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1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports. In August 2024 this 1934 Bugatti became the first ever Preservation Class car to win Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. It was also the first Pebble Beach Best of Show to be won by a European owner. A rare factory race car that recorded multiple Grands Prix victories in the hands of several important racing greats, it has been been preserved in the livery it was given when redressed by King Leopold of Belgium. Its enthusiastic current owner drove it for hundreds of miles during this year’s Monterey Car Week.

1970 Plymouth Superbird no 43. When Plymouth sought to lure NASCAR superstar Richard ‘The King’ Petty away from Ford, it created the 200mph Superbird, with help from former rocket scientist Gary Romberg. It worked – not only did Petty join Plymouth for the 1970 season, but the Superbird was so successful that NASCAR felt the need to change the rules to prevent its continued dominance. In 2024, the Petty family – particularly Richard and son Kyle – has been celebrating 75 years in motor sport, and the no 43 Superbird has been central to their appearances at events around the world.

1924 Mercedes Targa Florio. On April 27, 1924, Mercedes won the prestigious Targa Florio race in Sicily, taking a triple class victory. Their 2-litre supercharged racing cars had been painted red to avoid possible obstructions from Italian fans. The winning car, driven by Christian Werner, has since disappeared without trace, but the team car driven by Christian Lautenschlager to 10th place in 1924 has now been painstakingly restored by Mercedes‑Benz Classic, right down to the brush marks left by hand-painting. One hundred years after the victory, it returned to Sicily to run in the Targa Florio Classic.

1954 Lagonda DP115/2 and DP115/3. Lagonda built just three DP115 sports racing cars, the first of which was crashed and later scrapped. Of the remaining two, the second competed in the 1954 British Grand Prix support race and both cars, it seems, were intended to compete in the 1955 Mille Miglia. However, their entries were withdrawn and they instead went on to star in the 1956 film Checkpoint. They were owned for 50 years by the Leo family, and unseen in public in original specification in Great Britain since 1954 – until this year, when the now-restored pair starred at Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace.

1934 Auto Union Type 52 ‘Schnellsportwagen’. Though the plans for this pre-war supercar were drawn up during the 1930s, by none other than Ferdinand Porsche, it’s taken 90 years for the car to be built – created for Audi Tradition by Crosthwaite & Gardiner after years of painstaking research. The ‘super sports car’ is powered by an Auto Union Type C V12, producing more than 500bhp, even though the original plans specified 200bhp. It was revealed to wide acclaim at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck, son of original Auto Union race driver Hans Stuck.

1964 Meyers Manx ‘Old Red’. The very first example of the iconic beach buggy, built by Bruce Meyers. It not only kickstarted a trend but its record time across the California Baja peninsula in Mexico prompted the formation of the now-legendary Mexican 1000 desert race. This year it has appeared in both the US and the UK, starring at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering and heading an 80-strong convoy of Meyers Manx around the track at Goodwood Revival.

1984 Toleman TG183B-05 Hart. A young Ayrton Senna made his Formula 1 debut 40 years ago, in 1984, driving the four-cylinder turbo Toleman TG183B, which had been introduced the previous year. Senna completed his first four Grands Prix in the Toleman before it was replaced for that season by the TG184. In 2024, on the 30th anniversary of Senna’s death, it was driven on track by current F1 driver Pierre Gasly for a Sky F1 tribute film. It was also one of the stars of a superb display of Senna’s vehicles at Silverstone Festival.

1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP. This car, known as the ‘Roi des Belges’, is one of only five original 60 HP Mercedes known to survive. In March 2024 it was offered for sale by Gooding & Company at its Amelia Island sale, billed as ‘one of the finest and most significant of all antique automobiles’. It sold, to great acclaim, for $12,105,000; a world record for a Veteran car at a time when it was assumed that such cars could no longer attract high prices. Until its sale it had remained in the same family ownership from new – a remarkable 121 years.

1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero. One of the most striking and outrageous concept cars of all time, the Stratos Zero was designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, and presented at the 1970 Turin Auto Show. Though no stranger to public appearances in recent years, it was one of the true stars of the 2024 Monterey Car Week, heading up the ground-breaking ‘Wedges’ class at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and seen being driven enthusiastically through the week. When the front canopy rises, automatically swinging the steering wheel out of the way, a crowd of amazed onlookers is guaranteed.

2024 Tuthill GT ONE. Of all the one-offs, low volume hypercars and restomods released in 2024, one attracted more attention than any other – the GT ONE produced by Tuthill Porsche. Inspired by the GT1 race class introduced in 1993, and based on the chassis of a Porsche 911, the GT ONE has a fully carbon fibre body and a choice of the company’s 500bhp naturally aspirated 911K engine or a turbocharged flat-six producing over 600bhp. Just 22 will be built. It was one of the stars of The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering and Salon Privé and has become a social media sensation.

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