All show and all go: concours classic cars tour Wales

This year’s Tour of Wales gathered a gaggle of Concours of Elegance entrants ahead of the big weekend for a journey across The Land of the Red Dragon and beyond, from 1-4 September.

Wafting through Wales in a Citroën DS21 Décapotable

The four-day trip included a drive over the Black Mountain Pass, a hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh, a tour of the Morgan factory and more.

These are the hardy participants who were determined to get their cars a bit mucky before giving them a last-minute spruce-up, ready for the event at Hampton Court Palace just days later.

Images: Tim Scott/Charlie B/Tom Shaxson

1932 Aston Martin LM8: Marc Fischer

From Le Mans to Concours of Elegance via damp Welsh roads, this Aston Martin LM8 racer is multi-talented

The Biennial Cup was awarded to entrants who covered the greatest distance across two consecutive editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The system was a little complicated (its even more complex predecessor, the Triennial Cup, was ditched in 1925), but it gave both manufacturers and privateers an incentive to keep coming back to the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Marc Fischer’s Aston Martin LM8 was presented with the Biennial Cup after it finished seventh at the famous French enduro in 1932.

“It was one of three works cars – there was also LM9 and LM10 – and this one was driven by Patrick Driscoll and Bert Bertelli, who was one of the owners of Aston Martin at the time,” he explains.

After Marc bought LM8, he set himself on a mission to locate the Biennial Cup, too.

The Aston Martin LM8 explores Wales’ tight and twisty roads

“I saw a picture of the trophy in a book, so I wrote to the author to ask if they knew its whereabouts, but they did not,” he recalls.

Luckily, a UK dealer held the secret to the trophy’s location, and he eventually acquired it.

“Some 50% of a car is its history,” says Marc, who also raced the Aston Martin at this year’s Le Mans Classic: “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.”

Scary, too? “Yes, when you’re driving at 180kph and it’s pelting down. Also, some old cars don’t have great lights, and part of the circuit is not so well lit. But I enjoyed it very much.”

And what is it like to drive a 1930s Le Mans car on the road? “It’s fantastic,” he says with a grin.

1971 Citroën DS21 Décapotable: Victoria Dold

The Dold family bundled into this Citroën DS21 Décapotable for the Tour of Wales

“Dad was my passenger princess and Mum was in the back,” says Victoria Dold, recalling the four-day family adventure through Wales in her Chapron-bodied Citroën, entered into the Thirty Under 30 category at the Concours of Elegance.

“It has boosted my relationship with the car,” she adds. “It was my first time driving in the UK, and it’s a special thing to experience the countryside in the Citroën. Now I feel closer to the car: it tells a story.”

The DS Décapotable’s fabric roof is raised by hand, and Victoria and her family became pretty familiar with its operation during the trip.

“It was constantly up and down,” she laughs. “Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do.”

The Citroën DS21 Décapotable is a great tourer, but it’s less at home on the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb

“We did the hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh and the roof was open when we got to the startline, but then it started to rain,” she continues.

“I asked the marshals if we could close it and they were shocked at how quickly we did it. It takes us less than a minute.”

The lolloping Citroën struggled up Shelsley Walsh’s 1000-yard course, but it was more at home on pockmarked Welsh lanes.

“When the roads were really bad, everyone complained their backs hurt. But the Citroën is like a living room you can drive – it’s very comfortable,” says Victoria, who has owned the DS for around 18 months.

“It was a special thing to experience the countryside in the Citroën”

“We live in the south of Germany, near the French border, where old Citroëns are common. I’d see SM and DS models on my way to the supermarket, or parked in the street.

“I saw them so many times, and I just wanted to drive them.

“My family had one a very long time ago, and when I was little I was driven around in it. I think I fell in love with it then.

“When I could drive, I decided I wanted one as my own car.”

1959 Porsche 356B: Wilhelm Schmid

As the boss of headline sponsor A Lange & Söhne, Wilhelm Schmid is a regular at the Concours of Elegance

“I was never much of a Porsche man,” says Wilhelm Schmid, whose biggest automotive passion is for the Bristol ‘six’.

