A. Lange & Söhne x Hampton Court Palace Concours of Elegance

Today we have something a little different. You could say that in some way they share the same mechanical traits. You see the thing is, a man who loves the mechanical aspect of cars tends to, inevitably, have the same admiration of watches and the same could be said vice versa. The past Sunday we spent a day – as honoured guests of A.Lange & Söhne – at Hampton Court Palace to witness the Concours of Elegance.

A. Lange & Söhne were the headline partner at this year’s Concours of Elegance at HCP and if you follow Lange you’ll already know this isn’t their first time partnering an event such as this. Each year Lange partner and even make a special time piece for the Concorso d’Eleganza, held at Villa d’Este, Lake Como – which is given to the overall winner. While there isn’t a special timepiece gifted to the winner at this newly partnered event, Lange presence was definitely noticeable and well received.

CONCOURS OF ELEGANCE

The 2018 Concours of Elegance marked the seventh at the stunning Hampton Court Palace (pictured above), with stunning from all over the world, many of which we’ve not seen in the UK but even more interestingly, all examples were new to this year’s Concours of Elegance. Over 700 cars graced Hampton Court Palace this weekend, the top 40 competing for the coveted RAC Club Trophy. There were even some new cars present, labelled as Future Classics; chosen by the committee. Of course we couldn’t help but take images of some of the most beautiful cars on show…

1929 Mercedes-Benz S Barker Tourer and Best of Show 2018 Winner

1954 Jaguar XK120 Pinnfarina Coupe

1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS

1967 Ferrari 365 California Spyder

1954 Aston Martin DB3S Team Car 62 EMU (DB3S/6)

1958 Maserati 300S – 1 of only 26 World Sportscar Championship cars built between 1955 and ’58, and the very one that as a works cars was driven by Stirling Moss

1962 Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta Scaglietti

1957 Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa C Spider

1954 Fiat 8V Vignale Coupe

1955 Bentley S1 Continental Drophead by Park Ward

1953 Aston Martin DB2/4

As already mentioned, A .Lange & Söhne were the headline partner but something that you perhaps didn’t know is that Lange CEO, Wilhelm Schmid, is also a passionate car collector. Before his post as CEO at Lange, Wilhelm as held several managerial positions at BMW, but this isn’t when his love for cars started. It was in fact a passion handed down to him by his father, who was the owner of a car dealership.

In his late teens, Wilhelm bought his first ever vintage car – a 1964 MGB Mark I Roadster – which is still in his possession today. Though Wilhelm has a bit of a thing for British roadsters, he believes their simple and straightforwardness make them rather endearing, and so also possesses an AC Ace Bristol and the car you see below: a 1 of 9 ever built Frazer Nash Le Mans Coupes.