Every year, Monterey Car Week serves as a venue for some of the biggest Auctions and car shows we see all year. Sunday, while being the last day of Monterey Car Week, is host to one of the most prestigious displays of historical and beautiful cars. Each year, cars are judged for things like authenticity, originality, design, elegance, and styling. At the end of the awards ceremony, each car that earned a best-in-class award is judged yet again to determine which car was the absolute best of show. This year, this prestigious award goes to a 1936 Lancia Astura Pininfarina Cabriolet owned by Richard Mattei out of Paradise Valley, Arizona.

This specific car actually has a pretty interesting history. It was one of just six cars built for a Lancia dealer in Italy. Each of the six had their own bespoke features, with the biggest feature on this model being the power time, and engraved side trim. Other features include curved side glass, a basket woven interior, wood-grained instruments, and let’s not forget the skirts covering the rear wheels. Talk about style. Rediscovered in poor condition in the 1960s, Pininfarina paid for a full restoration of the car to prevent it from being scrapped. It was later purchased by Eric Clapton. After a number of years, the Clapton sold the car back to Pininfarina where it resided in a museum. It underwent another full restoration recently, and needless to say, it was good enough to win it “Best of Show” at this years Concours d’ Elegance.

The owners were honored just to be invited to the Concours d’ Elegance this year, so you can imagine how amazing and honored they feel going home with the title of “Best of Show.” Stay tuned for updates and more high-resolution images.

Continue reading to learn more about the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance winner.

Why it Matters

For those of you that are new to the scene, being named best in show at the Concours d’Elegance is a very prestigious award. Not only is it one of the most sought-after car show awards in the world, but it also increases the car’s value on the collector market. So what does it take to become best in show? Well, I’m glad you asked because there is a lot more to it than you might think. First off, in order to win best of show, a car must take first in its class. This involves being critiqued by Class Judges who focus primarily on authenticity and originality, and Honorary Judges who focus on styling, design, and elegance.

Once a car has been awarded Best in Class, all winners are listed on a ballot and given to the Chairman, Chief Honorary Judge, Chief Class Judge, each Honorary Judge team leader, and some Class Judges. The nominated cars are then observed as they cross the winners ramp for their class awards and are later examined in the winner’s circle. Each judge marks their choice on the ballot. The car from the winners circle that meets all criteria and gets the most votes is declared the best of show.

Last year, the prestigious award went to a beautiful 1924 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Ram seier & Cie Worbblaufern Cabriolet. It had an original torpedo body and received coachwork by Worblaufern in 1932. It was restored in 2014 by RM Restorations and won the 2015 Concours d’Elegance Best in Show in 2015.

Read our full review of last year’s winner here.

Stay tuned for a review of this year’s winner!