On the road

IF YOU’RE READING this magazine, you are likely involved (or at least interested) in the world of Concours and vintage automobiles. If that’s the case, you’ve also likely heard the name ‘Fritz Burkard’ at some point in the past year. The energetic Swiss car collector made headlines when he surprisingly won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance last year with a very special Bugatti Type 59 racer he entered in the Preservation Class. Fritz has an infectious enthusiasm for his special cars and their intrinsic history, and is very happy to share that love with anyone he meets. After chasing Mr. Burkard around the Monterey Peninsula during Car Week this year, I finally got a few minutes with this force of nature to talk about the ‘Pearl’ collection, his family, and one heck of a road trip.

JAY: Fritz, we were both so busy at Pebble Beach Car Week, that we didn’t get time to connect. I’m excited to finally catch up with you now! So, my first question is, where does the name ‘The Pearl Collection” come from? Maybe you can tell me a little bit about the inspiration as well as how many cars you have in it.

FRITZ: You know, the collection is not about me — it’s about the cars, so I didn’t want to call it the “Fritz Burkard Collection.” Since starting this collection for my family and for the people who are closest to me, I wanted to pick my “pearls,” or what I consider a pearl. I don’t have a car checklist, let alone a clue what I’m doing, actually! I just go with my gut and look for what I consider a pearl. This can be anything from a Citroën Ami 6 in the collection, to a Bugatti Type 59. For me, there is not a difference with these cars.

And that’s how this strange patchwork ofabout 90 cars came about. When you look at the collection, it really is a patchwork, and it creates a nice picture, all of them together. It’s so diverse, all the cars, so quirky, so funny, and each single car has a story and has a reason why it’s there. It might be just one body line. For example, I have a car called a Playboy — it was a brand in the 40s, and I only bought it because of the brand and because I liked the badge. It’s not a high value car, it’s nothing special. OK, yes, the Playboy is the first hardtop that sinks completely to the body, but otherwise nobody would really pay attention to this car. But I think it’s fun, and it makes people smile and that’s what it is about for me.

Cars that make people smile, tell stories. I do the tours of the (Pearl Collection) exhibition myself. And if people permit me, it takes about two hours, because I tell the stories of the cars and their background and history and the connection. But that’s for me the really exciting bit about it. Except the driving, of course. Driving the cars is really the best part!

And then you have some plans to build a showroom so that people who maybe are not your immediate friends can still have some access to these cars?

I don’t want to have a traditional car museum with a cash register where you buy a ticket. Because on site there’s also my office, and there’s also an apartment, a private apartment within the collection space. When I’m finished (whenever that is!), a guest would ideally be able to book a tour online with me for certain dates, because I realized I have to do it personally to convey the whole emotion behind the cars and bring it across, and ignite a fire, especially with young people. Yes, there will be limited access, but somehow semi-public, if that makes sense?

You have six daughters, is that right? I’m guessing some of them must be driving age by now? Are you seeing that some of your girls have an interest in driving or maybe collecting vintage cars with you?

Oh, very much. I mean, at the beginning, it was a bit of an uphill battle. But then Bugatti launched the Baby Bugatti II, and each of my children got one. They could choose their own car color, the leather, and so on. So that’s how they slowly got into it. And I took them to a lot of car events — they enjoyed doing that and had fun. For example, one of my older daughters is driving her first car, which is a ’69 Mercury Woodie Station Wagon. And it’s fun to see this young girl in an American V8. My other daughter, her first car is a 1st series Fiat Panda 4WD. So yes, the girls really enjoy it. They also bring their own cars now to Hampton Court to show in the “30 under 30” class, so yes, they love the hobby as their own now. They love to come to special events like Pebble Beach Concours or to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As a family, we went to Le Mans this summer and went camping, coming at night to see the race. They really enjoyed that. My girls like the whole atmosphere of the collector car world, the cars, and they have a genuine interest in the old cars. Their Baby Bugattis are part of the Pearl Collection, so when they go visit on the weekend there, they jump in their car and drive around in the exhibition space, go outside and drive in the parking lot, so, yeah… They love the old cars!

What did Bugatti say when you wanted to order six of the Baby Bugatti IIs from them?

(Laughs) I was already in direct contact with the producer of this special little car — it was then “The Little Car Company,” now called Hadley Studios. So, of course, Bugatti heard about this and did something really special for me. What they did was a very special handover of those six Bugattis. They also handed me over my two world record cars — The Veyron and Chiron. And they did that at the factory in Molsheim around the castle on a weekend. Bugatti filmed the entire thing, and we had so much fun. We were all driving on the factory grounds — the kids in their electric cars, and me behind them in the Chiron. It was really special what they did, and it was so kind of Bugatti. It’s a very small company that I have a relationship with, so they do special things like this for me, and I try to do things for them. I mean, crossing the continent in a vintage Bugatti is great advertisement for them as well.

