Top prize at the 2026 Sydney Harbour Concours D’Elegance has been scooped by Peter Harburg’s delectable 1936 Delage D6-70 Milord Cabriolet with coachwork by Figoni et Falaschi, the car being presented at the event by racing driver Spencer Martin.
The car, which has an electronic pre-selector box, was previously winner of The French Cup at Pebble Beach and was crowned Best of Show at a special awards ceremony on Saturday 28 February.
It just pipped the Best of Show Pre-war (Dr John Milverton’s Freestone & Webb bodied 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25, two below, on left) and Post-War (a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing immaculately restored by Kienle and which featured at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este last year).
The Hellblau (light blue) metallic Gullwing (below) was the first example not sold to the US and was first owned by Aston Martin owner David Brown and later renowned racer and entrant Rob Walker.
The trio headed a raft of special awards at the eighth running of the concours. The highly coveted pre- and post-war Passion awards to acknowledge exceptional owner dedication were won by a 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Graber Roadster and a 1968 Austin 1800 Ute respectively.
The latter’s restoration had been recently completed by18-year-old Bronte Pagano who completed every element of the restoration, learning many new skills along the way. Asked what he next project might be, she said: ‘Dad’s got a big-block Corvette that has just been sitting in the garage for 11 years and I would really like to see that run.’
The Bugatti, owned by David And Adele Cohen – who had entered the 2025 event’s Best of Show Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport by Figoni – had also appeared at Pebble beach, back in 2022. The couple had driven the Bugatti 1000km from Melbourne without drama before running out of fuel just shy of their destination.
Another to take on the long-haul from the Victorian state capital to the New South Wales equivalent was Andrew Cannon in his gorgeous 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB. He reported that the car ran better the further he got and harder he drove it.
The cute Austin ute, complete with pedal car in the load deck, was pipped to best restoration by Nick Grakini’s breathtaking effort with his 1971 Toyota Celica GT. After an utterly obsessive project, the immaculate, as-new car, boasted every accessory, document and tool all in mint condition.
The other side of the coin, The Preservation Award, went to Dr Umberto Gallini’s super-rare factory prototype 1989 Alfa Romeo ES 30 SZ, thought to be possibly the only one that escaped the factory or the crusher. The car had been brought all the way from San Marino to Sydney for the concours.
Two other special awards were always going to go to Italian cars: the ASI award for Best Italian car and the RIAR trophy for the best Alfa Romeo. They were won respectively by Mark Jansen’s 1972 Maserati Bora, stunning in silver, and the 1962 Alfa Romeo 2600 Touring Spider that second-owner Andrew Papadopoulos spent 17 years restoring.
As well as a main Carrozzeria Touring class (see below for all the class winners) there was a special Touring Superleggera class to mark the carrozzeria’s centenary and pitting Italian beauties against a bevvy of Aston Martins. Alex Holland’s 1964 Lancia Flaminia GTL (three below) took the silverware in this hotly contested category.
The Ladies’ choice vote went to another Peter Harburg car, a 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT that was rebodied as a Zagato by the Italian carrozzeria itself long before the sanction cars were built.
Earlier in the day concours chairman James Nicholls and host Amanda Stretton has emceed the class awards on site at Cockatoo Island, which also signalled the first parades of the event, the storms that had been ravaging the east coast of Australia having forced their cancellation on the Friday.
Winners and runners up were selected across nine classes by a nine-strong international jury led by Alessandra Giorgetti. Making up the roster of judges were Sam Tromans, Ernesto Kloostra, Stuart Field, David Berthon, Ken Gross, Madan Mohan, Todd Gilmour and Octane’s James Elliott.
The class winners were:
Interbellum – 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III by Windovers (Stephen de Bono)
The Ashes – 1957 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark II (James Graham)
Three Pointed Star – 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster (Wayne Elly)
Disegno Italiano – Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato (Peter Vandersluys)
Carrozzeria Touring – 1960 Lancia Flaminia GT (Ross Milner)
Plastic Fantastic – 1958 Chevrolet Corvette C1 (Brent Carr)
Catch my Drift – 2011 Lexus LFA (Phil McCarroll)
Generation Alpha – 2023 Ford GT (Santosh Deveraj)
Something for the weekend Sir? – 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL (Nick Taylor)
