iDnes.cz: Treasures worth hundreds of millions in Brno: the superstar from Chropyn wins all over the world
Exclusively June 19, 2020Seeing these six cars together is like hitting the vintage jackpot. Let alone in the Czech Republic. Saturday's Brno Revival veterans exhibition will feature a line-up of automotive gems that you can otherwise only meet at the world's most prestigious competitions.A unique Delahaye with Antem body participated in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1953. The car is preserved in its original condition without renovation. | photo: Auto Veteran Company Archive
Three winged Mercedes, nicknamed the "holy trinity". Delahaye racing roadster driven by Louis Chiron. And the second to win the Monte Carlo Rally. And finally, the unique Talbot Lago, which collects awards at the world's most prestigious vintage competitions of elegance.
You don't have to travel to Goodwood or Italy's Lake Como for the prestigious shows that were canceled this year due to the coronavirus for this constellation, whose value is in the hundreds of millions. Come to the Brno exhibition center on Saturday, the star line-up of automotive pearls can easily compete with the world's "concours d'elegance".
Talbot, who arrived in Chropyn in boxes
The biggest gem that stands out above the rest of the cars is the Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport. One of the twenty-nine produced examples with a unique aerodynamic bodywork from the Figoni & Falaschi bodyshop and a "cyclopedic" light was bought by František and Robert Kudel, otherwise the owners of Chropyňská strojírna, in 2015. They got the car from the widow of the collector John Locke and had to go all the way to California to get it. And they also bought a second car of the same brand, that was a condition.
The car had been sitting since 1960, when Locke bought it as a wreck. After her husband's death, Betty Lock began a renovation but did not have the funds to complete it. That's why she offered the car for sale. The car arrived in Chropyně packed in several crates and – as František Kudela recalls – in seventy-three small boxes.
The precise renovation took three years, and in 2018 the car was presented directly at one of the world's most prestigious shows of elegance in Pebble Beach, California. A pair of manufacturers from Chropyn achieved the unbelievable – their Talbot, which they renovated in their own workshop, won its category of post-war touring cars and finished in the top three overall.
Drama on the way: the damage was repaired by the forwarding company
And this despite the fact that it was damaged on the way, as František Kudela recalled for the Motor Journal magazine last year: "There was a collision during translation in England. They damaged the rear trim, which they informed us about immediately. At their own expense, they repaired the molding in the best renovation workshop in England, re-chromed it and sent it by plane to America, where the car has so far arrived by ship." But the repaired molding did not fit exactly and in such a prestigious competition, even the smallest details matter. The Kudels reported the incident to the jury, and the jury nodded that it would not consider this deficiency in the evaluation.
A year later, the meticulously restored car was presented at another prestigious competition in Chantilly, France, and also in Oxfordshire. It won every time.
Monte Carlo winner and secret test car
Two other extremely interesting cars come from the Auto Veteran Company collection. Both carry the Delahaye brand, a prestigious French car manufacturer whose history dates back to 1894. And both have a very interesting racing history.
A unique Delahaye with Antem body participated in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1953. The car is preserved in its original condition without renovation.
The older of them - the type 175 from 1950 - was one of the last majestic models of the French brand. It was created by Rocco Motto, an important Italian coachbuilder who, by the way, also designed the coachwork for the first Ferrari, commissioned by racer Jean Trevoux. The car has a racing engine that the brand used in 1949 at Le Mans, the "shed" is made entirely of aluminum. Jean Trevoux and Roger Crovett started with the car for the first time in Monte Carlo in 1951 and immediately won. Then the car traveled to the United States, where he took hold of its steering wheel Louis Chiron and drove onto the Carrera Panamericana race track. The car is exceptional in that it is in its original condition.
The second Delahaye 235 was bodied by French coachbuilder Jean Antem and the car started at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1953. It had a secret mission – to test the new construction of Dunlop tires in demanding conditions. He completed the rally car and sold it to a private individual after the race. He resold it in 1958 to the United States. The car then remained in the possession of a family until recently and was considered lost. Even in this case, the car is in a unique condition, which has never been restored and is fully functional.
The Holy Trinity has a troubled Czech past
Only three models in the history of the German car manufacturer Mercedes Benz had doors that opened upwards. All three were purposefully acquired by the Zlín collector Ladislav Samohýl, who exhibits them together in this way only exceptionally.
The first "winged" model is the 300 SL from the fifties - the legendary "seagull" or Gullwing. Today, the car is one of the most iconic sports cars in history, and its price is astronomical, even though a relatively large number of examples were produced - including the open version, 3,258 cars rolled off the production line by 1962. The golden example that will be presented in Brno is one of the last coupes produced. The rarity is an all-aluminum gearbox that was installed only at the end of production.
The second time Mercedes fitted wings to its car was in 2003, when the SLR AMG supercar was introduced. The McLaren car company, which at the time collaborated with Mercedes in Formula 1, took part in the development. The car is a tribute to the racing car of the same name from the 1950s, with which Stirling Moss, for example, dominated the races. The basic body variant was a coupe, but the car could also be bought as a roadster and GT racing version. In all modifications, 2,157 units were produced, in a limited edition there was even a version of the Stirling Moss SLR, which does not have a windshield, as the racing car did not British rider, when he won the Mille Miglia with it in 1955 together with Denis Jenkins.
Beloved Řepka's car overgrown with nettles
The silver specimen that will be presented in Brno has an interesting Czech trace. Tomáš Řepka bought the car in 2009. He paid fourteen and a half million crowns for it at the time. In 2010, he borrowed a car for a calendar photo shoot. The model Vlaďka Erbová posed with him and it was then that a spark flew between the future spouses.
The football prodigy did not enjoy the car for long, after half a year it was confiscated by the state. Allegedly because some sheikh saw photos of the car and claimed it was a stolen model. The car ended up in judicial custody on a patch of gravel and in the rain. In a few years it was literally overgrown with nettles. Photos of the decrepit car circulated among car fans at the time as an example of how the state treats "its" property.
Around the time when Řepka ended up in custody for the first time, the car went up for public auction. The starting price was 7 million, in the auction in the end it was Ladislav Samohyl who succeeded, who put the car in order with other huge costs. Thanks to its eventful history, the car has only driven 20,000 kilometers.
The last in the trio of winged Mercedes is the SLS AMG model. With it, the car company paid tribute to the tradition of "seagulls" in 2010. The then factory F1 driver David Coulthard also participated in the development of the luxurious and super-fast GT. Read how it works here.
Source: https://www.idnes.cz/auto/zpravodajstvi/revival-brno.A200618_124853_automoto_fdv
