Carmel-by-the-Sea, 14.08.2012

The Monterey Classic Car week was officially stated with the Quail Rally and the Concours on the Avenue in the nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea.

At 8 am about 30 classic cars and a few new sponsor cars lined up in front of the club house at the Quail Lodge. Sir Michael Kadoorie invited a few friends to start the busy week with a relaxed drive to finally arrive on Wednesday evening at the McCall Jet Center party at the Monterey airport. When looking over the field the quality of cars was surprisingly high for a driving event with a Ferrari 166MM, a 400 Superamerica and especially an Alfa Romeo 8C2900 Touring Spider. For some this is the best looking sports car ever produced and they are rarely seen outside the lawn of major concours. The sometimes changeable weather of the Monterey peninsula was at its best with sunshine all the morning.

Just after leaving the lodge one did make its way to the nearby Concours on the Avenue at Carmel-by-thesea. Being the only free event without tickets it is always amazing to see how the organizers succeed in setting up a good quality field.
Unfortunately the weather changed during the last few miles so Carmel-by-the-Sea did not see sun during the entire Concours but fortunately it stayed dry at least.

In the Cobra-year certainly an own Cobra class was launched and even a matching Ford Transporter was present, the car will be auctioned later that week by RM.

Other special classes included the Trans Am class with cars just arriving from the nearby racetrack in Laguna Seca under a police escort, their loud an deep exhaust note must have been heard miles away when the were guided by the police through the streets.

Best of show went to a smaller and more exotic car, the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T. Spider.

Tomorrow the auction previews will be started with Bonhams, Russo&Steele, Mecum, RM and Gooding presenting their cars for the upcoming auctions. Especially the last two auctions will show some of the most expensive cars and one is curious how many records they will break this weekend, together they will be most likely the most valuable sales in the history of Pebble Beach.

Images & Text Peter Singhof ... www.ClassicCarphotography.de