I think so — about the legacy of the brand. And I want to ask more about that trip shortly. I also feel that Bugatti is in really good hands now with Mate Rimac as CEO.

Oh my God, yes. We are close friends, Mate and myself. You know the first time he ever sat in a classic Bugatti was in my Type 59 for Villa d’Este? The first time he drove a classic Bugatti for an entire day long was my Stelvio on a Swiss mountain pass. I took him to the Bugatti Trust in Prescott Hill in England. And he invited me to Rimac Bugatti headquarters in Croatia for two days. It’s a very nice friendship — he’s a great guy.

You know, people reading Linkage magazine may be surprised to know that you’re a Swiss collector, but you started out with a 1967 Camaro, the first year of the Camaro, that you had when you were a college student. As a Swiss guy, I mean, what attracted you to this American muscle car? Is there kind of a story how this car ended up where you were going to university?

You know, at the university somehow, I went to the countryside to visit a friend, and his neighbor had this car, and I asked him if he would sell it because I just liked it. I didn’t know anything about muscle cars or a Camaro, or anything. I just, I loved the car. The lines of the body, this old car, a vintage car. I mean, I was 19 or 20, I think? I had no clue, but I just liked the look of the car. And he said, “Yes, I’ve just had surgery done on my dog that cost me a few bucks. You should pay the bills for my dog, and the car is yours.” I had lots of fun with the Camaro.

And now your daughter is driving an American station wagon, so you must have some love of the V8 American cars.

I love them! I think the American cars from the 50s and 60s are just wonderful. They’re super, I really like them. And the next two-week road trip in the U.S., I’m probably going to do it in a muscle car and not a pre-war car anymore!

Perfect. Think, you know, last year when you won Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, you were the first European owner to win, which I think is crazy that it took so long, with your stunning ’34 Bugatti Type 59. I also think this is also the first time that a Preservation car ever won at Pebble Beach as well. So, two very big ‘firsts’: First European collector, and first Preservation car to win it all. As you look forward to the future, what the next “firsts” that you would be excited to see in the Concours world?

Well, I don’t know. For me, the most important thing about my Pebble Beach experience is that the Bugatti won this as a Preservation car. That this specific car won. It has so much patina, so much history, the provenance, being all original, kept running its whole life, but that makes it a true Preservation. With Preservation, you have to keep the car running. And yes, it is maybe a bit awkward that I’m the first European and I’m just this little Swiss collector. There are these great collections in Europe, like Laumann, Wiesmann, you name it, there are some great collections, so yes, of course it makes me smile that I won. For me, the best thing about Pebble Beach Car Week was more about driving the car every morning for the whole week.

For the future, for instance, it’s not about being the first. It’s more about fulfilling special dreams. For example, I do historic Grand Prix racing. That someday, on the starting grid, you have seven times the name “Burkard,” with all my daughters racing along with me, that would be fun. But otherwise, no, I still have ideas and I still have dreams. The first thing, what could I do the first? Yeah, now this September is the first time Bugatti Boys will take part in a mountain hill climb in Switzerland. Which is a bit crazy. One car will be driven by Mate Rimac. I organize things like that. As long as you have fun and you enjoy it, and you inspire other people, that’s also one of the reasons why I crossed the country in the Bugatti this year, to inspire other people to use their collector cars, because if you don’t drive your old cars, you’re missing about 70 to 80% of the fun. And for me, just hidden away in museums, their cars are not moved, those are like graveyards somehow.

I hope that one of your daughters someday will drive her own car across the block will drive her own car across the block at Pebble Beach as the best in show. That would be a great first!

Well, it depends upon the cars, not necessarily about the participant. Pebble Beach Concours is on such a high level. Entering your car, you never know who else will be there. I knew a year and a half ago about “Tulipwood” so, when it was at Pebble Beach this year, for me I already knew it was clearly the car that would win Best in Show. But otherwise, you don’t know. When there’s a better car, there’s a better car. What can you do?

That’s true. That’s true. This year you drove your Bugatti, like you said, all the way across the country. You covered, I think, like 300 miles a day, which is pretty admirable in a car that’s pre-war. How did you and the car hold up well? And also, do you have any interesting stories about the people you met in the middle of nowhere along the way?

You ask the right questions! I and the car both survived. I had back surgery in December, so I was really worried about the trip, and I made special preparations so I could physically handle the long journey. Otherwise, it would have been difficult with my back conditions. The car is a Bugatti Type 57 from 1936. A Bugatti Atalante with a special roof that opens. And it’s just the best cruising car. The entire trip was bliss, and we did maybe more like 400 miles a day. In states like Nebraska, or in Wyoming, you sometimes didn’t have any other cars around for one hour, you were completely alone on the road. That was just bliss, just bliss. I was traveling with my best friend, Rocco, as well.

