http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/mustangs-sally-forth-in-richmond-while-classics-gather-on-the-beach

http://www.autoweb.cz/fotogalerie-tatra-v-pebble-beach-2014/2/#galerie or an 0verview at http://www.supercars.net/gallery/119513/3167/17.html

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/tatra/2_603/1673843.html

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which appears to be on a closing spree, has filed a closure report in the Tatra trucks case where it had put UK-based Vectra Group chief Ravi Rishi and former chairman and managing director of state-run BEML, VRS Natrajan, under the scanner during the 29-month long investigation. Citing “insufficient evidence”, the CBI on Tuesday brought down the curtain on the case which involved supply of 7,000 Tatra trucks to the Indian Army by BEML since 1986.

In a separate case, the agency has chargedLt General Tejinder Singh last month for attempting to bribe the former Army chief VK Singh for allegedly swinging a truck purchase deal in favour of Tatra. However, even in that charge-sheet, it did not charge Ravi Rishi or BEML officials.

Both cases were referred by the thenDefence Minister AK Antony to the CBI in 2012. BEML chief VRS Natrajan was also removed from his position on the CBI’s request in 2012 for a fair probe.

Over the past one week, the CBI has also decided to close the coal scam case against Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and has given a virtual clean chit to former Sebi chairman CB Bhave and member KM Abraham in the preliminary enquiry PE) in the MCX-SX matter.

A senior CBI official said CBI was inclined to close yet another high-profile probe against Himachal PradeshChief Minister Virbhadra Singh regarding which a PE was lodged by the agency in 2012 after a diary had emerged during an Income Tax department search which indicated pay-offs by one Ispat Industries to a certain ‘VBS’.

“The Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate can look into the matter from the angle of tax evasion or money laundering,” said the official, indicating that the CBI did not see any criminality in the matter.

In the Tatra trucks case, the CBI’s closure report says that “no sustained evidence” was found to prove that indigenisation of trucks for use by Indian Army was deliberately delayed, which was one of the major allegations in the First Information Report. Another allegation was that the BEML allowed change of currency for payment from US dollar to euro, thereby causing further loss of approximately Rs 13.27 crore. After receiving replies to its Letters Rogatory from abroad, the CBI has concluded that banks overseas had insisted upon payment in euros rather than US dollars.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-08-27/news/53284735_1_closure-report-tatra-lt-general-tejinder-singh

Heading for the podium. The three Tatras of Kees Smit, Pavel Kasik and Chris Oehrstrom are seen here close to the podium.  They later were set side by side with Chris Oehrstrom awarded 3rd place. He went to the podium first.

Kees Smit became runner-up

….while Pavel Kasik was the winner.

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/photos/reuters-international-news-photos-1314895172-slideshow/pavel-kasik-listens-guest-while-standing-1936-tatra-photo-030727529.html

http://blog.classiccars.com/24478/

http://autoweek.com/article/pebble-beach-concours/czech-secret-weapon-will-shine-pebble-beach

San Francisco newspaper coverage:

http://www.sfgate.com/cars/slideshow/Concours-d-Elegance-91822/photo-6740976.php

Photo coverage of event:
https://secure.guideautoweb.com/en/galleries/26351/2014_pebble_beach_concours_d%27elegance/?im=62

Classic Car coverage (drop down to last grouping of photos within the main article):
http://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/pebble-beach-concours-2014-best-and-rest

German:

http://www.autobild.de/klassik/artikel/pebble-beach-2014-concours-d-elegance-5264849.html

http://www.spiegel.de/auto/fahrkultur/tatra-t77-oldtimer-mit-guter-aerodynamik-perfekt-restauriert-a-987131.html

http://www.motor-klassik.de/szene/pebble-beach-concours-d-elegance-2014-show-der-superlative-mit-arnie-8545183.html

with Tatras on photos 21, 37

http://www.motor-klassik.de/szene/pebble-beach-concours-d-elegance-2014-ex-rossellini-ferrari-gewinnt-in-pebble-beach-8546382.html with Tatra photos on 9.35, 51, 101, 110

Preceding the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élegance was the Rolex Tour d’Élegance, held on August 14, 2014. Here, historic cars travel from Pebble Beach to Big Sur and back to Carmel.  Here are some pix of the participants in the Tatra class.

