Elegance Exemplified by Philip Porter

There was an added sense of excitement to this year’s Concours of Elegance in the wonderful surroundings of Hampton Court Palace. Clearly people were thrilled to attend a motoring event again and the dearth of such events only served to heighten one’s appreciation of this superb gathering.

I am no concours man but the selection of cars curated and overall sense of style that pervaded the event, together with fine weather, made it all memorable.

For us, the highspot was launching our JUE book (the car is affectionately known as ‘Juey’) on the INEOS stand which was graced by a pre-prototype of the Grenadier which looks very impressive. The icing on the cake was that ‘Juey’ won the 1940s class. I admit I am struggling to contain a smile because ‘Juey’ is the antithesis of a concours machine, as you can see from the photos!

It was very special that Porsche 917-023, the subject of the second book in our Great Cars series, took the ‘Best in Show’ accolade, and parked nearby was the Ferrari 250 LM featured in our Exceptional Cars series.

Full marks to the organisers, the car owners, the judges, the exhibitors, David Gooding and his first UK auction, and all those who joined the lovely automotive jamboree.