Monterey Car Week 2015

[Michael Stoops]

Mid August marks Car Week in Monterey, CA where the greatest gathering of rare, unique and exotic cars all come together for shows, auctions, driving, racing and of course the famed Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance to cap everything off.

The Rolex Monterey Historic Races take place for several days at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with the paddock area wide open to attendees. Mecum, Russo & Steele, Bonhams, Gooding & Co., and RM Sotheby's Auctions are all in action, selling every type of car you can imagine. Bonhams, Gooding and RM generally have the cream of the crop, often vying for maximum publicity prior to the weekend. German cars are on display at Legends of the Autobahn, classic racecars are shown at The Quail, and Concorso Italiano shows off the best of Italian style and design. The Concours de LeMons takes a tongue in cheek approach to car shows, just as the 24 Hours of LeMons pokes fun at endurance racing. Everything culminates with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Sunday at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, with incredible cars from all over the world assembling on the 18th fairway along the Pacific coast. One of the best experiences at Pebble is "Dawn Patrol", when the cars all roll onto the lawn, one by one, and you get to see and hear these amazing automobiles in motion. Every car guy needs to do this at least once!!

Let's start with something rather unique this year - Casa Ferrari.

A few years ago Meguiar's was asked to prep and maintain the cars on display with Ferrari North America at Pebble Beach, as well as at a special venue Ferrari had set up for the North American launch of the F12 Berlinetta. This year Ferrari rented an estate and dressed it up to look like an old Italian estate, complete with gas station, Ferrari store, and a quick detail center where any Ferrari owner could have their car cleaned at no charge. Of course they asked Meguiar's to staff the detail center, and we jumped at the chance.

The car in the background? That's a 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spyder Series 1. This car competed in the Pebble Beach Road Races back in the 1950s including the last event held, 1956. At the end of the week on Sunday at Pebble Beach, this car won it's class.












Yes, that's our own Danny Hernandez from our Customer Care Center working really, really hard. You can easily tell this by the look on his face. Poor guy.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Historic race cars of all types are to be found on track and in the paddock at Laguna Seca during Monterey Car Week. Some are just cool old race cars, some were team mates of the greatest racers of all time, and some were actually those incredible race cars with amazing history. It really is a sight to behold as you not only get to see these cars stationary, but you get to hear them start up, see them at speed on the track, smell the oil, grease and race gas up close. Just amazing.

D-Type Jaguar


Tyrell F1 car formerly driven by Sir Jackie Stewart and Francois Cevert during Stewart's second of three World Championship seasons.


This 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder ended up in the hands of Jaguar as they tried to sort out why it was so handily beating their C-Type racers!


Nope, not a Ferrari. This is a Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada - originally built for grand touring rather than racing.


The Lotus 79 that carried Mario Andretti to he F1 World Championship in 1978.


Aston Martin DBR1, similar to the car that Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori drove to overall victory at the 1959 LeMans 24 Hours race. You know, in the days BC... "before Cobra".




Hey, you gotta fuel up before you can hit the track. Even a million dollar vintage Mercedes Benz 300SL won't run on air.


This year the event paid tribute to 50 years of the Shelby Mustang, and Ford had a large display of classic and historic racing GT350s on hand.


Of course, we had our big rig on hand for the duration.... this was, as the clock notes, just after 8AM so things hadn't quite started yet.


It's not just the race cars that are cool here, some of the regular old drivers and parts haulers are pretty sweet too, and they lend an air of nostalgia to the pit area as well. This Alfa Romeo estate is a wonderfully classic way to haul race car parts.




This Alfa Romeo, with body work by Touring of Milan, was just gorgeous!


And talk about rare - this Lancia B20 Coupe was a real surprise to find.





A Ferrari 250 TestaRossa (valued at close to $15,000,000) getting pushed back into its spot under the awning, right next to it's stable mate. Is that a, a, a 250GTO back there???


Why yes, yes it is. And if you thought the 250 TR above was expensive, double that price and you still couldn't buy this 250 GTO!


Alfa Romeo had some historic cars on display in a booth smack in the middle of the paddock area. This 1968 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale is one of just 18 ever made, and this is often considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made.


1965 Alfa Romeo Guilia TZ2 Berlinetta Corsa. Making 170HP from its 1570cc DOHC 4 cylinder engine, this 1300lb car has a power to weight ratio similar to a brand new Mustang GT.


The winningest race car of all time, the Bugatti Type 35 won over 1,000 races in it's heyday. Yes, they built a fair number, but still.....1,000 races?????




1938 Talbot-Lago Type 26-SS


This Ferrari 288 GTO was darn near flawless except for a few swirl marks. That's easy enough to fix, but what a gorgeous car!




