Highlights From Monterey Car Week

Back again we went, for the fourth post-pandemic-cancellation Monterey Car Week. It was, as they say, “bigger and better than ever.” Crowds were thicker, traffic was a nightmare, and hotels engaged in their expected price gouging. The cars, however, never disappoint. This year they again made up for all the deficiencies of the humanity crowded onto the Peninsula.

Our schedules didn’t so much change this year as adjusted. There was a new event, UpShift, and a rebranded favorite, Automobilia Collectors Expo. The week’s activities were still anchored by the “big four” auctions and marquee events — Motorlux, The Quail, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but for those of us who attend Monterey Car Week every year, it is easy to get jaded (or just burned out) by the experience. Indeed, this year, a few SCM Contributors took a year off, recharging by going on an actual vacation or just spending time with their families.

I approached Car Week with a new attitude as well. Any time I caught myself flagging, I looked around to find someone who was obviously having the time of their life and just observed. Enthusiasm is infectious, and it would turn my frown upside down.

Here’s the thing: The people I was spotting were young — or at least they weren’t your typical “old guy” car collectors. I saw gaggles of twentysomethings. They were everywhere, but mostly crowding parking lots, cell phones and cameras pumping content to Instagram and YouTube. Millennial entourages roamed the lawns of all the car shows, and evidence of Gen X participation in Car Week was easy to spot in the prices of modern supercars sold at auction.

So maybe it’s time we stop worrying about “the kids” and give a rest to all the handwringing about the next generation of car enthusiasts. If Monterey is the barometer of the hobby, I think things are going to be just fine. — Jeff Sabatini, Editor-in-Chief

Automobilia Collectors Expo

For nearly two decades, Monterey Car Week attendees have enjoyed shopping for automotive merchandise, posters, books and literature, automobilia and other collectibles at Automobilia Monterey. When it was announced early this year that the annual market would not be continuing in 2024, we were not alone in hoping that something might be done to save it. Thankfully, the event was acquired and rebranded as Automobilia Collectors Expo, and it had its first successful outing this year.

With many of the same vendors and in the same location at the Embassy Suites Monterey Bay, the event carried forward the tight-knit community vibe of years past. Anna-Louise Felstead was the Artist in Residence for 2024, hand-painting the official expo poster. Attendees could feel good about again supporting a grassroots event featuring many small businesses and numerous SCM advertisers.

Organizers were encouraged by the turnout this year and have plans to expand the event next year. Three days of attractions will include the vendor expo, raffles and prizes, a live radio broadcast, collector car displays and an in-person automobilia auction.

Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance

At the crack of dawn on Thursday morning, a sizable percentage of the very same show cars that will later fill Pebble Beach Golf Links’ 18^th fairway assemble mere blocks away. After lining up in front of Gooding & Company’s auction tents, these primped and primed cars set off at 9:30 a.m. on a 70-mile road drive called the Tour d’Elegance. What used to be one of Car Week’s best-kept secrets is now anything but, as evidenced by rows of roadside grandstands — a recent addition — filled top to bottom with onlookers.

Every year, we wake up early and join the crowd. Despite the best efforts of capitalism, watching the tour drive-off remains a completely free companion event to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Hagerty even rolls out free coffee and doughnuts to fuel our half-mile round-trip stroll up and down the assembled line of classics. Along the way this year, we bumped into old friends including several SCM Contributors, overheard entrants converse about last-minute tour preparations and marveled over what we witnessed: the futuristic electric whirr of the one-off Aston Martin Bulldog concept’s gullwing door closing; the staccato braaap of the Serenissima Spyder’s twin-plug V8 firing up; even the eerily quiet idle of a Packard Twelve.

As it does every year, the Tour d’Elegance is a visceral and fascinating complement to seeing these cars parked on the grass later in the week. Despite lingering sleep deprivation, we’re always glad we went.

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

When we needed a break from stationary displays, driving east of the Pacific Ocean on California Highway 68 took us to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. There, over 400 historic racing cars assembled, ready to go wheel-to-wheel on the legendary hillside road-racing circuit. This year’s racing included 13 different classes, from the whimsical “Ragtime Racers” of the early 20^th century, to the sports racing cars of the 1990s and 2000s. We even watched a 1991 AAR Toyota Eagle Mk III GTP racer circle Laguna Seca, the very same track it had dominated 33 years ago.

Recent improvements to the venue were apparent, with a redesigned and newly constructed pedestrian bridge crossing the front straightaway. Adjacent to the sprawling infield paddock was a large display of historically significant racers, all of which were also on track at various times, and there were several notable motorsports figures taking part in the action as well.

Ford CEO Jim Farley won the 1955–67 SCCA Large-Displacement Production Car race in his 1964 Shelby Cobra, McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown finished 2nd in the Mario Andretti Trophy race in his 1980 Tyrrell 009 F1, and even retired Formula 1 driver Jenson Button brought out his 1952 Jaguar C-type for a stint in the Briggs S. Cunningham Trophy race, finishing eighth.

A daily lunch break from on-track action gave time to peruse vendor booths, refreshment stands and car corrals separated by marque, including Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette and BMW. Mostly, we enjoyed a day in the sun, taking in the sights and sounds of some of the world’s most historic race cars doing what they were built to do. It doesn’t get much better than that.

The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering

The big winner here was a 1937 Delahaye Type 135 owned by Sam and Emily Mann, named “Best of Show,” but in a way everyone in attendance was a winner, merely based on having acquired tickets, err, credentials, to this sold-out event. With numbers seriously limited, strolling the grounds of The Quail reminds us of Monterey in years past, when the crowds and traffic were still manageable. But it is also the poster child for the changes we’ve seen recently, as the cars of Car Week now vie with luxury brands for place of importance.

Here that means oysters and champagne were the order of the day, with the largest crowds around the food and drink stands. Then there were the press conferences, in which more than a dozen car companies woo prospective clientele and the media, from Acura’s introduction of the rather pedestrian Performance EV Concept to Touring’s unveiling of the Superleggera Veloce12, a rebodied Ferrari 550 Maranello.

Indeed, at times it seems like the classic cars at The Quail can be hiding, but a tribute to World Rally Cars and celebrations of Koenigsegg, MG and the Porsche 911 Turbo brought numerous exciting cars to the show field this year. Although The Quail has had less emphasis on “hardware,” this year saw 16 other awards given, including the “Spirit of The Quail” award for Aaron Shelby’s 1949 MG TC, the first race car with which his grandfather Carroll competed. The interesting mix of cars old and new, and the blend of a traditional concours setting with a modern lifestyle-focused car show, gives The Quail an undeniable energy. It’s no wonder the only ticket harder to get is to see Taylor Swift.