Pavel Kasik

Kees Smit started the tour, but saw a Horch backing into him at an uphill section after 1/3 distance.  As the right front wing was touching hindered the wheel to move and Kees Smit needed some medical attention. It meant the end of his tour. With the help of the organzation, everything was repaired temporally though, the T 77a readied late on Saturday.

Jeff Lane

John & Greg Long

David Russell

Lane Motor Museum

Frank Kollinek

PS. Both Danny Barnett and Chris Oehrstrom did not compete in the rally

From l to r: Pavel Kasik and family, Frank Kollinek and wife, Ken Uffheill, the Danny Barnett team, Barbar Frolich, Guido Smit, Paul Greenstein andn Dydia deLyser (and dog Harpo) the Lane Museum T 603 drivers, David Russell, John Long with wife and daughter, Kees Smit. Kneeling: Chris Oerstrom and Jeff Lane. All were enthusiastic, saying it was the first American Tatra meet! (O.K.; with some Europeans)

Pavel Kasik took his wife, son and mechanic along his freshly restored T 77 to become the winner of the Tatra class.

Kees Smit took his wife Barbara and his T 77a from the Netherlands to California

Chris Ohrstrom (Virginia) with the ex Ian Tisdale, ex Hampton Wayt T 87 did not make it to the Rolex Tour as the clutch failed, meaning he had to take the engine out, repair the clutch and fitting the engine in a very short time. He succeeded and was chosen as the third best Tatra by the Jury, making it to the PB podium!

Canadian T 77a and T 87 owner John Long was invited with his  T 87 and enjoyed the meeting very much. “Some years ago, I was here with my silver T 77a, but I then felt a little bit of a stranger with such an unknown car; This meeting is much nicer, with all the Tatras and the Tatra enthusiasts.” Along with John came his brother Greg, his wife and daughter.

David Russell was the only Tatraplan representative.  He took his late, VW engined, Tatraplan.

Jeff Lane from Nashville, Tennesse, entered his T 97. He also entered the former Rene Bergher T 603-1 on the name of his museum.  The guy on the 125 cc CZ motorcycle is motorcycle entrant  from Los Angeles who also own a magnificent T 87 together with his wife DydiadeLyser

Danny Barnet of Las Vegas was a last minute entry.  After already having bought tickets for PB to see the Tatras on show there, he just thought “Why don’t I ask them if they want my car” and he succeeded! With his brother Jack and Kenneth Uffheil, who took a plane from Texas to Las Vegas, and two other passengers, they drove the narrow mask 1966 T 603, an original US car, imported by an American Jawa dealer, to Pebble Beach.

Toronto based Frank Kollinek toko his T 603 with him. Dressed in a Czechoslovak army uniform, he was a much photographed participant.

Last, but not least, we should mention Texas Tatra enthusiast Kenneth Uffheil. He flew from Texas to Las vegas, worked for two days on Banny Barnett’s T 603 before to join the T 603 yellow submarine team to Pebble Beach. Ken is seen here with with his friend Jackie Stewart, former F1 world chmpion, who now has an apprecianticeship with Ken to study Tatra technology.

The choice of the Jon Shirley’s 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti Coupe was not a total surprise given its provenance, quality of restoration and undisputed elegance. It still sent a ripple through the knowledgeable crowd gathered before The Lodge overlooking the 18th green of one of the world’s most famous golf courses. This is the first time since 1954 that a Post-War era vehicle has won the top prize, namely Best of Show, at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey.

How to reduce 218 cars from 15 countries divided across 27 classes down to one Best of Show? That is the task set before Chief Judge Chris Bock and his team of experts. Armed with a combined total of 1,893 years of experience there is every chance that their final decision will be the correct one. According to Nic Waller, a member of the Concours Selection Committee, it was a close run thing but a fine decision:

“It could not go to a better or more unique Ferrari. It’s been to Pebble before about 15 years ago [when it won First in Class], but it’s since been re-restored and a lot of time and effort taken to bring it back to exactly as it was when it was first delivered to Roberto Rossellini. In Ferrari language, in any language it ticks all the boxes.”

954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti CoupeRossellini is perhaps as good a testimony for the car’s elegance as one could need. As a filmmaker, whose Roma città aperta won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1946 and who was married to Ingrid Bergman, he knew a thing or two about art and beauty. Jon Shirley, owner of the Ferrari, is another aficionado of the finer things in the automotive world. For him the reasoning behind his success was obvious.

