There are so many facets to the history of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, but if you want a hard and fast summary of it, you can go straight to the list of the Best of Show winners. Once you look at it, you’ll soon realize there are definite patterns within it. I certainly did, so I decided to break some of them down numerically.
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
1980 Best of Show: 1933 Duesenberg SJ Rollston Arlington Torpedo Sedan (aka “Twenty Grand”)
The majority of the BOS winners come from the other side of the Atlantic, but when you break down the top cars by their individual countries of origin, American models come out on top with 19 victories. French vehicles take the #2 spot with 17 BOS trophies. The British are in 3rd place, having won BOS 14 times.
MODEL YEARS
1966 Best of Show: 1931 Bugatti Type 41 (aka “Royale”) Coupé de Ville
This is the strongest, most noticeable pattern to the list of BOS winners. In the early years of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance the judges gave the top prize to contemporary cars, but since 1955, cars made in the 1930s have racked up 52 wins. The majority of the exceptions to that pattern in the past 71 years are from the ’20s, although a 1954 model got the concours’ signature confetti shower in 2014.
OWNERS
1991 Best of Show: 1932 Chrysler CH Imperial Speedster
Winning Best of Show at Pebble Beach once is an incredible accomplishment that puts you in automotive history for eternity, but some people have managed to do it multiple times. Nobody has done it more than J.B. Nethercutt, who took home the BOS trophy six times. Sam and Emily Mann, and hotel and casino magnate William “Bill” Harrah come in second with four wins each. Long John Silver’s founder Jim Patterson has reached the summit of Pebble Beach three times. Ralph Lauren and this year’s BOS winner, Harry Yeaggy, got there twice.
BRANDS
2013 Best of Show: 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria
Cars from 26 brands have been crowned Best of Show. Duesenberg is the most successful American brand with eight out of the 19 U.S. victories. Packard is a distant second with four.
Bugatti is the heaviest hitter for the French, its models being named BOS a total of 10 times, a record for any brand. Mercedes-Benz shares the same win count and distinction.
2025 Best of Show: 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo
Rolls-Royce is the top marque for the British with five wins — more than a fifth of the BOS titles earned by U.K. cars. Three-time winners from around the world include Jaguar, Daimler, Delage, Isotta Fraschini, Alfa Romeo, and Hispano-Suiza. The list of one-timers consists of Cunningham, Edwards, duPont, Austin-Healey, Talbot-Lago, Delahaye, Maserati, Ferrari, Minerva, and Lancia.
What don’t you see on the list of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance winners? Even though American cars have earned 25 percent of the top trophies, a Cadillac has never been one of them.
