Anthony Axisa’s spectacular 1939 SS100 roadster, the last of the 3.5-litre cars to be built, took Best of Show at the ninth annual Valletta Concours on the Mediterranean isle of Malta. The SS just pipped a gorgeous 1968 Aston Martin DB6 with a Webasto roof (the winner of the Touring Superleggera class) for the honours, with a 1972 Honda CB750 Four taking the top prize in the adjacent motorcycle concours.
The popular event was at a new venue for 2026, just a stone’s throw from its traditional location of historic St George’s Square. Arranged around the impressive modernist Triton’s Fountain by Chevalier Vincent Apap just outside the ancient walls of the city, the cars were shown off to best effect and there seemed to be a massive lift in footfall compared with previous years.
Organisers John and Joel Saliba had also worked hard to make it more than just a concours, with a live art competition, a pedal car concours and club displays for Triumphs and Ferraris, the latter nestled under Renzo Piano’s Parliament building just inside his new modernist city gates.
After a couple of years of international winners, the 2026 edition was overwhelmingly made up of Maltese-owned cars, though, as had become traditional, there were a few entries from Italy and, for the second year in succession, Eric Simpson and Barry Pickup drove down to Malta from Barnsley in their entry. Last year it was a Citroën DS; this year a one-off Australian-built Austin 1800 Landcrab ‘ute’ that was converted into a van by the works so it could be a support vehicle on the Australian leg of the London to Sydney Marathon. Few signs of that previous life are currently visible on the car, but the pair have promised to return next year in something similarly intriguing.
The Austin was in the Popular Classics class, one of 13 classes, where there was tough three-way competition for the top spot. In third place was a spectacular 1978 BMW 323i, with another BMW, a 1968 2002, one place above it. The beautifully restored BMW was let down only by a wheel upgrade and modifications to the fuelling system, though they had been superbly executed. The winner, though, was a 1962 Toyopet Tiara RT20, which had been delivered to the event straight from its three-year restoration. A car that has been in the same family since new, it is believed to have been the first Japanese car in Malta.
Other standout cars included Gordon Vella’s astonishing 1956 Jaguar XK140, which took Best Restoration, a vivid green 1950 Fiat 500C Topolino that charmed judges and visitors alike, and a cute but fierce 1958 Fiat 500 N Sport Berlina Trasformabile. A couple of rare Renaults stood out, too: a 1982 Turbo Two and a 1976 Alpine, which was essentially the model marketed as a Gordini in the UK. A 1976 Rover 3500S won the Preservation Class and the top dog in a dedicated all-Ferrari Pininfarina group was a Testarossa.