I have to say that the Audrain team from Nick Schorsch, from the Audrain Museum in Newport, they organized everything, gave the cross-country trip their full support — it was really fantastic, really unbelievable. And they also had their media team with us, so the funny thing for me was when we arrived somewhere in the Midwest in a hotel and there’s a TV crew waiting for us to do an interview, and I’m thinking, “What? An interview? OK.” And that for me was maybe the strangest experience, because I’m a normal person, not a movie star or a sports person. Of course, there were really fun people and meeting them somewhere in the middle of nowhere at the gas station. People would come up to say, “Are you the guys that drove across America? I saw you on TV yesterday. Whoa!” And you get into great conversations.

Oh, that’s great.

Can you belive that in social media, print and tv, we had 620 million clicks about the Bugatti’s voyage? 620 million people watched an old car cross the country… Fantastic! Hopefully it inspired a lot of people to use their own old car and go out and enjoy them. Yeah, I mean, coming back to the struggles, the car had come fresh from a restoration from Scott Sargent in Vermont, who did an excellent job. But every new car, you need to break in. And we were breaking it in during the entire road trip. So, we had some teething issues at the beginning, of course. One was an oil leak, which had me covered from head to toe in oil. But as soon as everything was fixed and sorted, the car was just going and going and going. And then after we arrived in Pebble Beach, after the 3,500 miles, I added more than 200 miles by driving around the entire Monterey peninsula. I couldn’t stop. I did the Big Sur Bridge three times. I mean, wonderful!

The car, you said, was restored in Vermont, so the car was already in the U.S. when you came over to start the tour?

Yes. Exactly. The first time I saw this car finished was the first day of the drive.

Wow!

And then we had also one day full of rain and the wipers didn’t work. Yeah, it was a real adventure. Great fun.

Speaking of the Audrain, are you going to come to the Audrain Concours this year?

Yeah, I’m going to show this very car there. I like the show very much. For me, Audrain is such a nice concours, so easy going. I like the Schorsch family very much. Oh my God, so generous. What Nick put up
for me, I mean, his team planned the whole Bugatti road trip, booked all the hotels. They brought along a pace car. They even had a spare car on a trailer. Really great, generous people at the Audrain!

So, last question is, what are you looking to maybe acquire next? Is there a particular car maybe that you’re on the hunt for that you feel if you found one you would definitely get it, or maybe even something you’re saying hey this is a car I’m interested in? Do you have any idea?

I’m full of dreams. I have a few ideas, but I also have too many cars. 90 cars is already too many. So, I’m not fair to all the cars in the collection that have been standing around for too long. And we have too many projects to get the cars going, so I need to consolidate first. Get those cars running that we already have. So, nothing on my list now. And the Pearl Collection exhibition is not finished. We have more than 15,000 Bugatti artifacts which have to come into the exhibition. For me it’s not only the cars; it’s the story around them as well — the people, the history. That’s what fascinates me — the whole story. Not only to display a car, as there is so much more. Especially with regards to a family connection and their particular history with the car.

Will I also see you at the ICE (International Concours of Elegance) in St. Moritz again?

I basically live in St. Moritz and I always bring a car and try to support the event, like when I brought the James Bond DB5 car a few years ago and then the Fiat-Abarth “La Principessa” last year. I’m very much local, so the event is such a fantastic new thing, it’s so unbelievably great. I’m so happy for St. Moritz, that it’s happening here. I’m the president of the local Bobsleigh Club, and I have the cinema here in town, so the ICE event, the things related to it, the people that come over here to participate. It’s incredible, yeah. That’s why I introduced Ronnie Kessel and the ICE team to Pebble Beach, I introduced them to Merle Mullin and David Sidorick and Ann Brockington Lee, and so on. So, because the best vintage car collections are in America, and now the American collectors coming over for the ICE. Some of them bring amazing cars like Phillip Sarofim. It is fantastic to have this international exchange, like a little bit of Pebble Beach up in the Alps in winter. Are you coming back to the ICE this year?

I love it. Yes, I went last year for the first time, and i loved it so much.

Come the days before because I organize some pre-ICE fun. People from overseas that bring their cars, I make a drive over a mountain pass, which they go crazy over. The road is dry, and next thing you know, it’s two meters of snow, and you go 2,300 meters. I also organize an event on the Bobsleigh run, where we go down in historic bobsleds. And at the finish, the crew jumps out, runs over to the car, and drives back.

I love it. Okay, count me in for next year!

Very good, very good. It’s all about having fun and getting the cars out. See you at the Audrain Concours… And later at the ICE!

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