- Mercedes-Benz will command center stage at a 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance tribute that celebrates the 125th anniversary of the automobile.
- The August 21 tribute will include some of the earliest vehicles produced by Mercedes-Benz, including the White Knight racecars, coach-built classics and preservation cars.
- The tribute will also feature the Mercedes-Benz 380K through 770.
PEBBLE BEACH, California — Mother Ursula Shipton, a self-proclaimed witch from the 15th century, foresaw the birth of the automobile, predicting that "carriages without horses shall go, and accidents fill the world with woe." But the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance prefers to focus on all the good things about cars in its celebration of what it calls the 125th anniversary of the automobile.
Mercedes-Benz will be the featured marque in the tribute.
Of course, countless automotive historians have argued for years just when the automobile was born.
Writing in 1950, automotive historian Rudolph Anderson observed: "The automobile was born in the supernatural and bred in the spectacular. Its supernatural beginnings are found in mythology and biblical prophecy which foretold self-moving vehicles of strange design and stranger purpose. Out of these shadowy visions there grew in the minds of men the idea of the automobile, which showmanship and pageantry made the sleek reality of today."
"What or Who's on First" is the title of Chapter 1 of the 1993 book Carriages Without Horses: J. Frank Duryea and the Birth of the American Automobile Industry, by Richard P. Scharchburg, which struggles to pin down the automobile's true birthday. Could it be before the birth of Christ when the prophet Ezekiel spoke of a vehicle with wheels, wings, human faces and features of animals and birds; a mechanical monster snorting with speed and action, as noted in Anderson's The Story of the American Automobile?
"The self-propelled vehicle was, as the old saying goes, 'slow-a-birthing,'" writes Scharchburg.
Nevertheless, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance organizers feel like blowing out a few candles.
The August 21 tribute to marques that trace their lineage to Benz and Daimler — particularly Mercedes-Benz — will be held on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Show organizers said in a statement that the exhibition will "chronicle early racing greats, coach-built classics and preservation cars."
They include the White Knight racecars, including a "Blitzen-Benz," the model that set the world record for the fastest speed on land at 141 mph in 1911. The vehicle is described by show organizers as "similar to a bicycle," with rear wheels that are turned by chains.
The tribute will also feature the Mercedes-Benz 380K through 770.
"From the beginning of the automobile to the modern industry of today, Mercedes-Benz has always been at the apex of automotive technology and style," said Sandra Button, Concours chairman, in a statement.
Inside Line says: We like any excuse for an auto-themed party.
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