Round Door Rolls-Royce
The magnificently outrageous 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Jonckheere Coupé, known simply as the Round Door Rolls-Royce, must be one of the most dramatically-bodied cars of all time. Looked after by Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum, it was a star of the 2012 Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance.

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
This car played a part in the birth of a nation. On August 14th 1947, loaned by its owner, HH The Nawab of Bahawalpur, it transported the founder of Pakistan, Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, to the Sindh Assembly Building in Karachi to formally announce the creation of Pakistan. The appearance of this car at the 2012 Kuwait Concours was the first time it had left Pakistan – a significant political and cultural achievement.

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B
Beautifully understated and elegant, this Alfa Romeo is one of just six closed 2900Bs. It was exported to the USA in 1947 and won the first street race at Watkins Glen. It won Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 2008, the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este in 2009, and Best of Show at the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance in 2012.

Birkin Bentley
Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin’s 1931 4 ½ Litre Supercharged Bentley set the Outer Circuit record of 137.96mph at Brooklands in 1932, a truly hair-raising feat. Following the death of its owner, legendary watchmaker George Daniels, the car was sold this year by Bonhams for £5 million, a world record for a British car.

The Swan Car
Of all the over-the-top machinery at Pebble Beach this year, none was more outlandish than the 1910 Brooke Swan Car (and matching ‘Cygnet’) from the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands. It was commissioned by Calcutta eccentric Robert Nicholl ‘Scotty’ Matthewson – apparently he quite liked swans…

The Silver Arrows
The fabulous Silver Arrows pre-war racing cars from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union (now Audi) that dominated motor racing before WW2 were reunited at the 2012 Goodwood Revival Meeting, where they wowed the crowds with spine-tingling demonstration lap; their first time together for decades.