Every August, the Monterey Peninsula is the center of the world for car aficionados. It all started in 1950, when the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was founded. Road races came to the forest at the same time.
In 1974, Steve Earle founded the Monterey Historic Auto Races, adding a big plus to the weekend. For years, the British had enjoyed gentlemen’s racing of obsolete racecars. Steve introduced us to the same idea.
Gradually, other events, including additional consours d’elegance—Concorso Italiano, The Quail—car auctions, and other car-related activities, were started. Today, there’s a ten-day orgy of events that satisfies the appetites of car buffs worldwide. Auto manufacturers also use this week to expose their latest products.
As your motoring correspondent, I felt it fitting to share what I saw and how I spent my time there this year, giving an insider’s peek into this beloved auto extravaganza.
The ten-day-long week starts with a race weekend at Laguna Seca known as the Pre-Historics. For these races, we trucked down four cars. The most humble was a 1953 Fiat 1100 sedan, a former rally car from Tuscany that is almost as fast as it is cute.
Our entire family races, and shows cars, as well. My wife raced a 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato, an esoteric, lightweight Italian racer much treasured by knowledgeable car buffs. The Zagato coachworks, in Milano, specialized in lightweight racing bodies, starting in 1919. (The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance celebrated Zagato’s 90th anniversary this year.)
One of my sons raced a 1931 Chrysler CD-8 Le Mans roadster; the other, a homebuilt American 1950s road racer called Monsterati. Later in the week, we took the ’53 Fiat, and a twin showroom-stock ’53 Fiat, to the Concorso Italiano, a 100 percent Italian Car Show held at the Laguna Seca Golf Ranch. Those Fiats competed with Volkswagen Beetles and Renault 4CVs when new.
At the same time, Quail Lodge puts on an elegant car show known simply as The Quail. For that, we entered a 1960 Lancia Appia Zagato GTE, a bit of Italian esoterica that combines a small, economical engine with a lightweight, aerodynamic aluminum body. When new, these sold for more than a Jaguar or Mercedes 190SL. To say their appeal was limited is to put it gently. But today, they are treasured by the cognoscenti.
On the same day these two events occur—The Quail and the Pre-Historics races—the Monterey Historic Races has its first day of practice. So, those of us who want to do it all run like crazy from event to event.
This year, the prewar racecars, including our 1928 Alfa Romeo 6c 1500 Sport Zagato Spider, were invited to visit The Quail. We traveled complete with a police escort from Laguna Seca Raceway, over Los Laureles Grade, to The Quail Lodge on Carmel Valley Road.
After such a crazy Friday (yes, the the first day alone, all three of those events), it was off to an early bedtime in order to rise early on Saturday, for another day of racing.
The 1928 Alfa Romeo was out for an early practice with other cars built from the early 1900s up to the late 1920s. While the speeds we achieve wouldn’t sound like much if measured by today’s standards, when you’re in an eighty-one-year-old car, sixty or seventy miles per hour feels damn fast. Those early Alfas were raced by one Enzo Ferrari, who later manufactured cars under his own name. Prewar Alfas could be regarded as the Ferraris of their time.
Later in the day, my sons raced the ’31 Chrysler and the Monsterati, and our South American houseguest took over the ’59 Alfa Zagato. His son had entered his 1965 Shelby Mustang and, on the following day, gave the American entrants driving similar cars a South American driving lesson. On that same day, Sunday, we took the 1928 Alfa Romeo to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it joined a select group of other Zagato-bodied cars from pre- and post-War times on the lawn of Pebble Beach Lodge.
The Monterey gathering is unequaled elsewhere in the world. It’s a coming together of the world’s best cars, and the most devoted auto buffs from every country. For those of us who treasure such things, it’s the high point of our year.
New Cars
Porsche used the August week to premier its newest car, the Panamera. This is an especially interesting new car because it faces three challenges:
• It’s a new category for the brand—a four-door sedan, which Porsche has never done before;
• It’s a controversial body design—a five-door hatchback, which is unique in this price segment;
• It hits the market at a difficult time.
Nevertheless, having driven it, I predict the Porsche Panamera will be a success, also for three reasons:
• It’s an extraordinarily capable and pleasing car;
• It’s quite acceptable-looking;
• Being a Porsche, it enjoys a credible reputation. And Porsche’s sales expectations are modest.
The other significant new car exposed during “Monterey Week” was the Lotus Evora. Lotus has always succeeded with very lightweight, simple sporting cars. The Evora departs somewhat in that it’s quite handsome and well-finished, not always qualities that previous Loti possessed. It has a standard 276 hp Toyota V6, just like a Camry, deriving its performance from its lightweight, rather than temperamental, engine. It promises to be reliable, fast, and good looking.
Not a bad recipe for success.
Martin Swig is a former San Francisco new-car dealer who now presents the internationally-celebrated California Mille and other historic car events. As a free service to Gazette readers, he’ll offer suggestions on how to dispose of a cherished car. Call him at 415-479-9950.
