owned by Carole Lombard
1933 Pierce-Arrow V12 Convertible Sedan LeBaron, first owned by Carole Lombard
1938 Talbot-Lago T150C Pourtout Special Roadster
1938 Talbot-Lago T150C Pourtout Special Roadster

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)

 

[nggallery id=624 images=15]

 

 

Zoute Grand Prix and Concours d’Elegance 2013 – Award Winners

 

Best of Show
1972 Maserati Boomerang

Most Special and Unique Bodywork
1953 Fiat 8V Tipo Mille Miglia By Vignale

Best Preserved Car
1954 Fiat 8V Berlinetta Rapi

Pre-War Open Cars Class
1930 Packard 734 Speedster

Pre-War Most Elegant Class
1938 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe ‘Works’ Demonstrator

Post War Open Cars Class
1963 Aston Martin DB4 Series V

Post War Most Elegant Class
1952 Ferrari 250 Europa Coupe By Pinin Farina

Most Original Car
1936 Bugatti Type 57 C Special Coupe Ex Bill Howell

[Source: Dirk de Jager]