Automotive Enthusiasts Dream Week Opens In Monterey
In the 1980’s hit television series “Miami Vice,” featured a white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa along with cool, lead “sunglassed” actor Don Johnson.
That Testarossa replaced the fake Daytona Spider is now one of the many Ferraris on display and up for sale this coming week at California’s annual Monterey Car Week.
For 6 days beginning Tuesday through Sunday, 11-16 August thousands of motor car enthusiasts will roam the streets of Monterey, Carmel and Pacific Grove to get up close and personal with hundreds of classic cars on display Pebble Beach, The Quail, Rancho Canada, Black Horse and the Nicklaus Club.
Here the designs from Pininfarina, Bertone, Vignale, Scaglietti, Ghia, Frua, Zagato, Michelotti and Touring come into their own, wrapping the chassis’ of classic and vintage sports cars and touring cars that are fast becoming the most collectible and profitable asset class of the 21st Century.
The 65th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, held Sunday, 16 August on the 18th fairway against a Pacific Ocean backdrop. This is the week’s signature event, bringing together 200 of the finest cars to be found in the world.
Last year’s “Best in Show” prize ribbon went to a 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti coupe, owned by former Microsoft president Jon Shirley of Medina, Washington, and built for filmmaker Roberto Rossellini’s wife, actress Ingrid Bergman
Before the 1954 Ferrari’s victory in Y 2014, the last postwar winner was a Y 1964 Maserati Mistral coupe in Y 1968.
Monterey Car Week events.
Invited guests will spend $600 to attend prestigious social events such as The Quail gathering, where pre-1965 Porsches, Scaglietti-bodied Ferraris and the long-tail racers of Le Mans will be the order of the day
Attendees will pay $300 for the Pebble Beach Concours day, and another $160 for Italian food, fashion, music and fabulous 1950s car style at the ‘Concorso Italiano’ at Black Horse Golf Club.
There are many free events for visitors: the Porsche Werks Reunion at Rancho Canada Golf Club, the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove featuring Japanese makes, and the BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz Legends of the Autobahn display at the Nicklaus Club, Monterey.
For racing fans there are the historic car races at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where the Shelby GT350 Mustang is the featured marque for Y 2015 in honor of its 50th Anni.
If you want to buy a car there are 7 auctions held by Gooding, Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s, Russo & Steele, Rick Cole, Mecum and JR.
This auction sales offer a look into the world of classic and vintage car collecting.
Last year’s sales topped US$450-M, and may well break that mark this year. The top result in Y 2014 for a public sale was for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta, which sold for a world record US$38-M at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction in Carmel, California.
RM Auctions in Monterey sold a 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale for US$26-M, the Goodings auction hammered US$15-M for a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider.
Notably: of the 98 cars which made more than US$-M in Y 2014, 37 were Ferraris.
Again this year Ferrari looks to be the maker with the most Million-dollar chances at the auctions.
Russo & Steele in Monterey has the ex-Levine 1963 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso.
Bonhams has a selection of Ferraris that includes a race-winning 1959 250 GT Competizione Alloy Berlinetta, and a Vignale-bodied 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter Cabriolet.
Gooding’s is offering a private collection that includes a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, and a 1982 Porsche 956 that was the overall winner of the 1983 Le Mans 24-Hour race.
Mecum has the above mentioned ex-Steve McQueen 1976 Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera and the 1986 “Miami Vice” Ferrari Testarossa.
RM Sotheby’s (NYSE:BID) offers a 1953 Jaguar C-Type Works Lightweight that finished 4th in the 1953 Le Mans, and a special private collection, dubbed the Pinnacle Portfolio, that includes exceprional cars from Bugatti, Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz.
Rick Cole has a Figoni et Falaschi-coachwork 1947 Delahaye 135M Narval, 1 of 7.
JR Auctions is offering a unique and intriguing vehicle: the Lotec C1000, 1-Off Supercar specially built by the German tuning firm Lotec for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based businessman 20 years ago.
The car cost $3.4-M, took 5 years to build, sports a twin-turbocharged Mercedes-Benz V8 engine producing 1000hp, it has a top speed of 268 mph.
Some less intense events…
Around Noon Thursday, 13 August, entrants in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance will roll into Carmel-by-the-Sea and park along Ocean Avenue near Devendorf Park for a couple of hours so spectators can stroll past the cars. And on Friday August 14, visitors can watch about 200 classic cars taking part in the Pacific Grove Concours Auto Rally as they stage along Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, from 1 to 4.30p.
About 20 mins drive inland from Monterey is the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where an array of 550 historic racing cars will turn out for practice sessions on Thursday and Friday, followed by a solid racing schedule on Saturday-Sunday, August 15-16. Expect to see the world’s best collection of racing Shelby Mustangs in action, plus GT, Touring, Trans-Am, Formula 1 and other categories.
Sunday evening, the racing is over, the Concours entrants have driven off the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach, and thousands of departing visitors are on roads North, South and East, the beautiful Monterey Peninsula will begin its returning to normality, and preparations for next years events.
To all of you who will attend have a terrific time, it has been an annual event for me since 1967.
Paul Ebeling
HeffX-LTN
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