A Collection
The 71st Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will take place on 21 August 2022. And one of the highlights of this showcase of the beautiful of the beautiful will certainly be the “Graber Coachwork” feature. Of course we will report on it, hopefully be able to present all the vehicles.
There is a reason for all this, we will explain it later. And we will also tell you about Hermann Graber, perhaps the most important coachbuilder in Switzerland – in detail. But first, let’s create one of our collections. We will proceed in a fairly chronological manner. (But be sure to note at the bottom the 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4, which will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s from the collection of Gene Ponder from 22 to 24 September – and which will also be on display at Pebble Beach).
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1933 Packard Eight Cabriolet
VIN: 376978
Engine-Number: 719-177
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1937 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet
VIN: 57500
Engine-Number: 373
first owner: Raymond Barbey
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1938 Packard Eight Cabriolet
VIN: 1601-2039
Engine-Number: A311499A
first owner: (barnfind…)
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1946 Delahaye 135 Cabriolet
VIN: 800320
Engine Number: 800320
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1951 Bentley Mark VI Coupé
VIN: B146MD
Engine Number: BA421
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1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupe
VIN: LML 562
Engine-Number: VB6E 50 1294
Auctions: RM Sotheby’s, Gene Ponder Collection 2022, «offered without reserve», offered with the following text: «According to the accompanying British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate, chassis LML 562 was completed on 5 November 1953 and was dispatched from Aston Martin’s Feltham works on the same day. Destined for Switzerland and Aston Martin’s Zurich concessionaire Joseph Stierli & Company, the left-hand-drive rolling chassis was shipped to Wichtrach, home of Graber, where it became the first and only of its type to receive the carrosserie’s striking and elegant drophead coupe coachwork. The car is believed to have spent most of its life in Switzerland. It was later consigned to long-term storage in Basel, before being offered to restorer Kevin Kay, who purchased the DB2/4 on behalf of a client in 2007 with the ultimate aim of displaying the machine at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Kay was duly commissioned to carry out a full restoration, which began with the rebuild of the standard Aston Martin mechanical components, including the 2,580-cubic-centimeter Lagonda straight-six engine, four-speed manual transmission, and suspension, which comprised an independent system at the front and a live rear axle. The body and chassis were then separated, and the coachwork chemically stripped back to bare metal. New sills were fabricated, the doors were reskinned, and wood in the B-posts and door frames was replaced, while the steel rear section of the body was the subject of extensive repairs (having suffered the effects of countless Swiss winters). Kay reports that almost 1,000 hours were committed to the body alone—with the delays resulting in the car missing out on the 2009 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Finished in Dove Grey over a dark blue leather interior with contrasting blue soft-top, chassis LML 562 finally made it to the 18th green in 2010, where it successfully contested the Post-War Sports & Touring class. Such was the quality of the restoration, the rarity of the model, and the elegance of the unique Graber coachwork, that the car was awarded 3rd in class. It would go on to feature at the Palm Beach Cavallino Classic XXI in 2012. Purchased by Gene Ponder in 2019, chassis LML 562 has since enjoyed a reassuring degree of preventative maintenance and gradual improvement in the capable hands of Red Car Restorations of Rockwall, Texas, with several parts and service invoices issued between 2019 and 2022 amounting to more than $16,000. Further refinements to the car’s cosmetic condition include the sourcing or original badges in the UK.» Of course we know better – and more…
Something about the Aston Martin DB2/4? Of course, here. And more nice cars: our archives.
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