Concours Shite

[Junkman]

Incredible shite from this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all things, beige!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

Wow, somebody has apparently bought one of those Bentley carbuncles.

 

Anyone care to explain to me wtf with the swan cars?

[Cheggers]

Wow, somebody has apparently bought one of those Bentley carbuncles.

 

Anyone care to explain to me wtf with the swan cars?

 

The result of a Maharajah finding the keys to the cocktail cabinet...seriously, I'm pretty sure it was a special order for a Maharajah

[trigger]

First car looks like a Swanly Swanless.

[John F]

Haha yep, whenever I see a swan I also tend to think "Hmmm... yes.... I could put wheels & an engine on that!"

 

Don't like the septic stuff though tbh. It's tacky.

[morris_ital_lover]

SWANLEY SWANLESS

 

 

HORSEY HORSELESS

 

[DSdriver]

I wonder if the swan's head is linked so that it turns with the steering?

[Felly Magic]

I'm sure it was Maharajas that had those swan cars made, and there was a way of spitting out boiling water from the swan's beak

[Junkman]

Ahem.

 

Despite the Swan Car was indeed delivered to India, it was commissioned by an Englishman.

 

The 1910 Brooke Swan Car was the brainchild of a wealthy British engineer, Robert Nicholl "Scotty" Matthewson, who lived at Swan Park, Calcutta, then the capital of British India. In 1909, Matthewson travelled to England to commission a truly eccentric motor car from the Brooke company of Lowestoft, Suffolk. Its wooden body was apparently built by Savage of Kings Lynn, Britain's most famous maker of steam-powered fairground rides. The swan's head and body, carved to create the effect of feathers, concealed the radiator and bonnet.

 

Matthewson's car arrived in Calcutta in April 1910. It had amber eyes that glowed eerily in the dark, a multi-note Gabriel exhaust horn with a keyboard in the rear of the car so that Scotty could play chords and bugle calls, and a hot water spray in the swan's beak that enabled the chauffeur to clear a passage through Calcutta's crowded streets.

 

It was in the fashionable Maidan Park, where Calcutta's elite promenaded in their carriages and cars every afternoon, that Scotty displayed the Swan Car's most outrageous feature. A dump valve inside the car dropped splats of whitewash on to the road from the Swan's rear end - just to make it more lifelike.

 

The Maharaja of Nabha then purchased the Brooke Swan car and had the Cygnet (baby swan) car built in 1920. The Cygnet may be the oldest car made in India.

 

Both cars are now owned by the Louwman museum at the Hague in the Netherlands.

[Felly Magic]

Well I was right about the hot water spray. Such a 'charming' way to shift the crowds. A nice hot shower! I'm sure I've read about these cars in one of Gyles Chapman's books. I think it may have been 'Crap cars', but not too sure.

[Cheggers]

Thanks Junkman - Every day's a school day

[Junkman]

NP.

 

 

On a different note, am I the only one who is appalled by what some people seem to think is appropriate attire to attend a Concours?

There seems to be absolutely zero dignity left nowadays, no matter where you go. I find this rather disturbing, I have to say.

[Felly Magic]

That orange baseball cap. Urgh. Doesn't Jay Leno attend most shows in his trademark denim shirt and jeans?

[Junkman]

Jay arrived in his working attire as described by you to arrange and clean his cars. He then went into the club building and changed:

 

 

Note the utterly dapper chap he is chatting with. The one looking on in the background should see his tailor though. His trousers are way too long.