Another Ferrari 250 variant, this time a Tour de France.


The Maserati Tipo 61, otherwise known as the Birdcage. Can you guess how it got that name?




Is that the ghost of the great Jimmy Clark inside this Ford Lotus Cortina?


1988 Audi 200 Transam. When Audi chose to enter the Transam Series in 1988 with this car, they were all but laughed at. Down almost 100HP on the big V8 Fords and Chevys it was thought they had no chance. But the quattro all wheel drive system changed everything and Audi won the championship the first year out!





This has to be just crazy to drive, what with the transmission right between your legs and pedals on either side of the gated shifter. What the heck could this be? Read on!


Probably the single most historically significant car at the track, this is an Alfa Romeo P3 Monoposto. But it's not just any P3. No, this is the very car that the great Tazio Nuvolari drove to victory in the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. That race is often considered to be among the greatest, if not THE greatest, victory in all of motorsports. The Silver Arrows of Mercedes Benz and Auto Union were massively funded by the German government under Adolph Hitler and were by far the most powerful and technologically advanced race cars of the era. But on a rain soaked track, even with a late pit stop problem that cost Nuvolari over 2 minutes, he drove the wheels off the Alfa and beat the dominant Germans on their home track, in front of some 300,000 spectators that included Hitler and many top officials of the Nazi party. This car, chassis number 50005, was that very car, and it is still raced today.


Porsche and Le Mans go together like peanut butter and jelly. This 917K won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, Porsche's first overall victory at the race, kicking off a tradition of sorts for the marque. Fast forward to 2015.....


... and this is a version of the Porsche 919 Hybrid that won Le Mans this year. Of the three entries for the 2015 event, one was painted in the same livery as their first Le Mans winning 917, shown above.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

Exotics on Cannery Row

This was a new event for this year, and one of the few events that is totally free to the public. It's also very small in comparison to the major events taking place on peninsula during Car Week, but were else do you get to see so many new exotics in one place?

And they don't come much more exotic than the new LaFerrari hypercar.


This red LaFerrari almost makes the yellow Enzo look dated.


Nah, the Enzo is still pretty spectacular. Yes, the blue car is another LaFerrari. Ho hum.


The new Mercedes AMG GT - it looks great in this satin grey with bronze wheels and trim.


But still, those LaFerraris are calling!


Lamborghini Aventador meets TRON?


So an Italian hybrid hypercar isn't your cup of tea, you say? You prefer something British, you say? OK chaps, how about this McLaren P1 then?


That's how you lighten an Audi R8 Spider.... cut huge holes in the doors!


It may not be brand spanking new, but there's something about this generation of the AMG C63 Black Series. And they sound amazing!


Oh, the McLaren P1 is still calling for you? Yep, there was more than one example on hand.


Oh, wait, you don't want an Italian or a British hybrid hypercar? You're partial to German engineering? Or do you just like those exhaust pipes exiting from the top of the Porsche 918 Spyder?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

RM Sotheby's Auction

1956 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Boano Prototype. Sold at $1,485,000


1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Alloy by Scaglietti. Sold for $3,960,000


1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione 'Tour de France' by Scaglietti. Sold for $13,200,000


1958 Facel Vega FVS Series 4 Sport Coupe. Sold for $187,000


1949 Jaguar XK120 Alloy Roadster. Sold for $407,000


1967 Ferrari 330 GTS by Pininfarina. Price not disclosed.


1962 Maserati 3500 GT Spyder by Vignale. Did not meet reserve.


1950 Ferrari 275S/340 America Barchetta by Scaglietti. Sold for $7,975,000


1952 Jaguar XK120 Supersonic by Ghia. Sold for $2,062,500. Giovanni Savonuzzi’s "Supersonic" coachwork is more commonly seen on the Fiat 8V and it's equally stunning when wrapped around the Jaguar XK120 running gear.


1955 AC Aceca. Sold for $132,000. This is essentially the closed version of the AC Ace, which formed the basis for Carroll Shelby's Cobra.


1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV. Sold for $368,500. A great color combo and it looked to be darn near perfect in every way. But.....


..... Look what happens to the price of a Countach when you go back to the early days. This 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP 400 'Periscopio' sold for $1,320,000 - fully 3.5 times what the later flared and US bumpered car sold for. This is the Countach in its purest form, complete with periscope opening in the roof that you looked out of through the rear view mirror - hence the name "Periscopio".






1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GT. Sold for $297,000. Someone got a deal as these have been selling in excess of $400,000 for the last couple of years.


