Thousands of Londoners and car and tailoring aficionados from around the World flocked to London’s Savile Row over the last two days to visit the first ever Concours on Savile Row.
And the event, which saw 30 world-class cars on display in the famous street, is planned to be repeated next year.
Jubilant event organisers Geoff Love and David Lillywhite, from Hothouse Media, who spent months working on the event with The Pollen Estate, owner of the significant majority of Savile Row, the global centre for luxury bespoke tailoring, said: “The event has been a huge success with the famous tailoring houses hosting car manufacturers and designers. The response from the public has been amazing and better than we could have hoped for.
They added: “We are confident that this event, which has created such a very special atmosphere for the Row, will be repeated.
Julian Stocks, Property Director of The Pollen Estate said of the two-day event,:’It has been a wonderful spectacle to see these two industries come together and showcase their many parallels. The Pollen Estate is strongly committed to highlighting and preserving the skills and craftsmanship that Savile Row is home to, and we are delighted so many have come down to the Row to enjoy. We look forward to working together on similar events in the future.”
The line up of cars was an amazing cross section of traditional, reworked and designed classics. Several of them were electric conversions and were showcased alongside the latest hybrid supercars.
McLaren’s most radical model to date, the hybrid Artura supercar, made its UK debut alongside the company’s latest Ultimate Series model, the lightweight Elva.
The Czinger 21C hybrid hypercar, produced using 3D printing techniques and capable of 0-62mph in just 1.9 seconds, also made its UK debut at the Concours.
David Lillywhite added: “What we created in Savile Row over the last two days was a unique concours which not only looked at the classic cars that we all love but also looked s to the future in terms of technology and the cars that will become classics.
“Good examples of this were the famed 1934 Barnato Hassan Bentley seen alongside a fully-restored 1960s Land Rover Series II upgraded and converted to fully electric power by classic car EV specialists Everrati.
The Barnato Hassan Bentley was created specifically to break records at the world’s first purpose-built race track, Brooklands in Surrey. The 8-litre Bentley monster topped 140mph on the famously bumpy banked concrete track in 1938.”
Other interesting cars that were on display included:
The Jaguar E-type that starred in the Kingsman: The Goldman Circle movie as the transport of the film’s hero, played by Taron Egerton. The Kingsman films are based around a fictitious tailor, filmed at the real-life premises of Huntsman on Savile Row.
Harlequins and England rugby star David Cooke’s 1960 CEGGA Ferrari 250TR, a faithful recreation using genuine parts of a successful Ferrari Testa Rossa campaigned in motor sport during the 1960s.
These are just some of the many spectacular cars that were on show over the two days. The cars were hosted by tailors, who opened their doors to visitors for fascinating insights into the world of bespoke tailoring throughout the event.
In addition, a central stage featured live music along with talks by many famous faces of the car and tailoring worlds. There were two motoring artists working live at the event, a motoring art exhibition at The Service café and live demonstrations of engineering, watchmaking, metal sculpture making and tailoring.