Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years, and is the founder and publisher of this magazine. Keith has also written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, has been an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrmann Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame, and more. He has served on the board of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar’s Award. Learn more about Keith here.
Monterey Car Week exuded the vibes of automotive passion back in full swing. Even 700 miles away at SCM World Headquarters in Portland, the energy was apparent. Unofficial auction results totaled more than $460m, besting 2015’s previous high of $394m. SCM had a full team on site, led by Executive Editor Jeff Sabatini. From the opening “Best of the Best” dinner to the firing of the confetti cannons, Jeff, Senior Editor Rory Jurnecka, Auction Editor Paul Oeschger and Concours Ambassador Somer Hooker were everywhere. You couldn’t enter an auction tent without bumping into an SCM Auction Analyst, including Carl Bomstead, B. […]
Monterey Car Week exuded the vibes of automotive passion back in full swing. Even 700 miles away at SCM World Headquarters in Portland, the energy was apparent.
Unofficial auction results totaled more than $460m, besting 2015’s previous high of $394m.
SCM had a full team on site, led by Executive Editor Jeff Sabatini. From the opening “Best of the Best” dinner to the firing of the confetti cannons, Jeff, Senior Editor Rory Jurnecka, Auction Editor Paul Oeschger and Concours Ambassador Somer Hooker were everywhere. You couldn’t enter an auction tent without bumping into an SCM Auction Analyst, including Carl Bomstead, B. Mitchell Carlson and Michael Leven. SCM Contributors could be found at events all week, from Logan Grey at Automobilia Monterey, to Prescott Kelly at Werks Reunion, to Steve Ahlgrim wherever Ferraris could be found, to Mark Brinker showing a car (again) at Pebble Beach.
Universally, their reports were upbeat about the enthusiasm and the energy they encountered. And people’s willingness to spend money. Lots of money.
I’ll confess I took a break from cars last Saturday and attended the Evergreen Museum Air Show.
I drove the SCM 1991 S4 Alfa Spider in the 90-degree heat, top up with a/c on. The car only overheated a little, which I count as a great success.
Watching the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in their F-16s had its own visual and aural excitement.
I didn’t once think of an Isetta while I watched them accelerate straight up.
Social media has taken Monterey Car Week to an entirely new level.
Gone are the days when I had to sit gavel-to-gavel at a Rick Cole Auction writing down hammer prices. If I didn’t do that, there was no other way to get timely results.
At one point this weekend I had livestreams playing on four different devices covering auctions and events.
This week’s newsletter is chock-full of auction and event results. Let’s pour over them together, and next week we’ll start our analysis and reflections.
This “Dakota” at the Evergreen Museum is a veteran of D-DayThe S4 only overheated a bitOne Globemaster C-17 could carry the entire SCM fleetThe Thunderbirds were impressive. And loud.
6 responses to “Keith’s Blog: Monterey: Everyone’s a Winner”
Dan
While Monterey was fun as usual there was a lot less energy/activity, this year. Far fewer vendors at the track. Far fewer spectators and possibly racers too.
Michael Baum
I observed the same. Less energy, less spectacular cars at Pebble, even less people at Quail so it appeared. It was all great of course but by far not on the same level than 2021 … except the auction results.
I am enamored with the social media captures by friends, associates, and enthusiasts I’ve never met. It would be impossible to see everything that was on display, in motion at the track, or crossing the block. While I’ve tried my best to share the best captures on my own sites, I discover something new every hour as people arrive home and post their experiences. We’ll be experiencing the thrills of Monterey Car Week for months to come. THIS is the beauty of technology.
I am enamoured with the social media captures by friends, associates, and enthusiasts I’ve never met. It would be impossible to see everything that was on display, in motion at the track, or crossing the block. While I’ve tried my best to share the best captures on my own sites, I discover something new every hour as people arrive home and post their experiences. We’ll be experiencing the thrills of Monterey Car Week for months to come. THIS is the beauty of technology.
Paul Hastings
Monterey has turned into a wrapped Lambo, McLaren fest!
Michelle H Rand
I agree with the notes above reflecting less activity. Several events were missing. Carmel Mission is not back. Russo & Steele was not there. Worldwide was not there. The Concours on the Avenue was pulled kind of at the last minute. The auction cars were overwhelmingly expensive. Though there were a lot of people on the Penninsula, several who I spoke to were doing non-auto-related things, like hiking and so forth. Overall the week has an air of fading.
6 responses to “Keith’s Blog: Monterey: Everyone’s a Winner”
While Monterey was fun as usual there was a lot less energy/activity, this year. Far fewer vendors at the track. Far fewer spectators and possibly racers too.
I observed the same. Less energy, less spectacular cars at Pebble, even less people at Quail so it appeared. It was all great of course but by far not on the same level than 2021 … except the auction results.
I am enamored with the social media captures by friends, associates, and enthusiasts I’ve never met. It would be impossible to see everything that was on display, in motion at the track, or crossing the block. While I’ve tried my best to share the best captures on my own sites, I discover something new every hour as people arrive home and post their experiences. We’ll be experiencing the thrills of Monterey Car Week for months to come. THIS is the beauty of technology.
I am enamoured with the social media captures by friends, associates, and enthusiasts I’ve never met. It would be impossible to see everything that was on display, in motion at the track, or crossing the block. While I’ve tried my best to share the best captures on my own sites, I discover something new every hour as people arrive home and post their experiences. We’ll be experiencing the thrills of Monterey Car Week for months to come. THIS is the beauty of technology.
Monterey has turned into a wrapped Lambo, McLaren fest!
I agree with the notes above reflecting less activity. Several events were missing. Carmel Mission is not back. Russo & Steele was not there. Worldwide was not there. The Concours on the Avenue was pulled kind of at the last minute. The auction cars were overwhelmingly expensive. Though there were a lot of people on the Penninsula, several who I spoke to were doing non-auto-related things, like hiking and so forth. Overall the week has an air of fading.