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Automobile Magazine

January 1992

Pebble Beach Cocours d’Elegance and Monterey Historic Automobile Races

Once again, the "perfect weekend" in August was a treat for enthusiasts. At Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, Juan Manuel Fangio belatedly celebrated his eightieth birthday amid Ferraris, Alfas, Mercedes-Benzes, and Maseratis, commemorating his five world championships in those marques. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum brought Fangio's championship-winning W196 "Streamliner," and il maestro did a few spirited laps in an open-wheeled W196, delighting the crowd. As the fog lifted at Pebble Beach on Sunday, a succulent collection of classics awaited the faithful.

Caption:

Top to bottom: Everyone's all-time hero, Juan Manuel Fangio, did parade laps at Monterey in SLs, hot laps in a W196 GP car, and signed autographs tirelessly for a horde of fans; sleek art-deco tail on R. Stuart Bewley's 1939 Talbot-Lago 150C SS Aerodynamic coupe; Fred Kriz's dramatic 1937 Mercedes 540K Special coupe was a breathtaking standout; Bob Rubin's Packard Cable Special Pebble Beach Cup-winning 1929 Miller 91 front-wheel-driver was "traded" by driver Leon Duray to Ettore Bugatti and repatriated after the war by historian Griff Borgeson. Chris Leydon, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, did the superb restoration.