Concours d'LeMons: Monterey Car Week Viewed Upside Down

 

The originators of the Concours d'LeMons, held on the second Saturday morning of Monterey Car Week, had the bright idea of holding an event showcasing the least-celebrated cars, hapless vehicles generally known as lemons… 

There's also a 24 Hours of LeMons, described by the organizers as "wheel to wheel racing for $500 cars".  That event did not occur on our weekend, but the Upside Down Car shown was a former participant.  Described as a Ford / Chevy, the Upside Down is a 1990 Chevy Camaro body mounted to (or really under) a 1990 Ford Festiva chassis.  Built by an outfit called Speedy Cop, the combined price including both cars was within the $500 limit.  In a way, the Upside Down Car is a perfect metaphor for the Concours d'LeMons, which gives awards for Worst Car in various categories, and provides a counterpoint to the Pebble Beach Concours, for which exhibitors fly in on private jets to look at their cars on what is known as The Lawn.

This Stepdown Hudson from 1950 accentuates its hunkered-down styling with a deftly chopped top and some updated wheels.  We thought that, like the Hudson Hornet that appeared in 1952, it qualified as a Pretty Good Car, and hope it didn't win a Worst Car award. 

Parked next to the Hudson is another car originally conceived as a sort of Hail Mary pass to save an independent car maker, the Studebaker Avanti.  We've always had a soft spot for it. The aerodynamic styling from Loewy Associates would keep it on our list of Pretty Good Cars, even if it didn't have the built-in rollover protection, the front disc brakes, and the supercharging option.

The Nash Metropolitan offered American styling in a two-seater with British (Austin) power from 1953 to 1961. Assembled by BMC initially 1.2 liters (42 hp, about like a Beetle), the 85" wheelbase mini Nash received a 1.5 liter four with 10 more hp halfway through the 1956 model year. That, along with the "Z" trim and trunk lid added the same year, makes this Metro a Series 56, and more a candidate for Cutest Car than Lowliest Lemon.  But we'd consider the heavy red Bricklin two-seater parked alongside for some kind of Worst award.  Maybe Worst Car With Gullwing Doors...

The BMW 502 was known as the Baroque Angel in Germany because of its slightly frumpy, bulbous form.  We'd always liked the 2.6 liter sedan for the lightweight V8 that powered the 503 and 507 in 3.2 liter form, and for those friendly-looking lines.  The forlorn condition of this 1960 example, along with the stuffed weasel in the back seat, may have lined it up for an award...

The Rueful Britannia section welcomed three fiberglass-bodied Brits, including the Honda motorcycle-engined Berkeley roadster in the foreground, the Mini Marcos built with BMC Mini drivetrains from 1965 to '70 by the firm that originally built the slinky, plywood-chassis Marcos GT coupe, and a Reliant 3-wheeler designed to take advantage of lower taxes applied to that category... 

The Unmitigated Gaul section featured a Renault 16, the pioneering Sixties front-driver from the French firm, a Peugeot 505 from the a couple decades later, a twin-cylinder Citroen Dyane bread van, and a classic Citroen Deux Chevaux.  We thought a Peugeot diesel, rather than this gas model, might have qualified for some kind of Worst Award, and that the Citroens, though slow, were known as reliable example of minimalist transport.  The Renault 16 has a different wheelbase on the driver and passenger sides, owing to the rear suspension design. Somehow, we just had to tell you that... 

Virgil Exner's design for the 1962 Dodge Dart* was almost as unloved as his reverse-fin design for the '61 Dart, and performed like a clunker in the showroom, though the slimmed-down '62 featured power choices ranging from the bulletproof Slant Six to the lusty 413 V8, in Unibody cars that weighed less than competing Fords and Chevies.   Because of that styling, though, the Dart was a contender for an award.

Across from the Dodge Dart* on the grass was another car originally called a Dart by its maker, Britain's Daimler.  After being warned by Chrysler Corp. that it owned the name, Daimler selected SP250 for its fiberglass-bodied roadster featuring a modern 2.5 liter V8 in a chassis borrowed from Triumph's TR3.  Fittingly, this pristine example is parked next to one of those.  The SP250 was a better car than its styling would indicate; that exterior won it the Ugliest Car award at the 1959 New York Auto Show, and made it a contender at the Concours d'LeMons.

One aspect worth mentioning about the LeMons event was the high percentage (nearly 100%) of cars that were driven to it under their own power.  Below, a view of the Mini Marcos and the Reliant 3-wheeler tooling down Highway One...

The general reliability of Japanese cars, along with their frequently bland styling, meant there were few major award contenders from the island nation.  This Nissan Leaf electric, however, made up in sheer improbability what it may have lacked in out-of-the-box potential.

