Though active participants, Brass-Era cars rarely take top honors at concours d’elegance events. Last weekend, a 1903 Thomas Model 18 Sheldon Rear Entrance Tonneau owned by Ron and Sandy Hansen of Valencia, California, proved the exception to this rule by taking Best of Show Concours d’Elegance at the Greystone Mansion Concours, held on the grounds of the estate in Beverly Hills, California.
The E.R. Thomas Motor Company of Buffalo, New York, began producing automobiles in 1902, after six years of building gasoline-powered engines for motorized bicycles and tricycles. Technically speaking, this was little more than a merger with the Buffalo Automobile & Auto-Bi Company, another firm owned by E.R. Thomas. Badged as a Thomas Model 17, the company’s first automobile was essentially a slightly larger Buffalo Senior, but the new car proudly carried the Thomas family name.
The Thomas Model 18 joined the lineup in 1903. Both rode on a 78-inch wheelbase, both were powered by a 106-cu.in. single-cylinder engine rated at eight horsepower, and both used a three-speed sliding gear transmission with chain drive, but the Model 18 was the better-appointed (and hence, more expensive) of the two. Though sales by model weren’t recorded, the Thomas Motor Company reportedly delivered 250 automobiles in 1903, a number that would jump to 353 in 1904 and to 637 in 1905 as larger and more powerful engines were introduced.
Thomas’s moment in the spotlight came in 1908, when a Thomas Flyer won the grueling New York to Paris race, completing the journey (in the hands of George Schuster and Montague Roberts) in 169 days. Quality problems and corporate infighting offset the marketing gains of this achievement, and by 1911 Thomas left the company that carried his name, taking with him a taxicab manufacturing business that remained viable. In 1913, the E.R. Thomas Motor Company’s assets were sold at auction, though buyer C.A. Finnegan continued to produce Thomas automobiles, on a limited basis, as late as 1919.
The 1903 Thomas Mode 18 Sheldon Rear Entrance Tonneau owned by the Hansens was acquired from collector Johnny Crowell in 2014, and prior to Crowell’s ownership had been part of the Harrah’s Collection in Reno, Nevada. One of three such models known to exist today, the Thomas was also shown at the 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where the car took third place in the Antique Class.
Best of Show Concours de Sport at the 2016 Greystone Concours d’Elegance went to a 1961 Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca owned by Ron Hein of Los Angeles, California. Roughly 30 examples of this Kamm-tailed coupe were built between 1961 and 1963, primarily to improve the aerodynamics of the Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato, making them more competitive against competitors like the Lotus Elite.
Early designs called for an extended nose and an extended tail, but these long-tailed cars proved difficult to handle on tight, winding roads. High-speed testing further showed that cars with a cut tail, or “Coda Tronca,” produced the highest top speeds, so this design was carried forward with a few concessions (like the tapering rear fender) to aesthetics. Though powered by a modest 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine, the Coda Tronca proved capable of hitting speeds as high as 141 MPH in testing and 120 MPH in competition, further supporting the theories of German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm.
The Coda Tronca shown by Ron Hein was originally owned and raced by Elio Zagato, brother of Gianni Zagato and son of company founder Ugo Zagato. Though an early Coda Tronca, this car was returned to Zagato in 1963 for fitment of a new, lower nose, matching that of later examples. Ron’s Coda Tronca is also a Pebble Beach veteran, having been exhibited in the Postwar Sports Racing class in 2013.
For a complete list of winners, visit the Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance page at BeverlyHills.org.
