It is Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance time again, when the most expensive cars in the world migrate to the coastal town of Monterey, California, accompanied by their owners, and followed by those who dream of owning them.
The week leading up to the concours is a rush of themed shows, from little tiny autos to powerful racetrack legends. Flitting about like the monarchs the area is famous for are streams of classics and exotics sporting one-of-a-kind bodywork and rare engine options. It is, without a doubt, the most jaw-dropping car-spotting of the year.
We’ve sent a few of our lucky editors to brave the traffic and the funny-colored trousers to bring you the best of Monterey Car Week. Check back from now through the weekend for updates leading up to the Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, August 20. —Elana Scherr
Friday at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering
It’s morning on Day . . . something of Car Week. We’re getting ready for The Quail, which is best imagined as a car show held inside a shrimp cocktail. It’s excessive, and also one of the busiest days of the week for reveals and supercar news.
Folks not attending this bacchanal can amuse themselves by hunting down the various test drives occurring all over the peninsula. If you’re shopping for a high-dollar machine, Car Week is the place to make your comparisons. We saw Porsche test drives, Lotus, Ferrari. Czinger has airport runway space for those interested in the 21C (standard or the limited Blackbird edition), and speaking of, there’s even a “flying” car cruising around with its wings all folded up.
I wouldn’t turn down any test drive, but it would be hard to beat the quick spin I nabbed in the 1968 280SL Pagoda (below) from the Mercedes Benz Classic Center. Look at these pretty details in the dash. Imagine the wind in your hair as the surprisingly sure-footed little beauty wafts along by the ocean. I saw dolphins! It was perfect.
Again with the unexpected: The first cars you see entering the exclusive Quail event are an Opel Kadett, an Alpine Renault, and a Fiat 128. I, as you might expect, was delighted. What cute greeters. —Elana Scherr
9:25 a.m.: Time for a glass of bubbly at The Quail. —Joe Lorio
Art Cars at The Quail.
Porsche has its duck tails in a row. [Cue DuckTales music.] —K.C. Colwell
10:06 An amazing car being unveiled. #shortfolkproblems. —Elana Scherr
Thursday: Under Way
This year, Car Week seems to be taking over the role traditionally played by the standard auto shows of the world, at least for supercars and special editions. It’s only Thursday, and we’ve already seen debuts of the Acura ZDX—and the Acura Electric Vision concept—plus the Infiniti QX Monograph concept, a scaled-down Bentley Blower, and the Zenvo Aurora. And there’s so much more to come. We can’t wait to show you.
Bugatti in Red
What to do when just having a nearly $4 million supercar isn’t enough to stand out in a crowd?
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport.
A Moment in the Lotus Emira
I’ve been dying to drive the Lotus Emira, and this morning I finally had a short stint behind the wheel. It was so fun and I bragged about it so much that our testing director Dave VanderWerp got jealous and now he’s scheduled for a quickie drive too. We’ll compare notes and post up some thoughts then, so check back for that after Dave’s drive later this weekend. In the meantime, as a teaser, look at this nice interior! Lotus is stepping it up. —Elana Scherr
Legends of the Autobahn
The national car clubs for Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz team up to produce the Legends of the Autobahn car show, which is a pleasantly low-key event that nonetheless is chock full of interesting sheetmetal. It’s held in the uber-charming burg of Pacific Grove, and the drive along Ocean View Boulevard out to the site at Pacific Grove Golf Links serves up the kind of scenery the peninsula is famous for: rocky shoreline dotted with cypress trees. In addition to judged classes, there’s a large car corral that democratically welcomes enthusiast vehicles of all types. Click through the gallery to see some of our favorites. —Joe Lorio and Elana Scherr
Wednesday: The Arrivals
Thursday tends to be the busiest day on the highway from Los Angeles to Monterey, but we set out in the wee hours this Wednesday morning in order to make it to a few of the earlier events. On the way up you can always tell who, as Lenny Kravitz says, is gonna go your way.
The Little Car Show
Monterey Car Week is all about big numbers, from auction results to hotel room tabs, but the festivities start off small, at the Pacific Grove Little Car Show. Pacific Grove neighbors Monterey, but it’s more suburban, with a charming main drag that’s perfect for lining up wee machines and taking a sunny stroll. 2023 marks the 13th year of the Little Car Show (with one year off during 2020), and there were so many itty-bitty cars that the show spilled out into the surrounding streets, with Peels, Messerschmitts, and MGs parked all over the neighborhood.
If you’re curious as to how little a little car has to be, it’s really a little engine show, with a recently raised cap of 1800 cc (that’s almost two soda bottles’ worth of power, pals).
“We considered doing it by wheelbase,” an organizer told me, “But nobody knows their car’s wheelbase.” I suggested taking a page out of the airline carry-on book and having a “Car Must Fit in This Space” template that participants must drive through. So maybe that will be next year. I’ll report back, as I’m hoping to sneak my 2.0L Opel GT in despite its cheater engine. —Elana Scherr
Source: www.caranddriver.com