The Hon Sir Michael Kadoorie's from Hong Kong stunning 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer has landed the coveted Best of Show at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, topping a magnificent celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the marque.
The car is powered by an 8-liter inline-6 and is one of two short-wheelbase cars built with the Gurney Nutting body, the only other body was transplanted onto a Rolls-Royce Phantom chassis, leaving the show winner as the lone survivor.
Only 100 8 Litre Bentleys were built, and at the time W.O. Bentley wrote that he sought an ultra-luxurious, fast car.
"I have always wanted to produce a completely silent, 100 mph car, and now I think I have done it," he wrote.
It’s first Bentley to win since 1965.
Bentleys thronged the 18th fairway at the famous golf club on the Monterey peninsula, with six centennial classes ranging from the 3 Litre (won by Bob Muggeridge's 1927 Speed Model VdP Open Sports) to post-war models, the latter landed by Anne Brockington Lee's 1952 R-type Continental.
But it was Kadoorie's imposing dual-cowl tourer that took the top prize; shipped over from the UK especially for the concours, the short-chassis is the sole survivor with this body style.
In the end, the judges at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance couldn't turn down a good party.
The judges announced that the 1931 Bentley 8 Ltire Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer was the best in show, beating impressive Bugattis, Skittles-coloured Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, and Mercedes-Benz—and the rest of the field—on Bentley's 100th birthday.
