You know those bucket lists…the ones where you write down all the things you need to do before you die…well Chris and I decided to take the initiative this summer, and check one off together.  Later this year, we are heading up to the Monterey Peninsula…and more specifically the Pebble Beach area for one of the most exclusive motorfanatic gatherings in the world.  If you’ve never been to Pebble Beach, put it at the top of your list.  It is amazing.  (Past event photos here) But more importantly, every year, the area hosts one of the largest gatherings of collector cars in the universe.  The hand full of shows, draw visitors and participants from all over the world, and this creates the opportunity to see in person, some of the most rare collector cars on the planet.    We’ve seen the pictures, and I’ve even walked the grounds of the Concours d’Elegance….just not during the show.   So this year, we decided that we are going to do what true Motorfanatics do…ROADTRIP!  After a few emails…I got the head of Concorso Italiano, Tom McDowell on the phone, to get some details, and to find out what we rookies should expect.   Tom was more than willing to talk and I quickly learned that Tom has taken on a daunting task.  You see, he has only been at the helm for a short time…this year is going to be his first as the man in charge.  Unfortunately for Tom,  Concorso Italiano is competing against some serious competition for visitors that week, and in recent years the event has had some issues.  He told me about the problems of location from last year…and that one of the first things he did after taking the reigns, was to move the show back to a golf course setting.  I mean come on, airports are great for space, but they aren’t quite high-brow enough for this crowd are they?  Tom went on to tell me of the expected 1000–1300 vehicles expected at the show, and explained to me that the show is not just about italian cars, its what they describe as a “celebration of lifestyle”.   Ok, I know, that does sound a bit on the snooty side..but hey, when you are dealing with the people that can afford these cars…you have to cater to their expectations, and Chris and I can only dream of the day that we can take our Ferrari 250 GT to Monterey, park it on a world class golf course, and have thousands of people walk by telling us how lucky we are. We get it.  So this year, we are going to embrace our motorfanatics-ness and we are going to Monterey, and we are going to help Tom have a very successful Concorso Italiano.  We are going to buy a couple ascots and smoking jackets, and we are currently working on a top secret sled to drive up HWY-1.  We are going to do it in style, we are going to rub elbows with people who spend more money on a shirt, that we make combined in a year, and we are going to embrace all that is Monterey in the middle of August.  Now Jenkins, fetch me my keys.

Tags: classic car, concourse car show