Black-and-white morning scene on a coastal golf course, a 1930s coachbuilt masterpiece on the fairway, Pacific surf behind, judges’ silhouettes leaning in, a fender line cropped at the frame edge
The season

Concours · 2026

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

August 16, 2026Pebble Beach Golf Links · Pebble Beach, California

The fixture

The eighteenth fairway, Sunday morning: since 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance has been the lawn every restoration aims at. Best of Show here is the highest honour the hobby awards, and the judging standard defines what “concours condition” means everywhere else.

A Pebble Beach class win enters a car’s file permanently — value follows the lawn, and the restoration trades that prepare cars for it are booked years ahead.

The condition benchmark. “Pebble-ready” is the top of every HICON-SPEC condition spectrum.
The HICONIUM lens
Dates
August 16, 2026
Venue
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Place
Pebble Beach, California (US)
Type
Concours
Dated from
pebblebeachconcours.net
pebblebeachconcours.net

Results from this fixture feed the ledger — record sales, class wins and documented outings land in the affected cars’ files.

The origin

1950

Pebble Beach began in 1950, alongside road races on Del Monte Forest roads. Sports-car enthusiast Sterling Edwards asked Del Monte Properties president John B. “Jack” Morse to host postwar West Coast road racing. After approval, a Concours was added as their social counterpart. It was judged a few blocks from the start-finish line, and its cars paraded on the course. The format drew on Paris and continental concours of the 1920s and 1930s; its first five Best of Show winners were new cars. The events ran together through 1956; after Ernie McAfee’s death, racing moved to Laguna Seca.

How it runs

Invitation field
Applications go out online and to regular entrants in November and are due early in January; the Selection Committee meets in February. It prefers cars not previously shown at Pebble Beach or another major concours and normally limits returns to ten years. Accepted cars cannot appear elsewhere in August before the Concours, except certain Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion participants.
Two-stage judging
Class Judges assess originality and authenticity, including whether preservation or restoration is correct; Honorary Judges assess elegance. Best of Show candidates must first win their class. The Chief Judge, Chief Honorary Judge, Chief Class Judges, Honorary Judge team leaders and selected Class Judges vote; the car with most votes wins.
Thursday Tour
In 1998, co-chairmen Lorin Tryon and Jules Heumann responded to criticism that concours cars were seldom driven by adding the Tour d’Elegance. Today around 80 percent of competitors complete its 70-mile route. A completed Tour brings a green ribbon and decides a class tie; the event is presented by Rolex.
Lawn and neighbours
The historic field gathers on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. The Concept Lawn, formally launched on the Lodge putting green in 1989, presents historic dream cars, concepts and new-car debuts. Gooding Christie’s Pebble Beach Auctions are a separate official auction event in Parc du Concours; auction prices are not Concours results.

On the record

  1. 1950

    Sterling Edwards’ 1950 Edwards R-26 Special Sport Roadster won the first Best of Show, despite not appearing in the programme. The car then finished fourteenth overall in the main Road Race, won by Phil Hill in a Jaguar XK120.

  2. 1955

    Phil Hill drove his family’s 1931 Pierce-Arrow 41 LeBaron Convertible Town Cabriolet to Pebble Beach, where it became the first classic Best of Show winner. He had to hurry over from work on his race car to accept.

  3. 1958

    J. B. Nethercutt’s restored 1930 duPont Model G Merrimac Town Car was Best of Show, the first of his record six wins. The official history says the restoration helped establish the standard of excellence for which Pebble Beach is known.

  4. 2014

    Jon Shirley’s 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti Coupe, ordered by Roberto Rossellini and rebuilt by Carrozzeria Scaglietti after an accident, won Best of Show: the first Ferrari to do so and the first postwar winner in well over four decades.

  5. 2024

    Fritz Burkard’s preserved 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, identified by the Concours as the first Type 59 built, became the first preservation car to win Best of Show. The official release said Bugatti and Mercedes-Benz were then tied at ten wins each.