The 7 Best Cars at the Wynn Concours, Including Steve McQueen’s Jaguar

Among the world-class cars entered in the official Concours, few hoped to match the combination of automotive and Hollywood provenance better than Steve McQueen’s personally owned 1956 Jaguar XKSS. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles brought McQueen’s famous “Green Rat” out to the Wynn, where it joined three other C and D-Type Jags that competed for awards in the judging classes. In an understated British Racing Green over black leather, this road-legal variant of the D-Type racer perhaps turned less heads than it should have, though anyone who lived in Los Angeles in the era knew of McQueen’s infamous driving proclivities, drifting around the Hollywood Hills on the way to the sound studios or participating in street racing on Mulholland Boulevard. The XKSS might look smaller in real life than expected, but this priceless and patinated piece of history stands out as a pinnacle of automotive passion for car enthusiasts and silver screen devotees alike.

Among the huge assemblage of Bugattis, Paganis, Koenigseggs, and Lambos, one car truly served as the main indicator that the Wynn Concours this year stepped up to a new level. This 1929 Mercedes formerly won the most prestigious prize of the entire automotive landscape, a Best in Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance back in 2017. On hand at the Wynn, John Schommer represented owner Bruce McCaw and explained the car’s history since the original purchase by Lord Francis Richard Henry Penn Curzon, the 5th Earl Howe.

“The chassis is a 680 S that was shown at the London Car Show by Mercedes,” Schommer told Robb Report, “When Lord Howe decided to buy a new car, he specced this with the Barker coachwork because he was an English parliamentarian in a post-World War I environment, and feared that his people would resent him for driving a German car.”

McCaw acquired the 680 S in 2011 and commissioned a multi-year restoration before the Pebble debut in 2017, where it won Best in Class and then Best in Show. Next up, Best in Show at Hampton Court in 2020 and then Forest Grove in 2024. This year, Schommer drove the car across the stage taking home the Best in Show – Pre War award at the Wynn.

“I think the Wynn is doing a really awesome job to bring this Concours to life,” Schommer reflected while gazing out across the golf course, with the famous Sphere in the background looking down. “A really awesome car show is about the cars, of course, and the people. But having a cool venue that’s unique makes me want to go, and come back.”

As another clue as to how modern automotive manufacturers view the Wynn Concours within
the larger automotive calendar year, Pagani decided to make the world debut of a new Huayra
this weekend. In a stunning matte seafoam green paintjob over stretched proportions that
accentuate Pagani’s often insectoid forms, the Codalunga Speedster serves as Horacio
Pagani’s personal homage to his favorite racecars of the 1950s and 60s. The eponymous
founder and designer himself even flew out to present the car to a doting crowd of fans, signing
autographs on the stand after officially pulling the sheet off the Codalunga Speedster. Pagani
also led an ultra-exclusive rally for owners, potentially testing whether the famous slogan that
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” applies to speeding tickets when those twin-
turbocharged V12 engines reach full throttle.

Speaking of German racecars, among a wide swath of restomods that included Singer, Gunther
Werks, and Rezvani, a new name arrived at the Wynn for the American public to get familiar
with. HWA brought its fifth prototype of a forthcoming project based on the Mercedes-Benz
190E 2.5-16 Evo II. But the name should actually be somewhat recognizable, because the
initials HWA stand for founder Hans Werner Aufrecht—and that A for Aufrecht is the same as in
AMG, for which he was a cofounder back in 1967. This prototype adds even boxier fender
flares, a huge wing, and plenty of carbon-fiber bits to the classic sport sedan. But the tech
underneath the skin matters even more, since this is essentially a tube-frame chassis featuring
a state-of-the-art traction control and ABS system developed by Bosch to help harness power
from a twin-turbocharged V6 engine with output targeting just shy of 500 horsepower. Fired up,
the powerplant sounds downright mean, and a sensational mix of modern and retro touches on
the interior will further help to justify a starting pricetag well north of $700,000.

Fast & Furious star Sung Kang made an appearance at the Wynn Concours, alongside his
Datsun 240Z built by VeilSide as an homage to his character Han’s Mazda RX-7 from the film
franchise’s third installation, Tokyo Drift. Using an L26 straight-six engine tuned to over 400
horsepower with individual throttle bodies, the VeilSide 240Z looks outrageous with plenty of
carbon fiber for the body kit, modern wheels and tires over big brakes, and an updated interior
that still utilizes the classic hooded gauges. Even parked next to a Toyota 2000GT, an R34
Nissan GT-R Skyline, and a stock 240Z, Kang’s creation stood out—but this is no mere prop
car, by any means, and the movie star turned car culture icon actually drove it to Vegas
personally.

So many incredible cars at the Wynn, both in the judging classes and simply parked on the golf
course in attendance, made choosing a handful as standouts quite a challenge. But getting a
chance to see the unexpected and unfamiliar also played into the day’s fun, highlighted by this
1965 Maserati Sebring that took home class honors for the Trident category. Something of a
forgotten model in the Italian brand’s long history, the smooth and sleek Sebring might look
healthily similar to a Lamborghini 350 GT (and one of those was, of course, also in attendance
for easy comparison). The Wynn even tucked the Maser into the Lambo section, to further amp
up the drama, but in reality, the slightly earlier production run reveals that Lamborghini may well
have cribbed some design inspiration from the cross-valley rivals at Maserati. This kind of
historical intrigue provides perhaps a hint into one way that Wynn can continue to level up the
Concours next year, by sharing QR codes on every car at the show so that guests can easily
scan and learn more about the history, ownership, and significance to enhance the fun of
enjoying the automobiles, crowds, and hospitality under the Las Vegas sunshine.

Motorsport played a fitting role at the Wynn Concours, too, given that Vegas will host a
Formula 1 Grand Prix in just three weeks. Multiple Red Bull Formula 1 team cars on the lawn wore
the energy drink company’s colors, but, nearby, a 1988 Porsche 962C harked back to an earlier
era of all-out performance. Owned by Dempsey Motorsport (founded surprisingly not by Patrick
Dempsey, an avid Porsche racer in his own right, but rather Pelican Parts founder Wayne
Dempsey), the 962C still wears period-perfect Jagermeister livery. Chassis 138 struggled in
competition, notably achieving a 26th place at Le Mans in 1990, but also served as a testbed for
early carbon-fiber construction. The enormous racer absolutely dwarfed most of the road cars
on display at the Wynn, especially with the front clamshell and rear decklid/wing removed to
reveal the running gear beneath.