Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 1950

About the Event

The 1950 Edwards R-26 Special Sport Roadster created and shown by Sterling Edwards took the top prize at the first Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1950 — but if truth be told, winning Best of Show wasn’t Edwards’ goal. He had his eye on winning the Pebble Beach Road Race.In fact, it was Edwards who had first approached the Del Monte Properties Company, now Pebble Beach Company, with a request that they consider hosting the first real road races on the West Coast in the post-World War II era. He had passed that request directly to his good friend John B. Jack Morse, who was both then president of Del Monte Properties Company and a former Yale classmate of the Collier brothers who were behind much of the road racing on the East Coast.After the decision was made to host the West Coast races at Pebble Beach, a Concours was added to underscore a more social and genteel aspect of motorsports.

Edwards did not officially enter the Concours; he wasn’t listed in the program for it. But at the last minute, he decided to show his Edwards there too. It didn’t require much additional effort; the Concours was being judged just a few blocks from the start-finish line of the race, and Concours cars paraded down that start-finish line on the day prior to the final race to showcase their elegance to all.After winning the Concours, the Edwards Special won its class in an early race, garnering the Del Monte Trophy. But in the big race, won by Phil Hill driving his Jaguar XK120, it came in 14th overall.

Most liked pictures of the event