Photo: Dragos Savu for Retromobil
Among the very few things that most people answer when asked about a European country named Romania we can find Dracula and the Transfagarasan highway, while baby boomers will also probably mention Nadia Comaneci and Gheorghe Hagi.
Apart from Transfagarasan, which was made famous by a certain Top Gear episode that was dedicated to it, none of the above has any relation to cars, which is why we won't talk about them here.
What we are going to discuss is a small automotive event that has a very convoluted and antithetic history, since it's long and short at the same time.
The Sinaia Concours d'Elegance has a long history because it first took place back in 1934, under the patronage of His Majesty, King Michael of Romania, but it sadly only had two editions before nefarious politics kicked in, and we won't bore you with the details.
The third edition of the greatest classic car show in Romania happened in the next century, just a few years ago. In 2011, the event was resurrected under the same auspices and on the same location, a fantastic place that is actually King Michael's former backyard, now open for selfie-obsessed tourists.
From some perspectives, it's fitting that quite a few cars that were present at the 2016 Sinaia Concours d'Elegance were built behind the Iron Curtain, during the decades that the classic car show was dormant.
That said, most of the old beauties we managed to gawk at this year's edition were unsurprisingly built in Germany, accompanying a few British, French, Italian and American classics and the previously mentioned “communists.”
Now, don't get me wrong, not even the commies I mentioned before weren't close to qualifying as hoopties, despite their less than royal lineage, but the one that really stood out was the rarest model participating in the event.
This is probably why the grand winner of Sinaia's Concours d'Elegance was an impeccable Packard Super Eight from 1936, which belonged at some point in time to King Carol II of Romania and is now sitting proudly in Ion Tiriac's massive collection.
The long-hooded dark knight is still sporting its original inline-eight cylinder engine that sounds like a slightly annoyed bear at low revs. Let's just say that if there were a single car that I would have chosen to “force” out of the event and from the hands of its owner, the Packard would have been it. If somehow “The Great Gatsby” would be remade once more in the near future, this black work of art on wheels would definitely need to get a role as an extra.
There were other rarities present as well, including a 1968 BMW Glas 1600 GT designed by Pietro Frua or a 99-year old REO, a Brass Era car that was still in running order (with a few tiny exceptions).
Come to think of it, in these kinds of events it's not the rarity, the pedigree or the age of the cars competing, but more about the overall ambiance, and the fact that you feel teleported into another era when you're walking around all the four-wheeled antiques.
An event where a not-exactly-rare Volkswagen 1200 Beetle can sit proudly near a one-of-55 Lagonda 3-Litre Drophead Coupe is not something you see every day, but I must repeat myself. The Sinaia Concours d'Elegance is not just about the cars, and as the great Aristotle once said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
The setting of the event on the Peles Castle grounds is a match made in heaven for two reasons. Firstly, that's where the original Concours was held, and secondly, it's a place that's nice to visit even when there aren't any classic cars parked all over the place.
Speaking of the setting, in recent years BMW has become tightly knit with the Sinaia classic car show, which is why the futuristic-looking i8 hybrid made a unique appearance among its much older brothers that competed against each other in terms of beauty.
Even if a Packard won, which was to be expected since it was rare, flawless and likely the most expensive participant, none of the other competitors felt like a fifth wheel. Heck, the car with probably the cleanest engine bay was a Dacia 1300, and back in the 1970s and 1980s, it was one of the most common vehicles found on Eastern European roads, along with Ladas.
Sure, the original Concours d'Elegance events were dedicated mostly to the most prestigious vehicles, but there were plenty of those in Sinaia as well. On the other hand, the first ones took place sometime in the 17th century and only involved horse-drawn carriages, so things are definitely allowed to change in a competition that has its roots deeply embedded with traditionalism.
Thanks to some details, like the presence of Volgas alongside Mercedes-Benz models or the surprise appearance of the BMW i8, I can positively say that I saw little of the inflexibility I would have expected from this type of event.
