Paul Russell's Ferrari 375 America up for Historic Motoring Award

A night built around who did the restoring

The International Historic Motoring Awards, presented by Lockton, return to The Peninsula London on Friday 13 November 2026, when winners are named across 16 categories chosen from this year's nominations. Two of those categories exist specifically for the people who keep old cars running: Restoration of the Year, decided by an expert panel, and Specialist of the Year, for the workshops and businesses behind them. The full shortlist for both is already public on the awards' own site.

Paul Russell's Ferrari, one of four by Vignale

Among the ten cars up for Restoration of the Year is a 1954 Ferrari 375 America Cabriolet by Vignale, chassis 0353 AL, the only open bodied car among the twelve 375 Americas Ferrari built and the fourth of just four bodied by Carrozzeria Vignale. The restoration is the work of Paul Russell and Company, the Massachusetts workshop on this desk's beat. On its own site, the company records that the car won First in Class in the Ferrari by Vignale category and was named a Best of Show finalist, one of only four cars in contention for the top prize, at the 75th Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on 16 August 2026. The brief, Paul Russell says, was to return 0353 AL to exactly how it left the factory in December 1954, down to the original paint and leather specification, backed by period documentation.

Paul Russell and Company is also one of six names shortlisted for Specialist of the Year, alongside CKL Developments, Classic Car Services, Mecum Auctions, Thornley Kelham and Walter Heale Historic Motor Cars.

Beaulieu's workshop and an engine with no manual

The other Restoration of the Year entry with a full workshop story behind it is the Sunbeam 1000hp, the car in which Sir Henry Segrave became the first driver past 200mph. The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu's own workshop team, led by senior engineer Ian Stanfield, rebuilt the car and its two 22.5 litre Matabele V12 aero engines over three years of hands on work, after nearly a decade of preparation, and without original manuals to guide them. Museum chief executive Jon Murden has called it a project the whole workshop team can be proud of. The car has a second shot at recognition on 19 November, when the Royal Automobile Club gives out its own Historic Awards at Pall Mall, with Stanfield's team shortlisted for Personal Endeavour. Beaulieu says the restored Sunbeam is due back on Daytona Beach in March 2027 to mark the 100th anniversary of Segrave's run.

Following it from India

Neither award ceremony is streamed for the public, so the result reaches Indian readers the way most historic motoring news from Britain does, through the organisers' own site and titles such as Octane that cover the dinner afterwards. For Indian owners and workshops, the shortlist is still useful as a reference point: it shows what a panel of restorers, judges and dealers currently rewards, a full strip to bare metal with period correct paint and trim on the Ferrari, and a mechanical rebuild done without a manual on the Sunbeam. Both are closer in spirit to the restoration work Indian specialists already do on Ambassadors, Jaguars and old Enfields than the number plate suggests.

Sources

• Paul Russell and Company: Pebble Beach 2026 results
• Historic Motoring Awards: 2026 shortlist
• Beaulieu: Sunbeam 1000hp restoration team shortlisted in Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards
• Just British: Sunbeam 1000hp shortlisted for International Historic Motoring Award
• Wheels Alive: Sunbeam 1000hp shortlisted for prestigious International Historic Motoring Award