London Concours To Feature One-Off Vehicles In New Class

The London Concours will showcase a number of rare and one-off automobiles as part of a new class at its annual event this year.

The class is called Coachbuilt & Concepts and will join Great British History, Japanese Jewels, Italian Spiders, and Fins & Chrome. Specially created to showcase vehicles that were built as design concepts or individual client commissions, the class promises to feature exceedingly rare and unique vehicles from the history of automobiles.

There are a number of entrants to the class, but a few of them stand out above the rest, including this incredible Alfa Romeo 1975 Zagato. Starting life as one of Alfa Romeo’s first production vehicles, a 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS, it was brought to famed coachbuilder Zagato for a new body specifically to go racing by Joakim ‘Jo’ Bonnier.

There could be nothing further from the Alfa Romeo than a 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow pickup, but the two vehicles will be parked close together at the show. It’s rare to see a properly done pickup truck conversion, but this one converted by Clark & Carter in Essex looks like it could have come out of the factory at Crewe. It even has fun flourishes like the ‘pick-up’ badging in the same style as the original script.

Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) created the XK180 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic XK120. Based on the XKR, the vehicle went from paper to pavement in just 10 months. The gorgeous lines were inspired by the Le Mans racers of the 1950s and 1960s and was developed under the direction of senior designer Keith Helfet. The chassis was shortened, a wraparound windshield was added, and power for the beautiful beast is provided by a supercharged 4.0-liter V8 pushing 450 horsepower.

While it might look like a standard late 1990s Mercedes-Benz, the F200 Imagination concept from 1996 would be the styling model for the S-Class and C-Class to come. Just two were built for the 1996 Paris Motor Show, featuring futuristic new innovations such as video cameras in place of rear-view mirrors, voice recognition, and electro-transparent panoramic roof glass. Many of these features would eventually make it to production, but unfortunately, the butterfly doors did not.

Other entrants in the class include a 1982 BMW 635 CSi Observer Coupé, 2005 Bizzarrini Ghepardo, 2018 Ferrari SP3 JC, 1956 Maserati A6G 2000GT, and a Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 Crayford.

The London Concours takes place over three days from June 28-30, at the Honourable Artillery Company in the heart of The City.