A 1938 Horch convertible was awarded "Best of Show" top prize at the August 2004 Concours d'Elegance classic and antique car show at Pebble Beach, CA. This award is coveted by many wealthy car collectors, some who travel to Pebble each year from all parts of the world, and who have their best cars carefully shipped to the Monterey Peninsula for this heralded event.
Competition is ferocious! The winning car must be in spotless, like-new condition. Other awards are also bestowed at the Concours, but "Best of Show" must indeed be considered the best, period!
August Horch was one of Germany's premier automobile men. An engineer with Benz from 1896 to 1899, he went on his own to found A. Horch and Company, producing his first car in 1900. Size and prestige of Horch automobiles increased over the next three decades, and the Horches of the 1930s were great machines, with a choice of straight-8, V-8 or V-12 engines. Horch was then in the luxury class of the better known Mercedes-Benz.
Mr. Horch had left his original company in 1910 to found Audi, and after 1932, Audi joined the new Auto-Union amalgamation, which included Horch, DKW and for a time, Wanderer. Thus the four-ring insignia survives today on every new Audi.