The headline news at California’s annual Monterey Car Week is usually split between the multi-million-dollar auction sales and the Best of Show winner at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – but there’s so much more to it than that, and it grows a little bit more every year.
We can’t claim to have seen it all, but we did our best – and this is what we can tell you…
Motorlux at Monterey Jet Center
When it started out, as McCall’s Motorworks Revival, this Wednesday-evening event signalled the beginning of the ‘Week’ for most people, along with the now-defunct show in Carmel during the daytime. Now there are several events before it, including the Monterey Pre-Reunion, Classic Motorsports Magazine Monterey Kick-Off and the Kick-Off Cruise In, but it’s still as significant as ever.
Hagerty’s ownership and renaming has seen the entertainment and food offerings step up a few notches, but the more raucous atmosphere has seemingly put off some of the older, more serious car collectors.
This year, for the first time, Broad Arrow held the first of its two sales during the event, adding a significant and popular element to Motorlux. Away from the sale, Ruf was back again with new variations on its Porsche theme, and it was joined by top-end dealer Hyman, a number of restomod offerings and a line-up of classics and hot rods.
It’s an entertaining evening that shows off enough cars and private planes to keep everyone interested, but the big win was definitely combining it with the auction.
Automobilia Collectors’ Expo
After years run by automotive poster specialist Tony Singer, this automobilia sales event at the Embassy Suites, Seaside has been taken over by Ben Horton of Horton’s Books, who has given it a welcome refresh, along with literally extra kerbside appeal thanks to a display outside the hotel to attract potential visitors. It seemed to work, and hopefully it has secured the longevity of a Monterey Car Week staple.
Pebble Beach Tour
Entrants in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance are encouraged to take part in Thursday’s 70-mile tour of the coastline. Should there be a tie for a class or Best of Show win, participation in the Tour gives an advantage – but regardless of that, the majority of entrants choose to get involved. It’s a fantastic spectacle, from the often-nervy starts of newly restored classics to the sight of 200-odd of the greatest cars in the world crossing the Bixby Bridge.
It’s hard to keep track of what’s going by, even at the start, but we couldn’t miss the Mercedes-Benz C-111 rotary-engined concept (above) being driven for the first time in years, or the dramatic-looking Stratos Zero passing by. The best-sounding of them all, though, was probably the 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Scaglietti Competizione Berlinetta (also above) of David MacNeil. I swear the ground shook a little.
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering
This once modest but high-quality show has grown and grown, to the point that not only has it tripled in physical size but it has now become the place for manufacturers big and small to launch cars, just as Goodwood Festival of Speed has in the UK.
Tickets are now so in demand for The Quail that would-be visitors have to enter a ballot system, and prices now start at $1200 per person. Unlimited high-quality food and drink from a variety of stands – each one themed to a different country to coincide with the locations of Peninsula hotels – is included in the price, but still the costs are eye-watering to UK eyes (and pockets).
The privately entered cars are good, although on the whole nowhere near Pebble Beach levels of rarity, but that’s offset by the presence of manufacturers such as Maserati, Lamborghini, Gordon Murray Automotive, Czinger, Bentley, Singer, Gunther Werks and many more.
Even among all these big-hitters, the star of the show this year had to be the Tuthill GT ONE, which had a large crowd around it all day. What’s fascinating about The Quail is that Tuthill, like all the other manufacturers, was taking serious orders on the day.
The Petersen Automotive Museum brought a selection of cars to display in between the two main areas of the event, including some of the former Mullin Collection cars – without doubt the most important automobiles on the field, although not eligible for the concours prizes.
Speaking of which, we awarded the Magneto Art of Bespoke Award to the 1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 Shooting Brake – a true one-off still in completely original condition, right down to the TV and fridge fitted in period. Best of Show rightly went to Sam Mann’s superb 1937 Delahaye Type 135, above.
Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
The Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca is flying high after several difficult years of changing management and legal action by nearby residents. With all that now behind it, and the Friends of Laguna Seca installed to oversee the running of the track, the icing on the cake was being able to celebrate 50 years of Historic racing at Laguna Seca, with a stunning display of the most significant race cars and special talks on the stage with race drivers connected with the track.
As for the racing, it’s not as competitive (OK, aggressive) as in UK or European motor sport, but the quality of the cars is high and the open paddocks make for great viewing. The variety of grids this year was superb, from the pre-war Ragtime Racers, through the popular return of the 1955-1969 Saloon Cars, the thunderous 1966-1972 Trans Am and the evocative 1966-1985 Formula 1 to the 1991-2011 Legends of Endurance… to name just a few.
Alongside a raft of awards from sponsor Rolex, the most prestigious prize of the weekend, the Spirit of Monterey, was presented to Marnix Dillenius for his outstanding performance and embodiment of the event’s spirit. This year he was racing his 1964 Alfa Romeo TZ, but he has been a part of the Monterey Historics since its inception in 1974.
Next year the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Formula 1.
Concorso Italiano
As one of the longest-established events of Monterey Car Week, Concorso Italiano was due a much-needed refresh to its format and food offerings this year – and plenty was promised to that effect. Unfortunately, last-minute management changes scuppered some of those plans, and the usual sea of red across the Bayonet & Black Horse Golf Course was rather depleted.
Best of Show was presented by automotive designer Walter De Silva to the 1968 Maserati Sebring II of Don Clen, while the Lopresto Honorary Chairman’s Award was bestowed upon the Fiat 1100 TV Vignale 1956 of Marco Gastaldi.
The location and the premise of the event are good, and there’s still a strong audience, but next year Concorso will need to build on its promises or it will become overshadowed by the ever-growing number of competitor events taking place during Monterey Car Week.
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
This is the big one. This is the event at which you’ll see cars you’ll never see anywhere else. If you’ve got early access, the action starts at 5:30am as crowds gather to see the first of the cars drive in just as the sun begins to rise over the inevitably misty concours field, on a rugged stretch of the Pacific Ocean coast.
Hagerty’s Dawn Patrol coffee and donuts are in big demand, but not as much as its Dawn Patrol baseball caps, which produce an unseemly scramble at this ungodly hour. We stuck to the refreshments instead.
By 9:30am the field opens to the rest of the ticket holders and fills quickly. This year visitors had the widest variety of cars to view in the history of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance: two classes of wedge-shaped concepts and prototypes, 1990s BPR and FIA race cars and a remarkable gathering of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Land Rovers and Range Rovers. This variety was reflected in the unprecedented line-up of four very different Best of Show contenders, and its eventual winner – the preservation class 1934 Bugatti Type 59.
Away from the concours field, there’s also the Concept Lawn to view, which is now predictably dominated each year by low-volume hypercars and ever-larger SUV concepts. The surprise was the expansion of the Casa Ferrari display, with a stunning array of 70 classics from Maranello, including two 250 GTOs.
Further up the Concours Village, the annual display of Japanese classics has become a welcome sight in recent years, while this year’s manufacturer stand came from Mercedes-Benz, celebrating 110 years of motor sport with another superb selection of classics.
Other Monterey Car Week events
We missed the sublimely terrible/brilliant Concours d’Lemons this year, the free event dedicated to the world’s worst cars. We did drive past the always-packed Exotics of Broadway – a must-do for supercar and hypercar fans. We didn’t even attempt Ferraris at the Barnyard, Legends of the Autobahn, any of the Porsche events, the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove or any of the other many, many events that have sprung up.
We did manage to get to all the various auctions, as reported on here.
What you learn after a few years of Monterey Car Week is that it’s better to be selective about which events you visit. On paper it might look as though several can be visited in one day – but the traffic will inevitably prevent that. Although we don’t practice what we preach, it’s better to choose two or three of the best, and spend the rest of the time relaxing and taking in the automotive and scenic heaven all around.
Next year’s Monterey Car Week is scheduled from Friday August 8 to Sunday August 17, 2025.
