2009 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Winners

Won: Class O-2: Postwar Touring
Owner: Peter G. Livanos , Cobham, England
Keeping weight to a minimum was a major concern when designing this 4-seat coupe. As a result, Bentley molded its body out of lightweight aluminum, which it then tested in the Rolls Royce aircraft wind tunnels in an effort to achieve optimal aerodynamics — rare for the time period, to say the least. And that wasn't the only innovation. Inside, bench seats got the boot in favor of bucket seats, and the brakes had great stopping power, thanks to servo assist. To this day, the R-Type is still highly sought after as a grand tourer, an example of the long-lasting effects of innovative technology.

Won: French Cup
Owner: Ray Scherr , Westlake Village, Calif.
Not only does this Bugatti boast a 210-horsepower supercharged engine and dual overhead camshafts, its dramatic teardrop two-tone paint scheme sets the car apart from, well, just about anything in its day. And if that's not unique enough, Bugatti built each Type 57 slightly different, whether by option list or wheel choice. In an effort to maintain the swooping elegance required of the times, the leaf springs were actually flipped over (yes, like in that low-rider you saw on the freeway the other day).

Won: Class O-1: Postwar Sports
Owner: David B. Smith , Medina, Wash.
Never heard of it? Think of Siata (Società Italiana Applicazioni Trasformazioni Automobilistiche) as one of the first tuners with close factory connections, like a current day AMG. The 208CS was the company's first entirely original car - completely new from the ground up, including the tubular chassis itself. The Motto built Spyder is still among the most desirable to collectors, with the car seeming to come into its own with the roof cut off. Side note, while the shape is beautiful, nobody knows who designed it!

Won: People's Choice Award
Owner: John La Barbera & Lynn Gabriel, Pasadena, Calif.
The people have spoken, and we like what they said: 1955 was a miraculous year for cars. But if you were really in the money when rock n' roll was first starting to make an appearance and a social life consisted precisely of eating pecan pie and loitering around diners until 9 pm, the Superamerica was the car to have. The most expensive in Ferrari's lineup, it fetched a princely $16,800 — that's $133,636 in today's money. OK, so Ferrari has raised prices just a bit over the years. The 5-liter V12 propelled the car from zero to 60 in 6 seconds and saw it to 150 mph.

Won: Class P: Zagato - 90 Years of Design
Owner: Lee & Joan Herrington , Bow, N.H.
Ferrari sure liked its 3-liter V12 engines in the 1950s, but who could blame them? This Zagato-bodied 250 Berlinetta made 240 horsepower and weighed in at just over 2,400 pounds. If it seems a tad heavy for a Ferrari of the day, that's because it pioneered the ever-popular GT movement of cars, which were designed to provide the driver with certain luxuries and more road comfort for the daily grind. As it turned out, the cars instead became immensely popular on the racetrack, causing sanctioning bodies to introduce a new class of racing, which this particular 250 GT subsequently dominated.

Won: Road & Track Trophy
Owner: William E. (Chip) Connor, Hong Kong
Only 25 of these cars were built, taking the designation "MM" from a win at the 1949 Mille Miglia. Extremely rare, this particular vehicle is a pristine example of the Italian brand's racing history. Think of the MM as the "Stradale" version of the 166 to get an idea of the pedigree. Its V12 was tuned to produce 135 horsepower (up from about 100 in the standard 166), and its body was specially engineered to endure the rigorous punishment of the 1,000 miles of the Mille Miglia.

3rd Place: Class R: Porsche
Owner: Bruce Canepa , Scotts Valley, Calif.
We're sure that the winner of the Porsche class won't mind that we're not featuring his 1972 Porsche 917/10 Can-Am; we simply find the third-place car cooler. Bruce Canepa owns both cars, and on an unrelated note, we wish we were him. The radical looking 962 sent a clear message about racing in 1984 — that is, manufacturers finally learned a thing or two about downforce, and that power was required to overcome its beneficial effects. Porsche did that by outfitting this vintage classic with a 750-horsepower turbocharged 3-liter flat-6. Since the cars were designed for endurance racing at tracks like Le Mans, the engines were designed to go 26 hours without fault.

Won: Best of Show
Owner: Robert M. Lee , Sparks, Nev.
Your interest in cars might stop somewhere north of the early 1950's, and we forgive you for it. But any red-blooded human being has got to appreciate the incredible swoops and dives in the bodywork of this German classic. Most would never associate the sensual lines with the nation known for its dedication to form following function, but if this car is anything, it's an Audi. Well, you can at least think of it (and company founder August Horch himself) as one of the Audi parents — one of those four rings we all know so well is for Horch.

Won: Mercedes-Benz Trophy
Owner: Evert V.N. Louwman , Raamsdonksveer, The Netherlands
In the 1920s, the fastest sports car in the world was made by Mercedes-Benz. At least, that's what they claim. But it's easy to believe. This rare roadster is packing 12 cylinders of englightenment, displacing a massive 7.1 liters and pounding out 250 horsepower in its final iteration, enough to send you firing downroad at the limit of both the brakes and the tires. The car is so vaunted in collector circles, that it is commonly knocked off . So if you've got $7 million or so burning a hole in your wallet, you'll want to make sure you check your SSK for authenticity before buying.

3rd Place: Class Q: Audi — 100 Years of Excellence
Owner: Robert M. Lee , Sparks, Nev.
Maybe our tastes just aren't as developed as those of the expert judges at Pebble Beach, but we're picking No. 3 again — this time in the Audi — 100 Years of Excellence class. You see, 1939 was an important year for Auto Union's racing efforts, specifically because they started to work. With the help of a sorted and supercharged 485-horsepower V12 (with three camshafts) to replace the notorious 520-horsepower Porsche V16 of the prior year, and a redesigned rear suspension, the car was poised for victory. Unfortunately, this chance for success would be forever postponed due to World War II, with the few remaining cars finding their way into thieving Russian hands and largely disappearing altogether.