1973 Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-R ‘Kenmeri’. Sold for $176,000


1953 Jaguar C-Type Works Lightweight. Sold for $13,200,000. Originally a Jaguar factory entrant at Le Mans where it finished 4th overall (it's team mates taking 1st and 2nd) it was later sold to the fabled Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse, who scored 8 more wins with it in 1954. That race provenance is what puts this car's value roughly $10,000,000 over that of an "ordinary" C-Type.


1953 Austin-Healey 100 BN1. Sold for $77,000


1953 Jaguar XK120 Roadster. Sold for $93,500. On the surface, not all that different from the 1949 XK120 Roadster shown above that sold for more than 4 times the price. But the black one was an early alloy bodied car.


1948 Tatra T87. Sold for $132,000


1954 Talbot-Lago T26 GSL. Sold for $385,000


1954 Fiat 8V Coupe by Vignale. Price not disclosed.


1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II All-Weather Tourer by Thrupp & Maberly. Sold for $357,500


1931 Bentley 4

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

Concorso Italiano

Everything Italian turns out for one of the best events of the week. The field was loaded with these beautiful little early '60s Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spiders


1972 Alfa Romeo 1600 Junior Z (Zagato)


Alfa Romeo GTA


Two of the great Alfa classics, a Giulietta Sprint Speciale on the left, and a Giulia TZ on the right. That "TZ", by the way, stands for Tubolare Zagato; Tubolare for the tubular space frame chassis, Zagato for the body design by, of course, Zagato.


This was a real treat to see - the one off Ferrari F12 Berlinetta with custom coachwork by Touring Superleggera. The F12 is a pretty great looking car to start with, but this..... wowza!


512 BBi


Looking down Ferrari row.


Detomaso Mangusta


Bertone X1/9. Yes, this is badged as a Bertone, not Fiat, because it's from the time after Fiat stopped importing them and the coach builder Bertone took over that duty.


Lancia Beta Montecarlo. Well, in the rest of the world it was known as the Montecarlo but Chevy already had that name in the US, so here it was called the Scorpion.


Lancia Delta Integrale HF - the road going version of Lancia's dominant WRC car.


A row of Giulietta Spiders.


Alfa Romeo Montreal


LaFerrari. The owner was kind enough to open the door for me so I could get these shots.








The nose of LaFerrari with an Enzo in the background. Both cars are owned by the same gentleman.




1952 Ferrari 212/225 Barchetta by Touring Superleggera. This is the only example ever built, the last Ferrari Barchetta ever built, and the last non-racing Ferrari bodied by Touring. It was ordered by Henry Ford II and was one of the design inspirations for the original Thunderbird. This car is 100% completely original and has fewer than 13,000 miles on the odometer.


288 GTO


1961 Ferrari 250 GTE


We normally see the Skittles rainbow colors with modern Lamborghinis, but here it is represented by a group of Dinos.


1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Scaglietti Berlinetta Competizione. On Sunday this car won it's class at Pebble Beach.


Dino 246GTS


3rd generation Maserati Quattroporte


What is this Citroen 2CV, a French car, doing at an Italian car show? Well, it was styled by an Italian, Flaminio Bertoni, who also styled the Citroen DS.


We awarded this 1963 Ferrari Lusso the "Best Paint" award. Yep, that's yours truly shaking hands with Keith Martin, Publisher of Sports Car Market Magazine after handing out the award.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

And now, the crown jewel of Monterey Car Week. We start just after 5:00AM with something called "Dawn Patrol". The cars are lined up and roll onto the lawn the morning of the show. It's a great experience to see and hear all these amazing cars drive to their predetermined positions on the show lawn.




1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Touring Spider


Here is that 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spyder Series 1 from our first post at Casa Ferrari. It would go on to finish the day by winning its class.


Cunningham C-3 Vignale Coupe


1955 Porsche 550RS Spyder. The wing was added in period and this became known as "the first winged Porsche".


1953 Ferrari 340 MM Vignale Spyder. Ferrari only built 10 of these, and they finished 1st, 4th and 9th in the 1953 Mille Miglia. This car won the Del Monte Trophy at the Pebble Beach Road Races in 1954


1961 Fiat Abarth Coupe. Driven to victory at Sebring by Bruce McLaren, this car went on to win the World Sports Car Championship for under 2 Liter cars in 1962


1938 Graham Model 97 Saoutchik Convertible. This car went on to win second in class at the end of the day.


1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.


Here's that 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Scaglietti Berlinetta Competizione from Concorso Italiano.


A class winner at the end of the day, the 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Touring Coup

[Selectchoice]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

Awesome pics and very 'detailed' write up Mike!

Thank you for taking the time to post this. Thoroughly enjoyable!

[BillE]

Re: Monterey Car Week 2015

WOW!

Major 'drool factor' for sure...

Bill