Best in Britain: 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia

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Royal Guards check a Ferrari Daytona with racing provenance
Bobbies and a Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet at Windsor Castle for the Concours of Elegance | Concours photos
Royal Guards and a Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet at Windsor Castle for the Concours of Elegance | Concours photos

A one-off 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia was awarded Best in Show honors at England’s Royal Concours of Elegance, held this year at Windsor Castle as part of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday celebration.

Nearly 12,500 people gathered on the castle grounds, where nearly 1,000 vehicles were on display, both in the official concours and in the various club and marque shows outside the castle quadrangle. Inside the quadrangle were the 60 official concours entries, which were  judged, though not by the typical corps of concours judges but in a vote of the entrants themselves.

The winning car was developed by inventor, racer and World War I fighter pilot Andre Dubonnet, who commissioned to Jean Andreau to do the design and Jacques Saoutchik to turn drawings into three dimensions of metal, curved glass, sliding doors and panoramic windshield.

The Hispano-Suiza also won the vote as the spectators’ favorite. Runner-up in the contestants’ vote was was an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Viotti coupe.

 

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Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.