Fass takes special measures to prepare a car for Pebble. “If you have a potential Best of Show car, you go [at it] from every angle, mak- ing sure it’s authentic, from bumper to bumper. Bodywork, paintwork, upholstery and chrome have to be perfectly matching, so everything clicks. We usually have the same people do all of our work. We try to make every car perfect, but it’s the overall look of a car that makes it considered for Best of Show. It has to strike you from every angle.”
“It seems as though European coachbuilt cars have that flair that puts them over the top,” Fass notes. “There are very few American cars that can be Best of Show, unless they’re a custom body. The Europe- an cars are the ones that are usually up there for the final trophy.
At RM, much work remains to be done on the Figoni et Falaschi Talbot-Lago, although the engine and main body sections are in place. As with all top shops, the work areas are clean and well organized.
Can he pick a winner? “I’ve been doing this so long that I can look at a car that’s unrestored and I can pic- ture it finished, in the correct colors, something that’ll really put it over the top. Certain cars have that look. I’ve sometimes told my customers, ‘This car can go all the way.’ So I can help them [determine] which way we’re gonna go about it.” Color is key, he says. “You want to attract the judges, of course, but you just know when a particular car has a chance.” As for the Tour, Fass has mixed feelings. “I think it’s something that should be done. You want the
cars to run as good as they look. And customers feel they spent all this time and money getting the car ready, having it trucked out to California, getting it prepped. But then you go on the Tour, and there’s more dirt and more cleaning.”
Several Best of Show winners from 2001 to 2011 — like Sam and Emily Mann’s Voisin in 2002, their Delage in 2005, and Peter Mullin’s Voisin last year — did not go on the Tour. “But Bob Lee went on it with his Horch,” Fass says. “And Harry Yeaggy went on it with the Mormon Meteor. It’s a ‘Catch 22’ situation. We have to restore them so they will drive,” Fass declares. “That’s what my customers are looking for.
“Winning at Pebble Beach is definitely a reward,” Fass says, “because you wind up working long days and long nights, and that whole week before. But when you really come down to it, I love seeing the expression on the customer’s face when he wins.”
AS PERFECT AS POSSIBLE RM Auto Restoration, in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, has won Best of Show four times: In 2001, with a 1928 Mercedes S for Arturo Keller; in 2004, with a 1938 Horch 853A for Judge Joseph Cassini; in 2006, with Bob Lee’s Daimler Double Six; and in 2010, with Jim Patterson’s 1933 Delage D8.
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