By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Honestly, I was never all that interested in the Pebble Beach show. Just seemed like it would be a lot of wine and cheese. But then I had the opportunity to go on Sunday, and all I can say is this: every gearhead needs to attend this event at least once. It costs a whopping $150 to get in (I guess they want to keep the riff raff out–press pass FTW) but it’s still worth it to see all those Ferraris, Alfas and Bugattis sitting on the green, just a few feet from beautiful Carmel Bay. Anyway, I took around 200 pics, which you can see in our events section. And I posted a bunch of videos on StreetFire. Check ‘em out!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

A few Mopars at 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Heading to Pebble Beach this Sunday? This just in: An original, unrestored 1908 Pierce Great Arrow–from Natural History Museum’s Gardena, California, facility–has been selected to appear at the August 15 Concours d’Elegance. After the concours, this one-of-a-kind Pierce will be returned to the Gardena facility, which until now has been closed to the public. If you can’t get to Pebble to view the Pierce Arrow, there’s good news: The museum will opens its doors in October for monthly “behind the scenes tours.” This means that visitors will also be able to catch a glimpse of more than 75 other vehicles within the collection, including a 1932 Duesenberg, 1917 Woods Dual Power Coupe gas-electric hybrid and a Helms Bakery van, as well as a 1909 Case steam traction engine. Continue reading at Hemmings.

By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

As most of you know I have been on cross country road trip over the last three weeks. I left from Queens, New York on July 25th and drove across this great nation to end up in Monterey, California for the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach. Blogging has been a wee bit difficult, so I apologize for that, but hey… in less than three weeks I’ve managed to rack up more than 5,000 miles on a 41 year old muscle car with no A/C. That in-and-of itself is no small feat.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Mr. Angry is Still Rolling: Now at Pebble Beach" »

By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

Well, it’s time. The Charger is packed, stickered-up and ready to rock and roll. We leave tomorrow morning at 6am. This will be the third time in three years that I’ve driven this old sled across the United States. Coming with me is my good buddy Johnny “The Wrench” Sigismondi. Some of you may recall hearing his name a few weeks ago when we ran the 24 Hours of LeMons in the 1963 Covair. Johnny’s the one who build it and got it to run like a Swiss watch.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Angry Goes West" »

It has been a week since I returned from the all the car events on the Monterey Peninsula. While my body has recuperated from what the Sound Classics team lovingly refers to as "the Bataan Death March of car events," my brain is still on overload–dreaming about the cars I’d love to make mine.

To drive home not only the quantity of events, but also the quality of cars throughout the week, here is a list of each event I attended with the car I’d most like to own from it.

Carmel Concours (Tuesday): 1970 Lamborghini Miura S Nothing screams “supercar” quite like a brightly-painted Miura. This particular example was perfectly painted in correct factory orange, which contrasted nicely with the concours-quality black interior. It’s tough for a guy my size to drive one of these, but given the increasing values (I stood next to television personality Adam Carolla as he paid $423,500 for a yellow example at Russo and Steele) and always pleasing sounds from the V12, I’d cherish the chance to own it. Continue reading…

Continue reading "The Best of Monterey" »

While Nissan has been grabbing headlines with its ferocious all-new GT-R, Godzilla isn’t the only thing its engineers have been working on. At Pebble Beach over the weekend, the company revealed its long-awaited drop-top G37, and while the hind quarters do give me visions of Chris Bangle’s poison pen, overall it’s not a bad looking ride. Given that fans in the forums have been asking for this forever, and Nissan already sells a  convertible version of the 350Z—the G-series’ sister car—this move is kind of a no-brainer, and it’s hard to hate a RWD, four passenger convertible. Check out this interview with Shiro Nakamura, Infiniti’s Design Director, to get some info on what influenced the design.

One of my favorite events during the Monterey festivities has to be The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. It’s basically the week’s greatest hits. You’ll see the finest Pebble Beach cars as well as the finest race cars. Only a limited number of tickets are available, so the crowd isn’t packed at all. You can easily walk around, see the cars, and take in everything. And there’s one more treat: food and beverages are included. (And of course it’s all top-shelf stuff, and you can go back for seconds or thirds.)

One of my favorite cars at the event had to be this 1958 Fiat Abarth Allemano 750 GT convertible. It’s something you don’t see every day, and the color was just stunning. I’d make space for this one. Look for some more photos are the jump.

Continue reading "The Quail" »

Friday night, I was invited to witness the unveiling hosted by Goodings at Pebble Beach of the latest bespoke car from Pininfarina, the Hyperion.  Based on a Rolls-Royce, it’s an enormous two-seat convertible. Body lines definitely find some common inspiration with those found on Pininfarina-designed 612 and 599 Ferraris. Interesting touches include two opening teak doors directly in front of the windscreen (for cargo storage).

Without seeing it in person, it is hard to grasp the scale of the vehicle. It has a 128-inch wheelbase and is about six inches longer overall than a BMW 750Li. The driver appears to be sitting where rear-seats would be in a normal car, delivering the classic long-hood, short-rear proportions of Rolls-Royces of the 1920s and 1930s. Reception of the car was quite positive, indicating Pininfarina’s team, led by Special Project Director Paolo Garella, did a superlative job. I stood with BMW design boss Chris Bangle when the sheet was pulled, and asked the good-humored guru of style if it "passed the Bangle test." With a big smile, Chris replied "it’s good… for Pininfarina," then proceeded to point out the best viewing angle (front 3/4) and nice touches on the car. Two more pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Rolls-Royce Pininfarina Hyperion Unveiled at Pebble Beach" »

I caught up with Jay Leno at the 2008 Concorso Italiano on the Monterey Peninsula, and above the noise of the show, we discussed what attracts him to Italian cars and why he doesn’t own a Ferrari… yet!