“It has super elegant lines and elegance is usually what ends up here on the ramp as Best of Show,” he said. “As someone who collects Ferraris I always thought that one day it had to happen; there are a lot of great Post-War cars and I never quite understood why one had never managed to win!”

Shirley is first to admit he is very fortunate to own the car. Not just because of its revered features, but also the story behind its acquisition: “It was found in Paris in pieces, I was lucky to have the help of a young Englishman – who spoke French fluently – in the middle of the negotiations. Plus, we had lived in Belgium for a number of years and my late wife spoke a little French which all helped charm the owner. He wasn’t going to sell to someone he didn’t like.”

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is much more than just a competition to find the most beautiful car. It is a celebration of the passion and dedication of an elite group of individuals dedicated to preserving automotive history.

To become an entrant at Pebble Beach Concours you have to be invited. Each car is vetted and considered by a committee before it is selected for entry. The vehicles chosen have either been painstakingly restored or carefully preserved over time. According to Sandra Button, the Concours Chairman: “All are [here], thanks to the dedicated and passionate enthusiasts who want to be the best possible stewards of these vehicles – not only caring for them, but sharing them with others.” These are qualities that Rolex greatly admires.

The list of marques represented at the event is a who’s who of the historic automotive world. Vehicles which in their day were leaders in their class, and which today are some of finest remaining examples. Cars from the golden age of coachwork – the 1920s and 30s – including famous names such as Duesenberg, Cadillac, Packard, Chrysler Imperial, Pierce Arrow, Hispano-Suiza, Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Talbot-Lago, Delage, and Delahaye spread across the green sward. Elsewhere, Post-War sporting giants such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, BMW, Riley and Jaguar.

1939 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Pourtout CoupePresent, too, were some lesser known, though no less significant names. Pebble Beach had chosen 2014 to recognize the contribution of Hans Ledwinka and the progressive Czechoslovakian Tatra together with the all-American Ruxton and Cord.

Jim Fasnacht is an authority on the Ruxton and the driving force behind a collection of 16 out of the 19 surviving models from the 96 built being on the field: “It was a team effort with a lot of wonderful people involved to get them here. I was captured a long time ago by the car’s silhouette and its technology. The engineering of the gearbox was revolutionary. It enabled the car to be lower, shorter, lighter and more nimble than other front-wheel drive cars of the era.” Fasnacht and his wife own seven Ruxtons. He admits this is partly obsession, but mostly enthusiasm to preserve the history of a car where “so few were made it almost fell through the crack.” Fasnacht was presented with a Rolex timepiece in recognition of his dedication during the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance lunch stop in Carmel.

Coincidentally another car that has caught Fasnacht’s imagination is the Cord. Another front-wheel drive car, the Cord was the brand name for an innovative car manufactured by Auburn Automobile under the stewardship of Errett L. Cord, who twice appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Chris Cord, the grandson of Errett and a highly-regarded racing driver with appearances at 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona, was exhibiting an immaculate 1937 Cord 812 SC Cabriolet at this year’s Concours.

“The car is a wonderful car to drive, it is such a modern car despite its age. Gordon Buehrig’s design is considered iconic. It is front-wheel drive, it has no running boards and it’s disappearing headlights make the car extremely streamlined, and good-looking,” explained Cord. Cord is a huge supporter of the Concours, what it stands for and the opportunity to share his car: “Ours is a very personal story and we love coming to events like this talking about our family’s automotive history. These cars are a remembrance of that time, and my grandfather, and give us an immense sense of pride.”

http://www.racer.com/more/historic/item/107534-pebble-beach-concours-d-elegance-the-anointed-one

Today, we have a chance to showcase a somewhat unusual photoshoot depicting two cars that are generations apart, but similar in its shape and form.

First one is a Soviet era luxury vehicle (if there ever was such a thing) powered by a Tatra 603G V8 air-cooled engine with a displacement of 2474 cc, which develops 77,5kW that power the rear wheels.

If you think that rudimentary suspension, lack of any modern technology involved, or simply put, lacking anything and everything, is and will be the main thing about this vehicle, you are terribly wrong. The V8 overhead valve engine weighed only 160 kg (350 lb), allowing the car to have 47/53 front/rear interaxle weight distribution when fully loaded. The engine was already used in the late Tatra 87 and its extreme reliability was confirmed by previous use in Tatra race cars or military light truck T805. The air-cooling system was designed to cool the most heated parts of the engine more effectively.

More at: http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/08/18/times-changing-bmw-i3-work-together-tatra-603/