It's been a while since I've posted on the blog, mainly because my day job keeps my creative needs met most of the time. But after getting back from Monterey I had 8,000 photos that wdre begging to be shared. Some ended up on our Facebook page and others will appear in Dusty's exceptional Driven World Magazine - which continues to amaze me every month with even higher levels of work from all involved. Here are links to the rest. I whittled them down a bit by tossing out all of the blurry ones, and broke them up into hopefully bitesize chunks for you. I still need to do the final track album and a highlight album that will likely be around 200 of my favorite shots from that week, but for now...
By the way, Monterey is impossible to capture in words or pictures. Even video doesn't do it justice. The electricity you feel up there just driving around the peninsula is incredible. Even without events like McCall's, Concorso, Quail, the Historics and Pebble, the cars you can see driving around, parked at Denny's, filling up at Rotten Robbie's...are nicer than the cars at most museums or exotic car dealerships. Fortunately for us, we also got to add the Jet Center, Laguna Seca, 17-Mile Drive, the Lodge at Pebble Beach, Bixby Bridge and Scott's Valley to the list of beautiful backdrops for our photos too. So click through and enjoy a whirlwind visit to Monterey for Classic Car Week.
This August is definitely a great month for Classic Cars Auctions. Some of the most amazing cars in history will go under the hammer and I sure regret not being able to witness in person the exciting last moments of ownership for those selling them.
The majestic and unique Manta Bizzarrini is set to trade hands in Pebble Beach at Gooding and Company's auction on the 18th and 19th. Very first design of the newly founded firm, the Manta arguably marks the appearance of the wedge style and "the seventies" in car design. Starting from the innovative frame of the Bizzarrini P538 the car seems to wipe out all the designs made before with an uncompromising 15 degree windshield, three seats with the driver in the central position and its outrageous color scheme. The estimate seats comfortably between 1.3 and 1.5 million dollars. I sure hope this car more luck than what happened to the even more revolutionary Lancia Stratos HF which missed the lower estimate shy of €200.000 last summer.
Find here some pictures I took some years back at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The Manta will be in great company, the catalogue also offers a striking 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe Aerodinamico ($1,750,000 - $2,500,000), 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC ($3,750,000 - $4,500,000) and three famous prototypes like the 1970 Monteverdi HAI 450 SS ($600,000 - $800,000), 1964 Ford GT40 ($5,000,000 - $7,000,000) and the 1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider ($6,000,000 - $8,000,000).
My personal favourites probably being the 1955 Maserati A6G/2000 Berlinetta ($1,500,000 - $2,000,000) and the almost perfect 1959 Lancia Flaminia Sport ($375,000 - $450,000).
If you were impressed by the offer of Gooding and Company then you should not be disappointed by RM Auctions, except for the fact that they are offering two Auctions this month alone! On the 17th and 18th in Monterey they will offer a frankly striking array of vehicles. It is very hard for me not to publish here most of the catalogue. One of the pure gems is the 1955 Ferrari 410s Berlinetta, the beauty and the beast itself. A car rarely seen in meetings and events and one of the most beautiful shapes ever conceived by Scaglietti.
Also in the catalogue no less than 3 true everlasting icons of car racing history such as the 1971 Porsche 917/10 Spyder Can-Am ($2,900,000-$3,500,000), the "Icon" itself 1968 Ford GT40 Gulf/Mirage Lightweight that also served as camera car in the legendary "Le Mans" movie and the 1987 Porsche 962 IMSA Camel GT ($1,200,000-$1,600,000).
Porsche is also well represented by the 1981 Porsche 935 JLP-3 IMSA ($1,300,000-$1,800,000) and no less that the actual factory works prototype of the 1963 Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS ($1,800,000-$2,200,000).
Last but not least there's the novelty of Virgil Exner's 1960 Plymouth XNR concept car. Admittedly not one of my favourite cars. I find its shapes too "cartoonesque" for my tastes. But then again... how often does it happen to see such a famous unique car trading hands?
Find here some of the videos RM produced to present this particular auction.
It's common for these auction houses to offer for sale such incredible vehicles and to reach equally incredible bids. That's why the real surprise of the month is RM's auction in Denmark, presenting the Aalholm collection on the 12th of August featuring more than 175 motor cars, formerly part of the Automobil Museum. All lots will be presented without reserve and in my opinion, at very conservative estimates. Possibly because most of the cars are not restored to RM's incredible usual level or possibly in an attempt to try and attract a wider audience. Whatever the reason, there will sure be some nice bidding action and some smiley faces at the end of the day.
The museum's offer stretches from a 1958 Trojan Cabin Scooter with a high estimate at £740.31 (really??) to an uber cool 1926 Citroën Kegresse Half-Track that is expected to go for as little as £2,300.
The queen of the auction in my opinion will be the 1954 Arnott Sports, Arnott's only Lea Francis (push-rod - twin cams high in block) powered Sports from a production of seven cars. Miss Daphne Arnott founded the make in London in 1951 and produced cars for roughly 6 years. It was a brave attempt and she also managed to put a car on the grid of the 1955 and '57 Le Mans 24 Heures, where it was stopped by technical failures. This is truly a nice piece of car and the estimate of 2,300 to 3,900 GBP is to my eye, hard to believe.
Go to RM's website for all the info you may need and don't forget to subscribe to their twitter account for a live feed of the auctions!
