Jack E Thomas secured top honours at the prestigious The Quail A Motorsports Gathering on 19 August in California for his stunning ex-Gianni Agnelli 1955 Ferrari 375 America. “I’m deeply honoured,” said an emotional Thomas (below). “This is one of my greatest thrills.”
The unique and unusual Pinin Farina-styled car was one of the highlights of the Ferrari America and Superamerica Models category, along with the class-winning 1964 400 Superamerica (below) of Donald and Carol Murray.
The event’s other top award, the Spirit of The Quail, went to the beautiful 1952 Siata 208 CS V8 of David R Smith from Washington.
Away from the award-winners, there was plenty to keep the interest of the great and the good who had forked out around $400 each to enjoy the exclusive event. Where else but The Quail would you see not one but nine super-exotic (and super-valuable) Bugatti Veyrons?
As you might expect from the name of the event, there were several star cars from the world of motor sport, including a very special Nissan: the Bob Sharp Racing car driven by movie legend Paul Newman during the 1986 Trans-Am championship, and now owned by Adam Carolla.
Despite that Hollywood provenance, however, victory in the Nissan's Riverside International Raceway class was always likely to go to one of the quartet of Eagle racers. And so it proved, with the Riverside International Automotive Museum'd gorgeous ex-Tony Adamowicz, 1969 Formula 5000 championship-winning car taking top honours.
And here are the rest of the class winners:
