Nick Mason, Brian Johnson, Valentino Balboni and leading car designers joined more than 100 classics as Concours des Légendes made its debut at Wilton House

Wilton House, the Wiltshire stately home familiar to millions as a filming location for Netflix hit Bridgerton, had a different cast of famous faces this weekend as Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and some of motoring’s best-known names joined more than 100 classic cars at the first Concours des Légendes.

The three-day event ran from Friday June 19 to Sunday June 21 on the lawns of the 14,000-acre estate, which has also appeared in The Crown, Tomb Raider, Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, The Madness of King George, Barry Lyndon and Blackadder.

Thousands of visitors travelled from across the UK, Europe and the U.S for the debut weekend, which brought together rare cars, specialist builds, private collections, design talks, art displays, owners’ stories and a Father’s Day supercar procession.

The cars on show ranged from pre-war concours machinery to smaller historic competition models, one-off conversions and private collection entries.

They included a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Spider, a short-chassis, open-bodied sports car powered by Alfa Romeo’s celebrated straight-eight engine. The model is regarded as one of the great pre-war Alfas, with its racing pedigree, exposed engineering and long-bonnet styling making it one of the leading historic cars on the Wilton lawns.

Elsewhere, a 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow pick-up owned by JCB chairman Lord Bamford was one of the most unusual cars shown. Bought at an auction in the U.S, it was later rebuilt by Clark & Carter, the Essex classic car restoration specialist, after the original conversion was found to need major work.

The event also included vehicles from the collection of William Herbert, the 18th Earl of Pembroke, who owns Wilton House and is himself a car collector.

My own 1963 Speedwell Mini Cooper also made an appearance in Hagerty’s Owners’ Stories, the part of the event dedicated to the personal histories behind individual cars and the people who keep them on the road. Its inclusion placed a small British competition car among the multi-million-pound exotica on the Wilton lawns.

Alongside the cars, the weekend drew famous faces including Pink Floyd drummer Mason, whose Ten Tenths collection includes a Ferrari 250 GTO, one of the world’s most valuable classic cars.

He was joined by AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, a collector and former presenter of Cars That Rock, who has taken part in historic racing events including the Mille Miglia in a Jaguar C-Type and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The motoring line-up included former Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni, designers Frank Stephenson, Ian Callum, Kevin Rice and Peter Stevens, motoring journalist Jason Barlow, former Formula One driver and artist Stefan Johansson, and collector Lord Bamford.

Balboni spent 40 years as Lamborghini’s factory test driver, helping to assess the company’s road cars before they reached customers. During the weekend, he named the Miura as his favourite Lamborghini, a mid-1960s model often described as one of the first modern supercar.

The design sessions were chaired by Barlow and included Stephenson, Callum, Rice and Stevens discussing how cars are shaped, engineered and taken from early idea to finished model.

Stephenson’s work includes the modern Mini, Fiat 500, Ferrari F430 and McLaren P1, Callum is best known for his years leading Jaguar design, and Stevens is closely associated with the McLaren F1.

Callum discussed proportion, Rice talked about the tension between clean design and commercial demands, and Stevens brought the perspective of a designer linked to one of the most famous road cars of the 1990s.

Johansson, whose racing career included Formula One and Le Mans, also exhibited abstract paintings in the artist pavilion, with the works inspired by racing, speed and movement.

Specialist businesses included Windspeed of Guildford, represented by Jaguar specialists Peter Hugo and Chris Window.

Andy Rhind-Tutt, president of Salisbury Chamber of Commerce, displayed his 1900 De Dion Bouton, an early car linked to his grandfather’s motoring history, while Wiltshire College students took part in a media day work experience programme.

The final day included a Father’s Day procession of 85 supercars through the Wilton estate.

READ MORE: Drive It Day 2026: a Mini adventure from Bristol to Bicester. A 1963 Speedwell-tuned Mini Cooper, an early start from Bristol and a spring route through the Cotswolds turned Drive It Day into a proper West Country road trip for Mark G. Whitchurch. 

Do you have news to share or expertise to contribute? The European welcomes insights from business leaders and sector specialists. Get in touch with our editorial team to find out more.

_{Main image: Wilton House, the Bridgerton estate, hosted more than 100 classic cars and famous motoring fans including AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason at the first Concours des Légendes. Picture illustration: Mark G Whitchurch / Raph_PH / Jaguar MENA / David Spender, CC BY 2.0.}