Such an amazing gathering of legendary Porsches at such an iconic track, it's not surprising that Rennsport Reunion IV added nearly 4,000 photos to my albums. I've since gone back and broke those down into groups and now have a 400-shot highlight album posted as well - in case you prefer the Readers' Digest version.
With nearly 35,000 spectators on hand over three days enjoying autograph sessions with 50-plus legendary Porsche drivers, German music and food in the Biergarten, museum quality display cars and plenty of on-track Porsche action – Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is in the books as the best ever on all accounts.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca played host to Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV Oct. 14-16, which brought together many of Porsche’s most historic racing models from across the country and direct from the Porsche Museum in Germany. There was a significant highlight around every turn in the paddock, including a special tribute to the celebrated Porsche 911 history, a Concours on Pit Lane, the North American debut of the new 2012 Porsche 911 and the Porsche Club of America’s largest single marque car corral in Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca history with more than 1,300 vehicles.
“Rennsport Reunion IV has exceeded our wildest expectations, and the entire Porsche team is both grateful and a bit proud that our dreams and hard work have paid off,” said Detlev von Platen, president of Porsche Cars North America. “But it took more than just our efforts to make this weekend a magic one. It took a perfect race track, a beautiful countryside, picture perfect weather and the tireless work and cooperation by the professionals of SCRAMP to make Rennsport Reunion IV unforgettable for our many racing legends, the hundreds of participants, the tens of thousands of race fans.”
“We were pleased to be a part of Porsche history,” says Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “Judging by the smiles on the faces of spectators and participants alike, we feel the event was a huge success. Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is the capper for what has been a tremendous 2011 season.”
The cars - and the photos - are broken into eight groups, plus an extra album each for the Concours, the Paddock and the Parade Laps. Below are the list and the links. It was a truly extraordinary event. Enjoy.
Race Groupings
Group 1 - 550, 550A, RSK, RS60-61 (4&8 cyl.), 2000 GSGT (Dreikantschaber), Abarth Carrera, Lotus/Porsche, Cooper/Porsche (Pooper), 356 GT, and any other 356 with FIA history and selected 356 SCCA history cars.
Group 2 - Elva/Porsche, 904 (4&6 cyl.), 914/6 GT, 911TR, 911ST, 911 (911 up to 2.5 liter). Any of the 911s must have FIA history (Daytona, Sebring or Watkins Glen is the only US accepted FIA history). No SCCA cars.
Group 3 - 906, 910, 907, 908, 908/2, 908/3 (8 cyl. & 6 turbo), 909, 917 (normally aspirated and turbocharged)
More room, flatter fairways, more cool cars and even a section of barn finds and beaters made this year's Concorso Italiano one of the best ever.
As you may recall from the 26- or 28-year history of this perennial classic, recent servings of Concorso Italiano have been a little up and down, with venue changes and field sizes that didn't always show these great cars in their fullest possible glory. There were the buses that took us around the first year of the Black Horse golf course, followed by the year of the cold, hard cement of the Marina Airport, and then the box canyon of last year's show. But we put up with it because we love these cars and nothing was going to keep us away from them.
Well, 2011 was no such year. Organizers discovered three huge fairways on the same golf course they used last year, opening up the whole show to give tifosi a little more elbow room between the fenders.
“The setting is the best,” event emcee and Italian-car fan Keith Martin said. He is the publisher of Sports Car Market and a former Autoweek contributor. “There are more cars than ever. It not only achieved its former provenance but surpassed it.”
Concorso president Tom McDowell estimated there were “roughly 1,000 cars” and “I'm guessing 8,000 people.”
With room for them all.
“We really like the new layout,” a slightly sunburned McDowell said at the end of the day. “From the feedback we've gotten, people really appreciate the venue.”
A big hit this year was the “Originals and Barn Finds” section, with 21 unrestored Italian cars and four barn finds. Heck, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance started a class for unrestored cars, why not Concorso? Maybe because so many Alfas across the country look like unrestored barn finds? Just kidding. Don't send hate mail.
And unlike past years that featured what seemed like 10 million 355s and an equal number of Murciélagos, this year seemed to balance the old and the new with a mix that appealed to almost everyone.
“It's a little more spread out,” entrant John Maclay said, standing next to his 1964 Alfa 2600 (“It's got enough power to be interesting.”). “It was nice, a real variety of cars.”
Best of Show this year went to Pete Vasquez's superbly delicate 1953 Fiat Stanguellini, an intricately styled 2+2 that had something cool in every fender and dash panel.
“Last year it was on the lawn at Pebble,” Vasquez proudly pointed out. “[Winning here] just blows my dreams away.”
We ran into Frank and Janet Mandarano, the founding couple of what would become Concorso Italiano some 26 (Frank) or 28 (Janet) years ago.
“It's 28 if you count the years it was just the Maserati Club,” said Frank.
“[This year] it was back to having fun,” said Janet.
The hit of the show might have been the guy who, on his way out, drove his Gallardo Spyder halfway into a sand trap. A pretty good crowd gathered to watch an inventive tow-truck driver extract him. Autoweek alumni Byron Pope helped engineer the retrieval. Together they pulled it back from the brink, just like the organizers of this year's and last year's shows. The Lambo driver, and probably all of the attendees, drove off happy as a clamshell hood opening.