The builders decided the Leaf needed more power, and mounted a Kawasaki motorcycle engine behind the cabin and above the rear wheels.  We're not sure about how this coordinates with the Leaf's front-drive electric power, or how it affects polar moments etc., but we liked the casualness of the rear-window scoop feeding air to the rear-mounted radiator. And we liked the cheekiness of the whole idea.

In a similar burst of good-humored innovation, the builders of this VW Short Van simply lopped off what they didn't need, and welded the rest together...

Cars with bad styling when showroom fresh had a head start at the LeMons.  This '75 Lincoln amplified its award potential with fur (or faux horsehair) covered coachwork, and a raging stallion emerging from the roof.  A serious contender, we thought...

Remember the '60 and '61 Comets, with their odd, slanted tail lights?  This one is a contender in the Rust-Through Category...

A dozen or so years later, Mercury stylists did with the hapless Pinto (remember those exploding fuel tank lawsuits) something like their trick of stretching the Falcon into the Comet. Though here it involved less tooling cost, just a traditional grille and some plastic simulated wood siding.  We'd forgotten the Bobcat, and there were two examples here to make us remember.   We remain unsure if that's a good thing...

After the relatively clean AMC Javelin of 1968-'70, Richard Teague's design department decided to spruce up the car with bulbous fenders and excessive front overhang.  Not a good idea, but a natural contender at the LeMons... 

Back in the late Fifties, Kellison was one of a raft of outfits making fiberglass bodies for your MG or Triumph or  what-have-you SCCA racer project.  This one was too nicely finished to be a contender at the LeMons...

Two LeMons judges drove to the event in this gem of Alfa Giulietta coupe and the shiny, fashionably gray 911 alongside it.  That cardboard sign on the Alfa reads, "Relax; we're judges."

Perhaps it was a sign that the Concours d'LeMons had done its job, when a couple of attendees who brought clean, shiny collectible cars felt the need to apologize...

*Footnote:  

We took a close look at the design of the Daimler Dart / SP250 in "Worst Car Designs Ever: Part One, A Tale of Two Darts", posted July 28, 2016.  That post also examined a couple of Dodge Darts designed by Virgil Exner, but not the 1962 example that showed up at the Concours d'Lemons.  So many cars; so little time...

Photo Credits:  

All photos were taken by George Havelka except the following, which were taken by the author: Top, 4th & 5th, 7th, 9th & 10th, 12th.

A Car Week Side Trip: Sleeping Beauties Somewhere in California

At roughly mid-span of the 9-day Monterey Car Week (Aug. 12-21) I met my old friend George at an outdoor jazz concert.  He introduced me to a guy who had invited him to look at his collection of what he described as "some old cars."  Two days later, on a Friday morning, we went to have a look...

It developed that "some old cars" turned out to be a collection of seven classics reflecting wide and deep knowledge of the automobile, and also the owner's efforts in restoring mechanicals as well as coachwork. This red car is a Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeo SZ from the 1961-62 period, one of around 170 with alloy panels tightly contoured to Ercole Spada's design over a tubular chassis powered by Alfa's aluminum 1300cc twin-cam Veloce engine.

The big shield-shaped Alfa grille gets more emphasis on this "round tail" design than on the Kamm-tailed Coda Tronca that followed it, and on the TZ-1 following that.

The driver's work station is focused and purposeful, with side bolsters on the lightweight bucket seats to brace driver and passenger against cornering forces.  Everything on the short wheelbase chassis is aligned with the goal of keeping weight down.  The owner commented that the car feels alive when driven hard...

Though less focused on road racing than the Alfa SZ, Ferrari's 250GT Lusso, designed by Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti from 1962-64, reflected the tubular chassis design of the road racing GTO, and also featured 4-wheel disc brakes.  Like that GTO and the Alfa SZ, the Lusso manages responsive handling with a simple live rear axle.  A road racing relative, the 330 LMB, combined the Lusso's Kamm-tailed body with the GTO's nose, along with a 4 liter V12 engine. Lusso bodywork is a masterpiece of understatement, relying on careful contours and proportions, and details like the fading of the front fender tops into the door skins, instead of applied trim or visual gimmicks.  Wheelbase is a compact 94 inches.

The owner suggested trying out the seat.  The doors are wider and deeper than on, for example, a Jaguar E-Type, so getting in doesn't involve as many contortions...

The big speedometer and tachometer are aimed at the driver, and a row of smaller instruments includes ammeter, oil pressure and temperature, water temperature and fuel gauge.  Instead of the trademark gated shift lever, the stick for the 4-speed gearbox sits in a simple leather boot. There's no radio, and no armrests or glove compartment, and the designers have placed a series of control knobs facing downwards along the base of the dash, perhaps for safety reasons.  This makes reading labels, if there are any, impossible.  The Lusso's designers seem to have decided that if you can't be bothered to read the owner's manual, you shouldn't drive the car. The interior design, like the exterior, pretty much excludes everything that isn't the car...

