MONTEREY CAR WEEK 2017
Monterey Car week what a spectacle. A week full of Concours Events, drives, car shows, where the major auction houses congregate to sell the most prestigious cars in the market. The week builds to a crescendo with the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on the 18th fairway of the picturesque Pebble Beach links Golf Course, although more of that later.
The week kicks off with the delightful and relaxed Concours on the Avenue, held at the beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea. An event where car collectors, enthusiasts and more seasoned restorers take the opportunity to show off their work. The quality of cars on show would be worthy of any car show around the world. It is well organised and brings together the great and good of the market. An event not to be missed and a perfect way to overcome jet lag.
As week goes by the intensity and number of events picks up with the Little Car Show and McCall’s Motorworks Revival Wednesday’s highlights swiftly followed by the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. The Tour, in particular, offers a fantastic opportunity to see Concours d’Elegance entrants up close and personal and to witness these classics doing what they were always designed to, drive. A personal highlight was seeing and hearing the 1967 Ferrari 412P Competizione, a one off car. The exhaust notes had to be heard to be believed.
After the Tour d’Elegance, there’s the opportunity to hot foot it over to Leguna Seca and experience an afternoon at the Corkscrew watching various classes make their way around this famous section of track. It still amazes that this event is so open and feels so sparsely attended when compared to Goodwood.
Between Friday and Saturday, there are no less than 8 events to attend, excluding the auctions, something we will cover in another article. Sorry let me also say I am excluding the racing at Leguna Seca
so lets make that 9 events plus auctions! This year's focus was Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, something that was well attended and supported at every event including the Concorso Italiano and Barnyard Ferrari Events.
Up early Sunday morning for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Do not underestimate the traffic, density of people and how early people get to the showpiece event. Its good to get there by midday and on arrival you get a feel of the world’s premier Concours event. The array of cars on the lawn is truly inspiring and many you may only see once in your lifetime. This year’s standouts included a Pininfarina bodied XK120, Bentley Speed Six by Gurney Nutting, the Ferrari 412P Competizione of course and this year’s winner a beautiful 1929 Mercedes-Benz S Baker Tourer in a striking blue.
It really is a fantastically enjoyable and eye opening week and if you are a car aficionado and can make the time to attend it is well worth it. Forget the golf, beach and wildlife just sit back and enjoy the thrill of seeing some of the finest and rarest classic cars in the world. See you there in 2018!