2025 Featured Classes

August 17, 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Featured Marques & Classes

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance continues to build on the expanded range and breadth of cars shown on its competition field. The forthcoming 74th Concours celebration, on August 17, 2025, will feature three marques celebrating their centennials: Invicta, Chrysler and Moretti. It will also display the dramatic postwar creations of designer Virgil Exner, innovative racing greats of Formula 1 past and present, and the 60th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra 427.

Invicta Centennial

Although it was not long for this world, crafting cars for just over a decade from 1925 to 1935, Invicta quickly made its mark. At his home in Cobham, England, with the backing of sugar magnate Oliver Lyle, Invicta founder Noel Macklin constructed the earliest models—light but spirited cars with a torquey 2½ Litre Meadows engine.The marque reached its peak with the low chassis S-type, which debuted at the London Motor Show in 1930, offering a larger 4½ Litre Meadows 6 cylinder engine in a racy, under-slung chassis. Only 77 were produced before the Great Depression took its toll, and the last of the early Invictas were built in 1935.

Chrysler Centennial

Chrysler came into being in 1925 at the behest of Walter P. Chrysler, a roving railroad mechanic whose inquisitiveness and drive eventually led him to the auto industry and up the ladder of success to the ownership of multiple marques. It was technical innovation that first drew fans to Chrysler, but the brand quickly partnered with leading coachbuilders to offer some of the most desired and admired cars of the Classic Era. Two Chryslers built on top-of-the-line Imperial chassis—a 1931 CG LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton and a 1932 CH Speedster—have earned top honors at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Virgil Exner Creations

By the age of 26, Virgil Exner, or “Ex” as he was known to most, was chief stylist at Pontiac. At 29 he was chief styling engineer at Studebaker. And just as he was turning 40, in 1949, Virgil Exner was made chief of advanced styling at Chrysler, where he would revolutionize the shape of American cars—first in 1955 with the 100 Million Dollar Look, and again in 1957 with the Forward Look.

Formula 1: 75th Anniversary

The cars that compete in Formula 1 are said to be the “fastest and most advanced race cars on the planet.” As such, they often embody innovations that are soon replicated throughout the car world.

The Concours hopes to trace the history of Formula 1 from its origins to the present day.

Moretti Centennial

“Good things come in small packages,” they say—and that is certainly true of Moretti. This Italian jewel packs a lot of technical engineering into a diminutive but very sporting car.

Founded in 1925 and initially focused on building motorcycles and microcars, and then commercial trucks, Moretti pivoted to more conventional cars after World War II. Moretti initially built its own engines, transmissions and related items, so there was a real completeness to its finished cars.

Shelby Cobra

One of the most intimidating cars of its era, the Shelby Cobra 427, marks its 60th anniversary this year. Named for the 427-cubic-inch Ford engine that powered it to dominate SCCA racing and set a performance benchmark that stood for years, the “big block Cobra” earned iconic status from the day it was introduced. To celebrate this anniversary, a Shelby Cobra class will take to the show field at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, honoring the model’s legacy of speed, design and evolutionary performance.