Annually on the third Sunday of August, the meticulously prepared 18th hole of the exclusive Pebble Beach Golf Links receives a stampede from thousands of automotive enthusiasts who gather to admire the stunning cars lining the shoreline fairway. The Pebble Beach Concours d�Elegance is highly acclaimed, and generally acknowledged as the finest of its kind. A positive result at Pebble Beach automatically increases the value of any car entered, and the best in show has become the most coveted prize for all collectors.
In this year's running Alfa Romeo was the featured marque and the Milanese masterpieces dominated the show field. Regulars Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce, Ferrari and Duesenberg were also present in force. Another celebrated marque, Delage, delivered the well deserved Best in Show, despite being lined up at the far end of the 18th fairway.
We visited the Concours d'Elegance and preceding Tour d'Elegance with three photographers and have captured all the action in a full report, a 100-shot slideshow for the Tour and a 200-shot slideshow for the Concours. Enjoy!

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance celebrated Alfa Romeo's 95th anniversary in style with eight separate classes, accounting for over a quarter of the cars lined up on the 18th hole of the Pebble Beach links. Highlighting the Alfa Romeo display was the 8C 2900 class, featuring six examples of the model. These rare cars are generally accepted as the finest cars ever built in Milan and among the very first true exotic supercars. Class honours went to a stunningly beautiful 8C 2900 B Touring Spyder. It is no coincidence that the Italian manufacturer used the 8C name for their high performance '8C Competitizione' concept launched in 2003. At Pebble a second version of the concept was unveiled; the 8C Spider, which can be considered the grandson of the highly acclaimed 8C 2900. The location of the unveiling might also hint a future return of the marque to the North American market.

The Pebble Beach Concours d�Elegance traditionally closes out a spectacular week of vintage automobile shows and races in Central California. Our busy schedule had us running from auctions to shows to auctions to races to shows, with the occasional 5-minute rest between. Returning to our offices with over 15,000 images, we�re certain we�ll have event coverage and feature cars for several months to come, possibly years.

Sunday�s Concours featured Alfa Romeo and the 100th Anniversary of Delage. The California coastline weather held strong with the usual fog for most of the day, which allowed for fantastic photography. The awards ceremony went off without a hitch and showcased several extraordinary examples of design including the final public appearance of the Mille Miglia winning Mercedes Benz 300 SLR. After many class and special awards, the finale was quite suspenseful as the honorary judge ballots were tallied and Best in Show was awarded to the aerodynamic Delage D8-120 S.

Our event coverage will follow in the coming weeks with image slideshows and complete reports on all major gatherings.

After years of waiting the Bugatti Veyron will finally enter production this fall. Despite the numerous setbacks in development, all the performance figures announced at the first concept's launch were met in a recent test session. With a top speed of 253 mph, it is the fastest production car in the world. Just to be on the safe side none of the production cars will have 1001 bhp, but instead 5% to 8% more.

This weekend it celebrates its American launch at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. We caught up with the first production car, driven by Dr. Thomas Bscher, CEO of Bugatti, and lined up for a brief period at the Quail Lodge in the Carmel Valley. In the following weeks, full reports of all the races, auctions and exhibitions will be published. For now it's this preview for you and back to Laguna Seca and Pebble Beach for us.

Although the Frankfurt Motorshow (IAA) won't open its doors to the public for another four weeks, news about the planned releases reach our desks on a daily basis now. This week we preview five of the novelties. In recent years the French manufacturers have surprised many with exciting concept vehicles that often formed the basis for future products. If the public's reception of the Citroen C-Sportlounge is positive then it could very well be added to the marque's line-up. Renault's new design direction will be further enhanced with the high performance Clio Sport Concept and the Egeus Concept. Volkswagen is set to expand to expand the Golf range with a convertible in Frankfurt, but for now has only released details of the 250 bhp Golf R32.
The summer season is dominated with historic car events, which anNually draws out some of the finest vehicles produced in the 20th century. At the recent Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance the best of show was awarded to the unique Mercedes Benz SSK Murphy Roadster. At last year's European Concours one of the most beautiful cars lined up was the 166 Inter Stablimenti Farina, which is among Ferrari's earliest road cars. Europe's most famous Concours is the annual Villa d'Este gathering at the shores of lake Como in Italy. A star of this year's running was the completely original 6C 2300B Worblaufen Cabriolet, which was first unveiled at the 1938 Geneva Motorshow.

