Savile Row London’s World renowned street of exclusive tailors for the second year in succession was closed to traffic for two days, May 24-25, to host its own Concours event. This narrow side street, just around the corner from Regent Street and Piccadilly, was literally given the red carpet treatment in order to celebrate the ‘art of the bespoke’ with a line-up of over 40 collector cars and motorcycles filling the Row and this year overflowing around the corner into Burlington Gardens.
‘Clothes maketh the man’ is certainly the Savile Row ethos and in this case we could follow that with ‘Bodywork maketh the car’ but the casual observer needed to be careful as along the Row it would have been wrong to assume all the vehicles were as they appeared. Style, of course, on Savile Row is a byword and all the exhibits had that but environmental impact was also a feature with many powered by electric and a few running on e-fuels.
Heading the line up came the BRM P15 with its V16 engine on display, a true 1950s Grand Prix car… that is until you looked at the date of manufacture-2023! Yes it was the continuation model built by Hall & Hall, an exact replica, three of which are planned. Next to the BRM was the amazing ‘Hendrix E-type’ bedecked in artwork inspired by Rock & Roll photographer Gered Mankowitz who formed the design using one of his 1967 images of Hendrix and detailing from Jimi’s jacket ( a Savile Row piece dating back to 1850). As for the E-type the 4.2-litre Jaguar engine and transmission have been swopped for 170kW motor.
Next to the ‘Electric Lady E-type’ stood the RML Short Wheelbase a Ferrari-powered carbonfiber homage to its namesake with 21st century essentials of Sat-nav, Air-con, hi-fi and, of course, smartphone connectivity. Just a few vehicles further on the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro turned RML’s concept around with a state of the art aerodynamic body enclosing a naturally aspirated Cosworth 6.5-liter V12 power unit that shunned any form of hybrid assistance. This futuristic 1000 bhp beast won the Hagerty People’s Choice award.
Close to the Aston was a Lotus that surely couldn’t be a Lotus, they only produce sports cars don’t they? Not anymore, the huge Eletre is the marque’s first sport utility putting them into new territory, but keeping that sports heritage alive, described by Lotus as an electric hyper-SUV, the R model boasts a 0-60 time of 2.9 sec and includes a ‘Track’ mode setting. Now for something more familiar the classic lines of a 1961 Bentley S2 Continental with the hood raised to allow inspection of the electric powertrain! The Continental had received a back to metal restoration by Lunaz Design using traditional coachbuilding techniques before installing their own battery powered propulsion system.
Lined in echelon was a Triumph TR3A, a Porsche 356C and a Healey 100 none of which should be described as such. Styled by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Vignale the TR3 was clad with classic Italian lines that were unfortunately turned down by British Leyland in favor of the TR4. Without the Triumph badge 330 of these beautiful cars were sold as Italia 2000 Coupes. Model David Gandy took his Porsche 356C to the LuxClassics’ workshop to be subtly modified, custom fenders, lowered suspension, wider wheels and a custom interior trim updated the 1965 model. Envisage Caton’s re-imagination of the Healey 100 takes an original, but enlarged, engine and installs it into a hand-built body that pays stylized homage to the 70-year-old original, while offering customers a bespoke interior.
Just past a tool room copy of an Alfa 8C is what looks like the 1966 Le Mans winning GT40 MKII that turns out to be an Everrati Superformance GT40, under the hood was not Ford’s 7-litre Galaxie power unit but Everrati’s 700-volt electrical system! Despite that so authentic is the rest of the car it is listed in the official Shelby Register.
Purists need not be too concerned there were plenty of original and unmodified cars represented, many with an interesting history. Beatle George Harrison’s 1967 Mercedes 600 Limo for instance, driving this car he was accused of hitting a policeman’s legs and banned for a year, after that it spent 27 years being used by a UK taxi company. Also with a ‘Fab Four’ connection was the 1968 Lamborghini 400GT 2+2 on display said to have been owned by Paul McCartney at the time the Beatles played on the rooftops of Savile Row. In addition to their Eletre, Lotus brought along 1979 JPS chassis no.79/3 the car used extensively by Mario Andretti that year to win his World championship. Continuing the theme of World Champion drivers, Jaguar C-type chassis no.XKC018 has two to its name. Originally supplied to Juan Manuel Fangio to race in South America and surprisingly it still retains its matching numbered panels, engine and gearbox, the car is now owned by 2009 F1 Champion Jenson Button who loaned the car for the concours.
Possibly the most unusual car on Savile Row was a 1957 Ferrari 250GT Spider Competizione ordered and imported into Belgium for racing ace Leon Dernier who specified a list of unique features such as a wraparound plastic screen, removable headrest, passenger metal tonneau cover and no door handles to aid wind-cheating. In this format the car was christened Cafe’ Racer.
Throughout the two days the Concours featured a number of interviews and discussions on its central stage covering wide ranging topics including the coachbuilders art, electrification of classics, tailoring in Savile Row’s golden age but the discussion that brought the most reaction was held just around the corner at London’s Royal Academy of Arts entitled ‘Cars as Art’ after much narrative the conclusion was cars cannot be regarded in the way we regard paintings or sculptures. Cars are designed to be functional and are the combination of many artisans work but they should be conserved and renovated as we do with paintings retaining their history and patina not being overpainted by modern techniques.
Jacky Ickx took center stage on Thursday giving a fascinating insight into his time as a racer, of course he was asked about his six victories at Le Mans, modestly he praised his team personnel saying that the drivers “…were just the tip of the iceberg” and that he “…couldn’t have done it without all the team personnel.” When asked about the speed and fatigue throughout Le Mans Jacky said, “On the Mulsanne Straight, although you reached around 200 mph you could relax a little and even take note of the spectators in the trackside cafe.” Today, the race is like F1, flat out all the time that’s why they need 3 drivers.” What was his most memorable race? “The Paris Dakar 3 weeks, 14,000 km long, racing through the desert you realize how small and insignificant you are.”
All the exhibits were linked to business’ along the row these shops welcomed visitors many providing demonstrations of their own including tailoring, shoe and hat making. As a free to visit event Savile Row was full each day with visitors enjoying the garden party atmosphere that developed. Expanding on last year the 2023 Savile Row Concours was certainly interesting and forward looking, encompassing many of the new developments within the classic car world, it’s scheduled again for 2024, what more will it bring?
