Pebble Beach: Day One

There are very few things that can get me out of bed at 5 A.M. A plane flight to cover the many car events on the Monterey Peninsula in California is one of them.

The so-called Pebble Beach week is the most important group of collector vehicle events in the world.  It is anchored by the world-famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, but there are dozens of events, big and small, leading up to Pebble. Some die-hard collectors even shipped their prized cars to Seattle a couple weeks ago to tour down over the course of many days.

Before even getting on the plane, the Sound Classics team got our media credentials in line to bring CarDomain members coverage of the Monterey Historics Vintage Races, Concorso Italiano, Russo and Steele Auctions, Goodings Auctions, RM Auctions, Pebble Beach Concours, Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, and the Pininfarina Rolls-Royce Hyperion unveiling. We brought our cameras and video-cams, and despite being sleep-deprived and forced to drive an abysmal rented Hyundai Elantra (we forgot to beg for a cool press car), we were ready to rumble. Continue reading…

So here we are not even checked into our hotel yet, and we’re already at the Carmel-By-The-Sea Concours. Since we’ve already seen some pretty amazing cars just driving to and from the area, including several Ferraris, two Porsche Speedsters and a REAL PORSCHE 959!!! we can barely wait to see what’s actually being shown.

In its second year, the event has a diverse range of vehicles lining the intimate downtown area of Carmel. A free event to the public, Carmel’s show is as easygoing as a local show-and-shine, but with cars of world-class quality.

The first classic we see is a gorgeous Nash-Healey–an amalgamation of British design, American parts with a body penned by Italy’s Pininfarnia. On the other side of the street are a gaggle of big-finned Yank-tanks, including an iconic ’59 Caddy Eldorado and two 1961 Imperial Crown convertibles (the brontosaurs of the Mopar lineage).

Sports car fans are delighted to see not one, but two Lamborghini Miuras, as well as Shelby Cobras (yes they’re real!) in both 289 and 427SC forms. On the totally opposite side of the spectrum, my eye is caught by the first International Harvester woody. Originally ordered by North Dakota for servicing state land, it was recently meticulously restored by its current owner. I swear they must of cut down half the Redwood Forest in replacing all that wood paneling.

Another cool and exceedingly rare car in attendance is the last of 66 Apollos ever made (with an original special-order Chevy 327, rather than the standard-spec Buick V8). Not all classics here are rare, though, as a line of beautifully restored Ford Deuce coupes and roadsters indicate.

Check out some of the pictures and look for more Sound Classics coverage of the Pebble Beach week events here on CarDomain.