Michigan has been a hotbed of vintage car action recently in more ways than one. It�s been uncomfortably hot and humid, but the selection of fine concours and exhibitions has thankfully made up for it. Several suburbs surrounding Detroit have been host to the Eyes on Design Exhibition, the Concours at Cranbrook, and the combined Concorso d�Italia and Meadow Brook Concours d�Elegance that took that took place this past weekend. It�s hard to imagine how Pebble Beach can rival what we�ve already seen this year.
Our staff survived the blistering Michigan sun and we're proud to present a full report and 150-shot slideshow of the Concours highlights.

For many decades one of the most beautiful cars ever constructed was believed to be lost, but to the surprise of many the Giugiaro penned Alfa Romeo Canguro lined up for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este earlier this year. Completely restored this rolling piece of art was awarded the best of show prize in this prestigious event. Another concours winner is the Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta Sport Speciale, which is featured with a mouth watering 18 shot gallery.
An American exotic is a rarity, but the Duesenbergs of the 1930s are among the exotics. With only 36 examples constructed, the supercharged SJ model is among the most valuable. This was underlined again this weekend when the SJ Walker LaGrande Torpedo Phaeton changed hands on RM Auction's block for $1.5 million. The sale was held at the Vintage Motor Cars At Meadow Brook Hall event, of which a full report will follow later in the week. Since the Duesenberg many have tried to build another American exotic. Malcolm Bricklin came very close to success with his SV1, but teething problems and the oil crisis put a premature end to this ambitious project.
One of the most successful partnerships in Formula 1's history is that of team manager Ken Tyrrell and driver Jackie Stewart, which landed the Scottish racer three world championship titles. In 1970 Tyrrell constructed a car of his own for Stewart, which would form the basis of a successful spill for Tyrrell as a manufacturer. This week we take a closer look at the unique Tyrrell 001, which is still actively raced today.

Tens of thousands of enthusiasts visited the British Silverstone track this weekend for the inaugural Silverstone Classic. Continuing the tradition of the Historic Festival, the new event offered spectators plenty of action on and off the track. Our focus was on 400 plus competitors who campaigned their historic racers in seventeen races over the weekend. Single seaters and sportscars from seven decades were lined up, offering the large crowd a great overview of motor racing's history. Highlights of the event included races for modern (1970s / 1980s) Formula 1 cars and for the Group C cars of the 1980s. Even more exciting was the actual action on track with a lot of brave overtaking maneuvers and huge powerslides.
We visited the event and returned with a laptop full of high resolution material, which we have compressed into a full report and a 175-shot slideshow.

There was not a silent moment this weekend at the Silverstone circuit where the inaugural Silverstone Classic was held. It proved a worthy successor to the highly acclaimed Historic Festival, which had its heyday in the 1990s. We visited the action packed event and a full report will follow later this week. Of the hundreds of historic racers that took to the track, we picked one as a preview of the things to come; the Ferrari 312 T3. Currently this is the only flat-12 engined Ferrari Formula 1 racer that is seriously campaigned. Ferrari was not the only Italian manufacturer to successfully race flat-12s in the 1970s; Alfa Romeo secured the 1975 World Sportscar Championship with the 33 TT/3 Spider.
Australia has a very specialized domestic market dominated by Ford and Holden. In the last few years one of the Holden products, the Monaro, conquered Great Britain and the United States in Vauxhall and Pontiac form. At the end of the year its production will cease, but not before the limited edition Monaro CV8-Z is produced. Shortly after the demise of Rover another legendary British marque, Daimler, makes a return with the luxurious Super Eight.
Although it has never been on the market, the original Rolls Royce 40/50 HP "Silver Ghost" is considered by many as the most valuable car in the world. This very early example of the 40/50 HP type was vital in Rolls Royce's history as it provided the name for the car that would secure the company's position as a super luxury manufacturer.