2018 Monterey Car Week

Timo:

Exact same comments. Our hotel had rooms available all week. Pebble attendance was down but still lots of people. I thought the Carmel Concours was very crowded, but it turned out to be a "Porsche Club" meet. Almost no significant cars, and tons of Porsches. We had no trouble just walking into any restaurant we chose every night and being immediately seated. Even RM attendance seemed lower on Friday night, lots of empty chairs, also available chairs on Saturday. Races seemed about normal, which is much lower than 15-20 years ago. You almost never see significant cars at the races today, the owners are getting older (myself included) and apparently they are now accepting replicas (Ferrari 250 TR61 was 365 GT 2+2 based). However, the races still have the best people, just true car guys. Terrible accident in one of the Can-Am sessions, but he is alive and will eventually recover hopefully.

 

Same comments from me as well. Monterey Car Week is going downhill.
Several events I will no longer attend next year. And I have come to Monterey for 40 years in a row now!
Pre-historics are not worth it (replicas !), another event on Wednesday I will no longer attend due to totally insane parking and traffic situation, Quail on Friday (for which I bought two tickets totalling $ 1’450) has now turned even more into a lifestyle event (seen and to be seen), replicas there as well. Concorso Italiano can no longer be recommended (there are BMWs and Porsches as well, typical „Italian“ makes......plus at least four Ferrari replicas). For Concorso Italiano alone I paid $ 1‘000 for two CI Club tickets and then had to pay $ 2 for mineral water....... I left after 2 hours. In the past there used to be approx 240 cars at Pebble on Sunday, this year it was 209.
BTW, they closed the public restrooms Sunday at 4 pm while the Best of Show hadn‘t even been announced yet........
I do think that there is a lot of room for improvements (entire ten days with the two weekends included).
Just my 2 cents.

Marcel Massini

 

I went to the Case Ferrari lodge at Pebble Beach for 3 days. The celebration of Ferrari Spiders was fantastic. The food in the lodge was unbeleivable.
Ferrari has a Chef that they have do all of the events. Best Italian food buffet including Osso Buco and Parmesan Rissotto, rack of Lamb, Oysters, Jumbo Prawns. The booze was flowing too, French Champagne and whatever else you wanted. The people in attendance where very nice too, we met several collectors some first time to Pebble and some there every year since the 80's. The launch of the 488 Pisto Spider was the highlight. I would recomned this to anyone as the way to do Pebble Beach. Bucket list material.
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As for the rest of the Monterey Weekend. The Legends of the Autobahn had some very nice German cars minus Porsche. Very impressive BMW, Mercedes and lots of newer Audi models. The entrance was FREE and the food was reasonable. The people showing their cars are serious about German engineering. No posers here, no replicas, no BS. The Quail makes it cheaper to bring a car and get two tickets for $700 than have to win the draw and pay $650 each ticket.
Hence the quality on display has dropped, not as curated as it once was. The Concors D'Lemons was hilarious! In front of Seaside City hall, hosted by Hagerty's it was a great anti-collector car event that takes the piss out of a commonly snobbish hobby. Again, FREE event. Next year i'm just going to do The Rolex Reunion at Leguna Seca and blow my ears out. Monterey has become a bit of a gougefest for the locals that one week, and alot of the events are hurting their reputations by offering little value other than your get to see someone else's car. Mecum's $30 pass got you all the exotice and old cars one wants to see anyway. My 2 bits.

 

For me the real and only highlight is always early Thursday morning when the cars line up in front of the Gooding tent at the PB Polo Field for the start of the Tour.
Everything else is secondary during the ten days (I am saying this with 40 years of Monterey car week experience).

Marcel Massini

 

Here too, I found this year's goings on generally lackluster and the events I attended seem to have fewer striking cars than the years past. I am gradually losing regard for the whole thing. It started as an enthusiast event then turned into a money printing machine that it is.

In our little car show at Pacific Grove, I met this interesting fellow with a remarkably original and well preserved 1930's Franklin. He had entered it in the preservation class of PB but was rejected. Nevertheless, he decided to make the trip to CA per their original plan, as if he had been accepted. He and his wife drove the Franklin all the way from Florida on back roads at no faster than 40MPH. It was a five week trip for them (and five weeks back). The interesting thing is his grandfather bought the Franklin as a new car and the fellow's father, and now the fellow himself, do all the work to keep the in-line, air-cooled six running. Now, would it have killed the illustrious committee to pretend that this was a Bugatti and accepted the poor man?

john

 

I agree, this is the only "event" worth attending now, and it's free!

The Ferrari parade on Saturday afternoon was fun as well.
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Now that Franklin owner is a great car guy. I am sure the finish line was all the sweeter for the hours of toil and pain.

 

That 412MI in Silver is a sexy, sexy car.

 

Skipped it this year as change of date collided with other duties. At least will return to normal mid August schedule next year.
When you have been a participant to the tour d’Elegance,,,and a full day on the lawn with your car, everything else seem boring!
Still looked at the TV live broadcast,, from my bed ,, would have liked the Swiss coach build Cadillac to be best of show,,, but this is another story.

Interesting to note how in our social media time Car&Coffee events are going up in quality and friendship between previously unknown participants, while formal events with same usual high level patrons are more and more difficult to justify.

Same about auctions with a permanent calendar every month now and where the real skills of auction houses is to source and consign cars, not selling them as this could be done online anywhere ( as shown by the high number of telephone bids!).

