Sights, sounds, and latest news from the return of the country’s most interesting car gathering.
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and all the festivities around Monterey, California, during Car Week transform the peninsula into an open-air car museum. Nearly every event—and there are many—is packed with one-of-a-kind cars you may never see again or that you’ve only seen in books. This weekend, our editors will share the most interesting, wild, and beautiful cars, and we invite you to join us through the weekend. So put on your salmon-colored pants or seersucker suit and join us in looking at some amazing cars. — Автомобиль и водитель
Воскресенье, августе 15
If you still think of the Pebble Beach Concours as big Brass Era cars and swoopy French racing machines, you might have been surprised about the categories on this year’s docket. Sure there were pre–World War II Duesenbergs and Bugattis and all the elegant-fendered vintage machines you imagine, but also ’50s road-race cars with hand-lettered graphics on rock-chipped enamel; ’60s Ferraris, sitting low and red and rowdy; Porsche 917 Le Mans and Can-Am machines, sitting even lower—flat to the grass like beached stingrays.
Most startling to a time traveler from Pebbles past would have been the Lamborghini Countach 50th-anniversary tribute class. Talk about rowdy—they stood out from the understated older cars like a flock of parrots among swans, bright and loud and beautifully rude.
Photos from Pebble Beach 2021
Another interesting class was the early-EV group. Nick Grewal brought his 1901 Columbia Electric, which uses an underseat motor and front and rear lead-acid batteries to offer around 40 miles of EV range. The car was neat, but the original charger that Grewal had on display with it was straight out of a Frankenstein movie. This thing could definitely reanimate the dead. – Элана Шерр
Dave VanderWerp was up early for Dawn Patrol, a brave and exclusive group of folks who love cars even more than they love sleep. To see and hear the entrants rumble and rattle onto the lawn in the pre-sunrise mist is an experience not to be missed. So I hear, anyway. I was sleeping.
My favorite moment at the Concours came later, while strolling among the American Classic class. I noticed a fellow shoulders deep in the dashboard of a 1929 Cord cabriolet, just trousered legs and the edges of a blazer visible through the open passenger door. Jeff Millerick, once he extracted himself from under the bench seat of the Cord, explained he was reinstalling a light bulb under the dash after lending it to a friend.
The judging at the concours is very strict, and points will be docked for items as small as inaccurate screwheads, questionable weatherstripping, and any non-working elements. Millerick’s buddy realized at the last minute that his ’37 Packard had a gauge light out, and was in a panic about the lost points. Apparently the bulbs interchange, because Millerick’s lamp fit in the Packard just in time for the judging (the Cord had already been seen). After the judges approved the Packard, its owner returned the light bulb to Millerick.
“Would you still have lent it to him if you were in the same class?” I asked. Millerick paused, but just for a second. “Yeah, I would. We’re all in this together.” – Элана Шерр
The sun won’t be breaking through the thick layer of fog anytime soon, but it’s first light at Pebble Beach and the concours participants are filing in to take their places on the 18th fairway for the 2021 Concours d’Elegance. — Дэйв ВандерВерп
Flashback to the Monterey Historics. I walked by this guy in the pits, and had to stop to ask what the plan was. Working on a race car between rounds is one thing, but this Boss 302 looked like it hadn’t run in years. As it turns out, it hadn’t. Mark Hanson is a mechanic for racer and collector Kevin Sittner, who runs a much more finished Mustang in the vintage races during Monterey Car Week. Sittner found this blue ’70 Mustang for sale about 20 miles from the Laguna Seca track, and had Hanson pick it up on the way to the races.
Hanson was working on the steering gear to make the car easier to load up at the end of the week. “It barely even rolls at the moment,” he said. “I’ve got to work on it in order to take it home and work on it.” I told him I expected it to be racing in the next day’s event, and he laughed and said, “The boss told me to have it ready for today’s 5:30 session.” – Элана Шерр