The 250 designation reflects the individual cylinder capacity; it's the classic Colombo-designed single overhead-cam V12, making about 240 bhp.  Minimum dry weight was  about 2,250 lb., while maximum weight was 2,890 lb. depending upon equipment, and a full load of fuel.

The 1934 Bentley 3.5 liter was, unlike the Ferrari (and the sports Bentleys built by W.O. Bentley before the 1931 takeover by Rolls Royce) aimed at cosseting its driver and passengers in smoothness and near-silence.  The new Bentley was introduced in fall of 1933, just in time for the Depression, with an inline six based on the Rolls 20/25.  Braking was a servo-assisted mechanical system, with a drum at each wheel.  This award-winning example features 3-position drophead coupe bodywork by Thrupp and Maberly, with the radiator shell painted to match the alloy body.  

Interior details include plenty of polished wood along with leather seating, and a cabinet for refreshments of a kind not encouraged by the constabulary...

As with the bar cabinet, the controls at the wheel offered lots of options, including controls for adjusting fuel mixture as well as advancing or retarding the spark. 

The Bentley version of the Rolls engine made 110 hp with the aid of a crossflow cylinder head. Unlike the Bentley Mark V which came just before World War II, the 3.5 liter featured suspension by solid axles at the front as well as the rear.  The cast alloy firewall is an impressive piece of work...

A different era and a simpler design brief led to the Alfa Romeo Junior Z.  It was another car sketched by Ercole Spada for Zagato, and appeared at the Turin Show in 1969.

The Junior Z was bodied in steel and mounted on the same short wheelbase as the Duetto spider. Aimed at drivers wanting a lightweight, responsive car, it was initially offered in 1,300cc form, and 1510 were built with that engine.  Then, in 1973, a 1,600cc version of the Giulia engine was offered, along with a slightly elongated deck.

The plexiglass nose with Alfa shield cut-out is a distinctive feature, as is the shift lever for the 5-speed transmission, which juts into your hand right below the dash.  This, like the overall body design, seems to have inspired later Honda models. Alfa and Zagato managed to build another 402 Junior Zs with the 1.6 liter Giulia engine before halting production after 1975.  

This 1932 Rolls Royce Phantom II Sedanca de Ville makes a pretty good contrast with the little Alfas. It's enormous, weighing well over 3 tons despite its alloy bodywork by Barker on a 150 inch wheelbase, and it was the star of the 1964 film "The Yellow Rolls Royce", along with Shirley MacLaine, Rex Harrison, Alain Delon, Ingrid Bergman and Jeanne Moreau. 

Sandwiched between a 1959  Rolls Silver Cloud Series 1 and the Bentley 3.5, the Yellow Rolls Royce was rewarding but difficult to photograph.  On the way to photographing the other cars, we sampled the seats on the Silver Cloud, and can report that they are exceedingly cushy...

As with the Bentley, there was plenty of polished wood, with the traditional leather seating for the chauffeur, who often sat out in the weather...

There was broadcloth-upholstered seating for the rear passengers, who enjoyed the cabinets for liquid refreshments similar to those at the front, along with the crank-operated divider window and fold-down jump seats for guests. 

Pull-down shades afforded privacy on all four sides of the rear compartment...

The 7.7 liter inline 6 of the Phantom II made 122 hp, and plenty of torque.  Discontinued after 1936, it was superseded by the V12 Phantom III, which somehow avoided the trouble-free reputation of the Phantom II.  

Meanwhile, up at the prow, the traditional Rolls mascot, the Spirit of Ecstasy looks, well, ecstatic...

Modern car designers often torture innocent lighting fixtures into improbable shapes to fit into computer-designed fright masks.  Vintage Rolls and Bentley headlights remind us that there's a more direct, if maybe less efficient, way to provide light...

The 4 1/4 liter Bentley was built at the Rolls Royce Derby works as a more torquesome companion to the 3.5 liter. This example was paneled in alloy by Wendover in the late Thirties, and reflects the same careful workmanship and conservative chassis design as the 3.5 liter car. 

The Wendover-bodied Bentley, unlike the Thrupp & Maberly 3.5 liter, features a polished, chrome-plated radiator shell. 

This Bentley, like the other cars on our morning tour, stands as a reminder that careful design is, in a way, its own reward, and that somewhere in California, it's always Car Week...

*Footnote:  

We want to thank our host, who wishes to remain anonymous, for the time he spent in showing and discussing these cars.

Photo Credits:  

All photos were taken by George Havelka except the following, which were taken by the author: Top, 2nd from top, 6th, 10th, 15th & 16th, 18th, 21st & 24th.