So yes organizers and participants will have to adjust and same likely for car Tour & race organizers as the old crowd will disappear gradually,,,,

 

This is sad to hear, as I'm getting to the point I want to do this within the next few years. I wonder what could get it back on track?

 

GHG: Great photo of Sue and me in the 250 MM!! Thank you. Yes, I failed to mention the Ferrari Spider display at Pebble. The food and hospitality was great, and the people very nice, but it is focused (correctly) on the newer cars and their owners.

 

Yes, it is correct that Casa Ferrari offered really excellent food this year, albeit at a price ($ 950 to $ 1‘300 per ticket via dealer). And the display in front of the building was good as well with no fewer than four NART Spiders, 412 S, 335 S, 250 TR, 250 Monza, Cal Spiders, 330 and 365 GTS, and many more. Well done by FNA and thanks to all the American Ferrari collectors who made their car available for this display.

Marcel Massini

 

Are you kidding me Marcel? You should be an honorary guest without spending a penny!

 

I have been attending Monterey car week for more than thirty years and I sadly must echo the sentiments of others. Monterey has been sliding a bit in recent times but this year it was really palpable. The traditional date was moved back one week to accommodate a golf tournament and a number of people who block out that time every year chose not to or could not attend.
There was no buzz in the air this year--all of the shows seemed to be lightly attended--and there were just fewer people. Parking in Carmel usually resembles a high end car show, with anything from pre-war classics to 4cams parked at curbside. Not so this year.
The Cars and Coffee set invaded Carmel on Friday and Saturday. There were clusters of people with no connection to vintage cars(apparently driven by social media) on every corner of Ocean Avenue. Every db with a McLaren or Lamborghini showed-up to do first gear blasts from one block to another, recorded by young males(many not even driving age) for their Facebook pages or YouTube channel.
I stopped attending The Quail years ago, as Marcel said it has become a lifestyle event with a rather mediocre car show attached to it. A few of my serious gearhead friends who attended said that they will not in the future. Interestingly many enjoyed the Concours de Lemons in Seaside--it is a fun event and completely unpretentious.
The auctions were a bit of a mixed bag. I thought that Gooding had the best cars(esp. the SSJ), RM's sale of the GTO was anticlimactic despite a packed sales room and Bonhams had an excellent group of Porsches. The cars at Mecum were disappointing to say the least; apparently no one vets their consignments, they just accept every entry received.
Our best day was Thursday. Early AM at the Polo Grounds to watch the Tour take off, then vintage racing at Laguna Seca.
I am hoping that Monterey 2018 was an anomaly. Guess we will find out next year.

 

"The Admirals Ferrari" sold for $5 mil. Low end of estimate. (but how do you even come up with an accurate estimate on this unique, 1 of 1 car/history/story)
https://www.caranddriver.com/flipbook/2018-monterey-car-week-pebble-beach-auction-preview#5
Gooding & Co.
https://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1955-ferrari-500-mondial-series-ii/

 

Moderator, feel free to delete previous post #19,
reposted to it's proper thread here: https://ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/naked-mondial.88341/page-5

 

I tell you exactly what I purchased and paid for:
Two people, my better half and I:
Sat/Sun pre-reunion Laguna Seca: 2x $ $ 30 = 60 per day = total $ 120.
Tuesday pm Automobilia Expo at Embassy Suites: 1 entry $ 20.
We did not go to McCall‘s Jet Ctr party due to traffic situation in past 2 yrs I have given up (2 yrs ago some „security“ let me sit in car for 2 hrs right at car park entrance and did not allow to move or exit at all).
Thursday morning we had a wonderful and the best time at tour start in front of Goodings. Friday for Quail I had bought 2 tickets incl VIP parking and paid total of $ 1‘450.
Saturday for Concorso Italiano I had paid total of $ 1‘ 000 for two tickets at CI Club but still had to pay 2 (two) $ for a water. How crazy is that?
Sunday PB Concours I initially had 1 free ticket and during Saturday ended up with five additional (free!) ones!! Some of these I gave to friends from Italy which had no tickets for their partners/wifes.
Casa Ferrari: I bought two tickets and was charged a total of EURO 1‘300 (not USD).
I haven‘t mentioned yet auction costs, parking passes, food, rental car, normal parking, race programs, catalogs, room at the Best Western which charged me $ 650 per night (9 nights).
Nor the 12.5 hour flights from Zurich, Switzerland to San Francisco, CA.
If you wanna play you have to pay.....I am NOT complaining, just reporting. And I do have decades of experience.

Marcel Massini

 

How does this compare to Villa d'Este? That, and Goodwood, are the 2 events on my bucket list.

 

VDE is basically a one day event (Saturday). U can buy tickets for approx EURO 650 or more but you get zero for that, no water, no food, nothing. And best is to come by Riva on Lake Como as there is zero parking and zero rooms next 15 miles. There are just about 54 classic cars shown at VDE, due to lack of space. Every year the same BMWs out of Munich museum.
GW: too many replicas, and hotel situation is .......(insert what u want).

Marcel Massini

 

I entered Concorso Italiano this year. (It was $5 cheaper to enter with an Italian car than to be a spectator!) Although there were some interesting cars, it didn't come close to the cars that I saw 2 years before, which included Dave Lee's collection of supercars. This year, lightly attended, light on entries. And I see in this thread that most of the really cool Ferraris were in other events. Oh, and there was a Mustang in the field!

For some reason EOCR was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, instead of on Friday like 2 years ago. This means it overlapped the CI. There were many extreme cars and it was fun to be there. And it was free.

Not worth going to CI next year if this year is an indication.