(February 27, 2014) LONDON — Following its first two award-winning Concours of Elegance events – held at Windsor Castle in 2012 to honor Her Majesty the Queen’s diamond jubilee, and at St James’s Palace in 2013 – event organizer Thorough Events has announced Hampton Court Palace, near London, as the majestic venue for its 2014 Concours of Elegance.
The third international Concours of Elegance will take place on Sept. 5-7 with 60 of the rarest cars from around the world — many of them never seen before in this country — set to grace the Fountain Gardens on the East side of the historic Hampton Court Palace.
These 60 mouth-watering concours cars will be supplemented with hundreds of the very best cars from a wide variety of car clubs, as well as the very latest bespoke sports cars and luxury models from a number of prestige car manufacturers.
The story of the motor car will be dramatically told through each of the 60 cars carefully selected for the 2014 Concours of Elegance.
From the pioneering days of the horseless carriage in the late 19th Century, right through to the very latest state-of-the-art 200 mph+ supercar, the 60 exceptional Concours cars — many of them never seen before in this country — will grace the Fountain Gardens on the East side of the historic Hampton Court Palace .
From an ultra-rare 1896 Lutzmann, pictured at right, to the latest 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari, the majority of historically important and sought-after car marques will be represented at the Concours of Elegance. Ranging from Alfa Romeo to Zagato, visitors to the Hampton Court Palace Concours will be able to admire stunning examples of Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Bentley, Hispano-Suiza, Packard, Aston Martin and Maserati, plus many other marques, making this is an unmissable occasion for anyone who appreciates the inherent creative magnificence of great automobiles.
A taster of the 60 exceptional cars already confirmed for the 2014 Concours of Elegance includes a stunning 1939 Delahaye Type 165 Cabriolet with Figoni et Falaschi coachwork (pictured at top), being brought over from the U.S. by Peter Mullin, and never seen in the UK before. A brace of significant and rare pre-war Mercedes-Benz models will also be present at Hampton Court Palace.
Supporting the Concours will be a display of over 350 other desirable cars from all eras within the Hampton Court Palace grounds on the Saturday and Sunday, presented by a wide variety of car clubs and motor manufacturers. For the first time this year, a Club Trophy will be awarded to best of the best club concours winner, with full details given in a separate news release.
Full details of each of the 60 rare and exceptional cars will be announced over the coming weeks and months, with a "Car of the Week" regularly appearing on the Concours of Elegance website and social media.
The annual Concours of Elegance remains unique in being the only automotive event in the world to enjoy an authentic Royal Palace as its backdrop, with keen Royal motoring enthusiast HRH Prince Michael of Kent as the event’s Patron.
In addition to its unique Royal Palace location, the annual Concours of Elegance differs in other ways from a traditional concours, which usually includes a judging panel briefed to scrutinize each entry and select a winning car. The Concours of Elegance organizers maintain that if a car has been invited to participate in the Concours, it is already a winner, with each vehicle owner voting on the other Concours car that he or she considers to be the most elegant car in the event. In addition, more than 350 vehicles from the UK’s leading Car Club will also be on display over the Concours weekend.
A key objective of the annual Concours of Elegance is to be a highly successful fundraising initiative, with the 2013 event at St James’s Palace raising in excess of £250,000. The charities set to benefit from the 2014 Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace will be announced shortly.
The 2014 Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace will be open to the public on Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7.