My relationship with the Monterey Peninsula started in the late 1960s. I was a wrench (that was before the term “technician” came into vogue) on Hilary Luginbuhl’s SCCA F-production Alfa Romeo Giulietta race car, aka Rubber Chicken Racing.
There was fierce competition in our class against the factory-backed cars, the Jon Woodner Huffaker MG Midget and the Steve Froines Spitfire of Group 44. Competing against the big boys with limited resources meant our race weekends often consisted of multiple engine swaps and transmission rebuilds.
As I recall, we camped out in the infield. Barbecued burgers were our gourmet cuisine. As I was just 16 at the time, sneaking a beer now and then was a forbidden delight.
All grown up
Now my son Bradley is 16, and it’s his turn to experience Monterey. However, he gets to see things through the lens of SCM.
Any way you figure it, Monterey Car Week is bigger than ever. There are now more than eight different judged car shows, five auctions, eight seminars, countless manufacturer-sponsored parties, new-car introductions and more. We would have to be judicious to make the most of our time.
My mobility challenges factored into our plan. Our group of four — me, my partner, Bradley and his friend Joe — piled into my modern Hyundai to make the trip down the coast, with my scooter in the trunk. We decided to have a singular focus, forgoing all the other events in favor of the auctions.
During all of the decades I have been going to Monterey, I had never before stayed in the epicenter of the week’s events, the Portola Hotel & Spa in downtown Monterey. Rick Cole Auctions, World Classic and now RM Sotheby’s have held their auctions there. Every year I made the pilgrimage to see the cars displayed in front of the hotel, inside the lobby and in the plaza behind it. It was always the best three-ring car show in town.
For SCM, Monterey has always been a “working class” assignment. Our auction reporters fan out across the Peninsula and look at as many cars as they can, writing up the ones they deem important.
Complete success
After traveling 800 miles from Portland, as we passed though Salinas, CA, on the final stretch of our drive, Bradley asked, “Do you think we’ll see an F40 this week?”
When I replied that was a certainty, he added, “And maybe an F50 too?” Most likely.
Both boys assumed the pose of golden retrievers on high alert. They were “Ferrari sniffing.”
Our Monterey Car Week became a blur of packing my scooter into our trunk, heading to an auction, unpacking and then noodling around.
I want to compliment the staff of every auction company for making my access as easy as possible. Our path took us to Bonhams Cars, Broad Arrow Auctions, Gooding & Company, Mecum Auctions and RM Sotheby’s. It lifted my spirits to see so many familiar faces after four years away.
Of course, I picked up my bidder’s credentials along the way, on the off-chance I might be the only person in the room who was paying attention when an alloy-bodied, Rudge-wheeled Gullwing crossed the block at no reserve.
Even though the cars were different this year, there was a reassuring sameness and familiarity to all the auctions. The daylight flooding through the Gooding & Co. roof was exactly as I remembered it. At Bonhams Cars, I recalled watching a Ferrari GTO sell in the same tent in 2014.
The auctions have kept doing their workmanlike jobs, this year selling 836 cars for a total of $403.1m. This is the third-highest ever, behind last year’s $467.2m and the $463.7m in 2014.
The kids are all right
I was most pleased to see Bradley and Joe wearing their SCM shirts as we made our way among the auction venues. (They were not the only young people in attendance, by the way.) Being with two kids who were experiencing this all for the first time was invigorating, and it helped me to see Monterey Car Week anew.
There will always be kids who love cars; we as the elders of the collector-car hobby just need to make it easy for them to be involved and engaged.
Our trip also reminded me that in-person auctions represent a critical part of the coming together of the collector-car community. They give us a chance to reconnect, in person, with others who share our interests. Seeing and talking with so many SCMers was a pleasure I look forward to repeating.
The boys noted that the auctions are also entertaining live theater. They formed definite opinions of each auctioneer and how effective they were in captivating the room.
Our road trip to Monterey took us back to a simpler time that reflects why SCM was created. It’s a Monterey I have missed and very much enjoyed returning to, surrounded with the elemental magic of SCM, the buying and selling of cars. ♦