Now at its sixth modern edition and eighth overall, the Sinaia Concours d'Elegance definitely has a bright future ahead and represents one more proof that our oldies are far from being forgotten. If there is one automotive event you ever want to experience in Romania, this one should be one of your top priorities. Until that time, you can feast your eyes with the adjacent pictures and get a feel of how things are done in places that don't end in "d'Este" or "Beach."
What we are going to discuss is a small automotive event that has a very convoluted and antithetic history, since it's long and short at the same time.
The Sinaia Concours d'Elegance has a long history because it first took place back in 1934, under the patronage of His Majesty, King Michael of Romania, but it sadly only had two editions before nefarious politics kicked in, and we won't bore you with the details.
The third edition of the greatest classic car show in Romania happened in the next century, just a few years ago. In 2011, the event was resurrected under the same auspices and on the same location, a fantastic place that is actually King Michael's former backyard, now open for selfie-obsessed tourists.
From some perspectives, it's fitting that quite a few cars that were present at the 2016 Sinaia Concours d'Elegance were built behind the Iron Curtain, during the decades that the classic car show was dormant.
That said, most of the old beauties we managed to gawk at this year's edition were unsurprisingly built in Germany, accompanying a few British, French, Italian and American classics and the previously mentioned “communists.”
Now, don't get me wrong, not even the commies I mentioned before weren't close to qualifying as hoopties, despite their less than royal lineage, but the one that really stood out was the rarest model participating in the event.
This is probably why the grand winner of Sinaia's Concours d'Elegance was an impeccable Packard Super Eight from 1936, which belonged at some point in time to King Carol II of Romania and is now sitting proudly in Ion Tiriac's massive collection.
The long-hooded dark knight is still sporting its original inline-eight cylinder engine that sounds like a slightly annoyed bear at low revs. Let's just say that if there were a single car that I would have chosen to “force” out of the event and from the hands of its owner, the Packard would have been it. If somehow “The Great Gatsby” would be remade once more in the near future, this black work of art on wheels would definitely need to get a role as an extra.
There were other rarities present as well, including a 1968 BMW Glas 1600 GT designed by Pietro Frua or a 99-year old REO, a Brass Era car that was still in running order (with a few tiny exceptions).
Come to think of it, in these kinds of events it's not the rarity, the pedigree or the age of the cars competing, but more about the overall ambiance, and the fact that you feel teleported into another era when you're walking around all the four-wheeled antiques.
An event where a not-exactly-rare Volkswagen 1200 Beetle can sit proudly near a one-of-55 Lagonda 3-Litre Drophead Coupe is not something you see every day, but I must repeat myself. The Sinaia Concours d'Elegance is not just about the cars, and as the great Aristotle once said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
The setting of the event on the Peles Castle grounds is a match made in heaven for two reasons. Firstly, that's where the original Concours was held, and secondly, it's a place that's nice to visit even when there aren't any classic cars parked all over the place.
Speaking of the setting, in recent years BMW has become tightly knit with the Sinaia classic car show, which is why the futuristic-looking i8 hybrid made a unique appearance among its much older brothers that competed against each other in terms of beauty.
Even if a Packard won, which was to be expected since it was rare, flawless and likely the most expensive participant, none of the other competitors felt like a fifth wheel. Heck, the car with probably the cleanest engine bay was a Dacia 1300, and back in the 1970s and 1980s, it was one of the most common vehicles found on Eastern European roads, along with Ladas.
Sure, the original Concours d'Elegance events were dedicated mostly to the most prestigious vehicles, but there were plenty of those in Sinaia as well. On the other hand, the first ones took place sometime in the 17th century and only involved horse-drawn carriages, so things are definitely allowed to change in a competition that has its roots deeply embedded with traditionalism.
Thanks to some details, like the presence of Volgas alongside Mercedes-Benz models or the surprise appearance of the BMW i8, I can positively say that I saw little of the inflexibility I would have expected from this type of event.
Now at its sixth modern edition and eighth overall, the Sinaia Concours d'Elegance definitely has a bright future ahead and represents one more proof that our oldies are far from being forgotten. If there is one automotive event you ever want to experience in Romania, this one should be one of your top priorities. Until that time, you can feast your eyes with the adjacent pictures and get a feel of how things are done in places that don't end in "d'Este" or "Beach."
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