A 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne has won the prestigious Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours in Monterey, California, ahead of a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C and a 1929 Bentley Speed Six.

The Voisin is owned by financial services entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Mullins, and wife Merle, founders of the recently opened Mullin Automotive Museum, which concentrates on art deco era cars. This was Peter Mullins’ 27^th entry at Pebble Beach, but his first ever Best of Show win.

“I’ve been showing at Pebble Beach for nearly three decades and this is the greatest venue in the world,’ he said. ‘It’s the ultimate thrill, although I wasn’t sure I’d actually won. “We were sitting in the bullpen with the other two finalists [out of a field of 227 cars], the judges pointed at me and I thought I finished third… and then the fireworks went off.’

His car was the creation of Gabriel Voisin, a French-born aviation pioneer and creator of Europe’s first manned, engine-powered aircraft capable of a sustained, controlled flight. He switched to car design and production in 1919 making high quality cars built in lightweight materials, to unconventional but successful designs.

As a Pebble Beach winner, the Mullins Voisin was a surprising but popular choice, as Pebble Beach Concours chairman Sandra Button explained. ‘The Voisin is a four-door closed car, so it's actually an unexpected winner,’ she said. ‘However, the car’s remarkable attention to detail brought it forward during judging and it became a real crowd pleaser.’

The Concours also featured a special display of 21 of the 36 Ferrari 250GTOs built, plus a celebration of 125 years of Mercedes-Benz.