Priceless 1954 Maserati wins Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award in Monterey Car Week

A 1954 Maserati A6GCS/53 Berlinetta by Pinin Farina became the world’s most desirable classic car on Wednesday, when it won the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Only in its second year, the award has already become a popular social highlight of Monterey Car Week, a fest of concours, auctions and soft-sell social events for the world’s motoring rich, about 200km south of San Francisco.

The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award pits the winners of eight of the world’s top concourses against each other, and then decides which priceless collectible becomes the ultimate automotive boast. Its sponsors include Peninsula Hotels, Graff Diamonds, and Rolex.

As a result, the Best of the Best cars faced perhaps the toughest and most diverse classic car judging panel on the planet. Its 24 judges included design chiefs from Chris Bangle of BMW and Ian Callum of Jaguar, to Nissan’s Shiro Nakamura and Daimler’s Gordon Wagener. There were top “car guys” among the panama hats, such as Henry Ford III, Ralph Lauren and Ratan Tata of Tata Group, and royals such as Rana Manvendra Singh and Prince Michael of Kent.

Some smart money was on a Ferrari winning in the marque’s 70th anniversary year, but the judges gave the sporty Maserati the nod. The Maserati was launched at the 1954 Paris Motor Show and then entered into the 1955 Mille Miglia by its first owner, Italy’s Count Alberto Magi Diligenti.

Part of the Monaco-based Destriero Collection, the two-door sports car had a hard road to Monterey, having won Best in Show at last year’s demanding Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, on Italy’s Lake Como, about 55km north of Milan. Next year’s concorso there would be from May 25 to May 27, 2018.

This “exquisite” racer was also one of only four Berlinetta-bodied sports cars produced by Pinin Farina, and was considered to be the “best preserved”, Peninsula Hotels said.