Here are seven of our favorite cars from Greenwich Concours Europa 2018, in no particular order.
1963 VW Type 34
Introduced in 1961 and styled by Ghia, the Type 34 was Volkswagen's most luxurious passenger car offering in the 1960s, not counting the various luxe versions of the Microbus. Based on Type 3 running gear, these rear-engined coupes featured some very rare items for the day, including a power sunroof. Strangely enough, the Type 34 was never officially sold in the U.S. -- all the examples that have been in the country for decades were brought in via the gray market, usually from Canada.
1964 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite
The Austin Healey Sebring Sprite is rare enough, but this very low-mile example was raced in the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring by the factory. The car retired early in the race due to a broken axle, completing just nine laps. It was then returned to the factory and casually made its way to an American BMC dealer in Pennsylvania (that's just how Austin Healey operated back in the day). The car then competed in some hill climb events, then effectively retired from racing (or driving) with 787 miles on the clock. It put on a few dozen miles since that time, but it still shows under a thousand miles. If there's a more original Sebring Sprite out there, we'd like to see it.
1952 Cunningham C-4R
There was no shortage of Briggs Cunningham's cars with racing history at Greenwich this year -- this was the single biggest meet for Cunningham cars assembled at a concours -- but this C4R from the Collier Collection at The Revs Institute stood out among others. Driven by Briggs Cunningham and Bill Spear at 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, this one has been kept in preserved condition.
"Briggs paired himself with Bill Spear, a hard-driving amateur on the American sports car circuit," The Revs Institute says. "John Fitch, who had become the SCCA’s first national champion in 1951, was paired with George Rice, a talented Eastern midget car driver. Sharing the coupe with Phil Walters was Duane Carter, an Indianapolis veteran."
"Practice revealed problems. The Chrysler-designed Alfin brake drums began to crack their liners and, with no spares available, would have to be babied during the race. Thus, even before the starter’s flag fell, high expectation was tempered by rude reality."
"By midnight, just one of the Cunninghams was still in the race -- this one -- with Briggs driving. He would continue doing so for nearly 20 of the 24 hours. The clutch on his C-4R was slipping. That, plus awareness that Bill Spear 'liked to go like the hammers of hell' and that Bill’s less-than-perfect vision would present grave dangers when the early morning fog rolled in, had convinced Briggs that he should remain at the wheel. He was determined that a Cunningham would finish the race. This one did, in fourth place. It had been an epic drive."
1960 Lancia Flaminia GT
One of several body styles of the Flaminia, the GT was made by Carrozzeria Touring. Featuring an aluminum skin over a shortened version of the Flaminia chassis, these were made in small numbers, with the entire production totaling just a little over 1,700 examples. Most of these were powered by 2.5-liter alloy V6 engines, and the Flaminia GT produced 131 hp. These were quite advanced cars for their day (if the aluminum body and engine are any indication) and featured four-wheel independent suspension, a four-speed transaxle, and disc brakes all around. This was one of several Lancias of the period that made it to Greenwich this year.
1965 Ferrari 330 GT Vignale Shooting Brake
The GTC4Lusso isn't the only grocery-friendly Ferrari out there -- there were some Ferraris back in the day that also tried to serve up practicality, if not fuel economy. This Vignale-bodied Ferrari 330, packing a 4.0-liter V12, was good for 300 hp. While it's still a 330 GT underneath, it's not all that recognizable on the outside; every body panel has been redesigned, and this shooting brake now sports a very square roof, ready for a ski rack. Interior accommodations are not too lavish: One golf bag will fit semi-comfortably, but two most likely won't.
Produced starting in 1957, the Saab 93B is powered by a three-cylinder two-stroke engine displacing just 748 ccs. The 93B is the slightly improved version of the 93, which debuted a year prior, and it's distinguishable by a one-piece windscreen. Like all two-stroke Saabs, this one does a wonderful impression of a small Japanese motorcycle. And its exhaust smells wonderful as well. This was one of three Saabs at Greenwich Concours this year.
This tiny sedan is one of just a handful in this hemisphere. Produced by MZMA from 1946 through 1954, the Moskvitch 400 was one of the first postwar Russian cars, and it was based on a reverse-engineered version of the 1936 Opel Kadett K-38. Opel's Russelheim plant was largely destroyed by allied bombing, and just a few of the stamping presses for this model were available to MZMA -- everything else was recreated from scratch. Boasting 23 hp from its 1.0-liter inline-four engine, this sedan could do 56 mph, which was plenty for the roads of the time. Some 233,000 were built over an eight-year stretch, most of them sedans, in addition to almost 18,000 cabriolets.
