1958 Best of Show Winner
April 16, 2020
1930 duPont Model G Merrimac Town Car shown by J.B. Nethercutt
J.B. Nethercutt’s meticulous restoration of this 1930 DuPont led to the first of his record six Best of Show wins at Pebble Beach and helped to establish the standard of excellence for which Pebble Beach is now known.
In 1956, Mr. Nethercutt was on his way home, having just arranged to purchase a Duesenberg, when he spotted this duPont parked at a corner filling station. He said the car was in awful shape: “Its bumpers were missing and the interior fabric was flapping out the window in the breeze.” Nonetheless, “the big, hulking monster” of a car intrigued him and he took it home, intending to restore it in the three weeks prior to delivery of the Duesenberg.
“I miscalculated slightly,” said Mr. Nethercutt. “Nineteen months and $65,000 later, I finished the DuPont.”
The restored car was first exhibited at the 1958 midwinter meeting of the Classic Car Club of America, held in Skytop, Pennsylvania. There, it earned a record 99 3/4 points. Mr. Nethercutt and his wife, Dorothy, drove the car from Santa Monica to Pebble Beach for the 1958 Concours, encountering a freshly oiled road in the process. Once the DuPont was in place for the show, the Nethercutt’s cleaned it themselves, using water with a bit of kerosene.
The restoration was so complete and the car was so pristine that spectators simply stood around the car in silent respect.
The car now resides in the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California.