Pebble Beach Road Races
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Pebble Beach takes place every August in Monterey California. It began in tandem with the Pebble Beach Road Races in 1950, but in truth the Concours was a last-minute addition, a social gathering intended to add a bit of style to the much-anticipated main event.
“In 1950, I was driving my XK120,” recalled racing great Phil Hill. “And the most important event on the West Coast that year was to be the first Pebble Beach Road Race.”
“The race itself was all so new. We were driving through this forest, with just a bunch of snow fencing and hay bales lining the road. It was a real road race and I hadn’t been in one before. There really hadn’t been any such thing on the West Coast. The Pebble Beach Concours was decidedly subsidiary to the Race back then.”
The two events would continue together through 1956, when the death of Ernie McAfee brought racing to an end on the tight tree-lined roads of Del Monte Forest. A purpose-built raceway was constructed just inland, at Laguna Seca.
1953
Three years after the start of the show, the entries of cars exceeded 100. It took three years for Concours to be recognised as a stand-alone event instead of simply a precursor to the race. It was also in 1953 that the Concours hosted its very first special exhibition — two winners of the Carrera Panamericana. At the time, the Carrera Panamericana was deemed to be the most dangerous race in the world. It consisted of a border-to-border saloon and sports car racing affair that took place on the Pan-American Highway in Mexico.
1955
Another pivotal moment of the Concours happened in 1955 when Phil Hill won Best of Show with his 1931 Pierce-Arrow 41 LeBaron Convertible Town Cabriolet. With this victory, he claimed the first win for the prewar car he had restored with his brother. As if that wasn’t enough, Phil also won the Pebble Beach Road Race the very next day.
Since then, the Concours d’Elegance has become one of the most highly-admired car shows in the world. With its rolling ocean backdrop, car collectors from around the world anticipate this event.
The Significance of the Green Ribbons
If you glance across the show field on Concours Sunday, you’re sure to spy a host of cars sporting bright green ribbons — proof that they’ve participated in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance presented by Rolex. The Tour allows the cars entered in the Concours to be driven along the public highway, proving that they are not merely objects of beauty, they are designed to transport people from one place to another.
Faced with criticism that concours beauties were too seldom driven, Concours Co-Chairmen Lorin Tryon and Jules “J.” Heumann (at the urging of local car guy Craig Davis), decided in 1998 to ask Concours entries to prove themselves. They invited them to participate in a tour of the area — part driving test, part social outing — just a few days prior to the Concours.
As incentive, they stipulated that cars that participated in the Tour would have the advantage if they tied in Concours class competition. Also on offer was a new Elegance in Motion trophy.
Seventy cars, about a third of entrants, participated in that first Tour, and it was deemed a grand success. Today, about 80 percent of Concours competitors traverse the scenic 70-mile route of the Tour — and they are cheered by spectators all along the way.
The route has changed over the years, variously incorporating a trip along Cannery Row, climbing steep Laureles grade, taking a turn at the track, or tracing the coast to Big Sur. But always waiting at the finish line are glasses of champagne and the gift of a green ribbon to mark each car’s successful completion of the Tour.
This year, and for the third year in a row, CKL Developments of Battle, East Sussex won a class trophy at Pebble Beach – this time with a very special 1953 Jaguar C‑type entrusted to them to restore.
CKL restorations placed first and second in-class in the previous two editions of the Concours:
Ckl Hat-Trick at Pebble Beach
2025 – Second in Class, 1953 Jaguar C‑type
2024 – Class Winner, 1956 Jaguar D‑type
2023 – Second in Class, 1953 Jaguar C‑type Lightweight
CKL founder Chris Keith-Lucas attended this year in person, together with James Mitchell from Pendine who sourced the car, and the car’s owner Tony Purnell, former principal of the Jaguar Formula One team.
The 1953 Jaguar C‑type – Chassis number XKC 044 – was awarded the second-in-class trophy in the extremely competitive ‘Post War Sports Racing’ Class, which was a fabulous result, and a testament to the car, its history, their research and deep knowledge of the marque, and the quality of the restoration with CKL Developments.
The car was sourced in New Zealand by Pendine for its current custodian. Sold new to a customer in Sweden in 1953, it raced not only in Scandinavia but also at Brands Hatch in 1955 – with success, to third behind the Lister ‘BHL 2’ of Archie Scott Brown and works Lotus driver Mike Anthony.
Today XKC 044 wears the same white and blue Finnish colours of its then-owner Curt Lincoln and is thought to be the most accurately restored C‑type in existence. It will next be seen on the celebrated Colorado Grand, a 1000-mile charity tour featuring some of the world’s finest cars.