“I have three cars with that engine,” he explains, “a Frazer Nash Mille Miglia, an AC Ace racer from Venezuela and a standard AC Ace Bristol.

“I used to work for BMW and it’s basically a BMW engine, I think that’s what attracted me to it in the first place.”

But after buying a 911S, Wilhelm realised why people love Porsches and began his search for a 356.

The Porsche 356B is Wilhelm Schmid’s go-to classic car

“I went for the Roadster,” he enthuses. “It has the presence of a Speedster, but with the comfort of wind-up windows and a roof that keeps the rain out – or so I thought.

“I can confirm that it cannot cope with the rain in Wales – we found a lot of water in the car.

“But as much as we were swearing when the rain came down – and, trust me, it was truly torrential – it also created great camaraderie. It’s all about the people you meet.”

The Porsche 356B’s soft-top was no match for the Welsh weather

Wilhelm bought this 1959 Porsche 356B around seven years ago, although it spent the first two years of his ownership being restored.

“I call it my Swiss Army knife,” he adds, “because you can do any journey with it. There is lots of room for luggage, the roof can be opened and closed quickly, and it’s a very reliable car.”

The Porsche is one of six classics in Wilhelm’s collection, which includes an MGB that’s the same age as him, and that he bought when he was 17.

“It was my only car for 10-12 years. I’m on the third engine and I’ve done about 360,000km in it,” he says. “It will stay in the family, it’s close to me, but I still need two minutes to put the roof up.”

1977 Bentley Corniche: Brad Baker

This regal Bentley Corniche was more appropriate for damp British roads than Brad Baker’s Maserati 250F

Brad Baker’s decision to buy a 6.75-litre Bentley was the result of some creative number-crunching.

“When I retired, I decided to come to Europe to race in historics,” he explains. “I was renting each time, but once after Goodwood I got a flat tyre on the hire car and there was no spare or inflator kit.

“I waited in a field for eight hours before the hire company organised a cab for us. When I decided to buy a car, someone told me to look for something older so it didn’t need tax, and that’s how I ended up with the Bentley.”

Has it been better than playing rental-car roulette? “I’ve done 5000 miles so far, and it’s been more reliable and a damn sight more comfortable, as long as you don’t mind the fuel cost.”

Brad’s Maserati 250F is highly original, and still a regular at European circuits

The Bentley was Brad’s partner for the Tour of Wales, but it wasn’t what he displayed at the Concours of Elegance.

“My Maserati 250F isn’t for touring,” he says. “It was a factory car, but in 1959 it was sold to a Monégasque who had it painted in the country’s colours and tried to qualify for Monaco, but he couldn’t.

“So he asked his friend Louis Chiron [then 60 years old] to try, and he couldn’t either. Then the car gently faded away into old age. Now it’s one of the most original ones left.”

“It’s a terrific car,” he adds. “I’m not a good driver, but it flatters anyone who drives it. I consider myself a user, not a collector; all of us are just living out a childhood fantasy.”

1997 Fiat Panda 4x4: Fritz Burkard

This Fiat Panda 4x4 was a substitute for Fritz’s Delahaye 135M on the Tour of Wales

“It’s a real supercar,” says serial car collector and concours winner Fritz Burkard, looking gleefully at his daughter’s Fiat Panda 4x4.

“It’s so fantastic, so nimble and quick. It ticks so many boxes – and it was the perfect thing for Wales’ narrow and bumpy roads.”

In truth, the Panda was a super-sub for Fritz’s own concours entry, a Delahaye 135M, which was out of action after day two of the tour.

Luckily, both of his daughters’ cars were also in the UK to compete in the Thirty Under 30 competition.

Given the context, the choice between the pint-sized Fiat and a Mercury Station Wagon was a fairly straightforward one…

The chic Delahaye 135M is very different to the joyful Panda 4x4 – but they are both characterful classic cars

So how does the back-to-basics Panda compare to the extravagant Delahaye?

