Boat-tailed beauties: highlights of the Concours of Elegance 2024

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For anyone with an appreciation of the coachbuilder’s art, the annual Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, held this year from August 30th to September 1st, is always a feast for the eyes. Twenty pre-war cars were arrayed across the palace’s ornamental gardens, encompassing some of the finest bodywork designs of the ’20s and ’30s, oily-rag preservation pieces and racers with rich histories.

If the Editor may be permitted to invent his own categories and proffer his own awards, there would be three clear winners. The Preservation Award must go to the delightful 1922 Ballot 2LS with the boat-tailed body by Kelsch. One of three exported to Australia, it was raced from 1926 by its second owner, a General Motors dealer, but in 1930 it was sold and rebodied as a four-seater by Callow & Sadler of Sydney. In the present ownership, it was restored to its original guise using an identical Kelsch body from a car which was broken up in the 1970s. The body itself was not restored, ensuring the car presents beautifully with the ingrained patina of 100 years. [Erratum: it has been brought to my attention that the Ballot's body is, in fact, a replica constructed in Australia in the early 2010s and artificially aged. The early stages of the process are documented in The Automobile, April, 2012. The other car referenced is described in the March, 2012, issue, where it is stated that the original body became derelict and was therefore probably broken up. The rest of the car, conversely, survives with a replica Targa Florio body.]

Best Formal Coachwork would have to be awarded to the 1939 Bentley 4¼-Litre Sedanca Coupé by Hooper. One of two built, and specified with white pinstripes, white leather vanity cabinets and monogrammed opera lamps by Lady Duff Ashton Smith. After being enjoyed by socialite Margaret Thompson Schulze on the French Riviera until her death in 1957, it spent 50 years in a French museum and returned to Britain in 2007, when it was recommissioned. Extraordinarily, it has never been restored. Though it was up against a similar 4¼-Litre barouche by James Young and three Art Déco streamliners, Hooper’s elegant styling with Lady Duff’s tasteful detail flourishes resulted in a car unmatched for charisma.

Finally, Best Sports Bodywork, and my personal Best in Show, would have to be the boat-tailed 1927 Bentley Three-Litre Speed Model by Martin Walter. Originally built for Francis Ronald Lambert Mears, resident of a barracks in India, it later spent 50 years with a single family before it was acquired for restoration by the late Chris Jaques. The Jaques family has completed its meticulous restoration to its original appearance and the result is outstanding. The Concours of Elegance not only marked its post-restoration début—it was the first time the car had been seen publicly for more than 60 years.

Words and photographs: Zack Stiling

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