“When you swap between cars built in different time periods, you experience each car much more intensely – you find out why it’s so special,” explains Fritz, championing the c50bhp Panda.

“As long as a car has its own character, it doesn’t really matter how quick or how posh it is – it’s about the driving sensation you get. The more different a car is, the more interesting it is.

“The position of the steering wheel makes it feel more like a go-kart. I could keep up with everybody. And the Panda is so special to drive, it’s so much fun – that’s why I call it a real supercar.”

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300b Adenauer: Jim and Janet Jones

Jim, Janet and their Mercedes-Benz 300b, named Ernie, have more European road trips planned

Picture the perfect car for a road trip across tight and twisty Welsh roads, and you probably won’t be seeing this in your mind’s eye: a circa 17ft-long, four-door Mercedes-Benz 300b Cabriolet.

“A near two-tonne car with no power steering was not the right car to have there,” concedes Jim Jones. “The roads weren’t much wider than the car, but it was a great adventure.”

Jim and Janet travelled from the USA to take part in this year’s Concours of Elegance.

“We’re a one-show-car family, so this is our one and only,” Janet explains.

Jim adds: “It’s never been out of the US since we’ve owned it.”

The dramatic Mercedes-Benz 300b Adenauer looks at home in the gardens of Hampton Court Palace

The pair plan to return next year for a Continental adventure and to tackle some of Europe’s other top concours.

“We drove it for a number of years just for fun,” says Janet. “And then we took it to a local car show.”

Since then, the couple have visited events throughout New England and Florida, and have even exhibited at the prestigious Pebble Beach in California.

“Ernie has taken us on many adventures, something we never anticipated,” she adds.

Ernie was the name of Jim’s late friend, whose widow gifted the pair the 1954 Mercedes Adenauer after he died.

The big Mercedes-Benz was unsuited to narrow Welsh lanes, but it was an adventure

“She said ‘Ernie always wanted you to have this car’,” explains Jim. “We drove it for a couple of years, before we put it in for what we thought would be minor restoration work.

“It turned out that the car was about a year away from falling apart, and it took four and a half years to turn it into the car you see today.

“We’ve been driving Ernie to shows for 15 years now, and I feel as if I’ve had my great friend for 50 years – 30 when he was alive, and 20 more after he died.

“People tell us we’re crazy to drive a car like this, but cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed.

“Every time we get in the Mercedes, we remember the great times we’ve had and where it has taken us. What more could we ask for?”

1952 Jaguar C-type: Hans-Martin & Mahnaz Schneeberger

The Schneebergers’ Jaguar C-type wowed crowds at Concours of Elegance, then competed at the Goodwood Revival a week later

It takes a brave soul to drive a one-of-53 Jaguar C-type on the public roads, in the rain, let alone one as significant as the Schneebergers’ example.

“It’s the ex-Masten Gregory car,” explains Hans-Martin. The ‘Kansas City Flash’ bought this C-type secondhand in ’53 and he won his first sports-car races in the cream-coloured Jaguar.

It helped to kick-start the then-23-year-old’s career, and Gregory went on to win at Le Mans and stand on the F1 podium. Jim Clark later described the Missourian as his hero.

“I’d never owned a C-type before this one,” says Hans-Martin, who bought chassis XKC-015 in 2012. “I was looking at a few cars at the time, but I was intrigued by this one’s history.”

This Jaguar C-type belonged to ‘Kansas City Flash’ Masten Gregory in the 1950s

Gregory’s time with the car was cut short when he crashed it in 1953.

“Then a German rebuilt it,” Hans-Martin explains, “and it hasn’t been touched since. So it’s a very original car.

“The only thing that is not original is the bonnet – the guy who restored it used the panel from XKC-034.”

“We’ve done so much with this car,” he continues. “But this year we could only drive on the first day of the tour because the rain was so heavy. It was my first time driving in Wales.”

“The Jaguar has been to Goodwood several times, and I’ve raced it at the Le Mans Classic. We’ve done the 1000 Miglia a few times, too – we really use it.”

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