Chateau Julien, Carmel Valley, 13 August 2009
The Ferrari Club of America Pacific Region has normally held its
annual concours in conjunction with Concorso Italiano, on the
Friday of the Monterey week. However, after the disappointment
with last year's venue at Marina Airport, and the uncertainty as to
whether Concorso Italiano would happen this year (it did), they
organised a stand-alone event at the Chateau Julien Winery in
Carmel Valley, on Thursday 14 August. At least by moving the
event further inland, they were certainly going to benefit from a
lack of sea mist, normally prevalent with coastal events on the
Monterey peninsular, and this proved to be the case with beautiful
sunshine throughout the day. The only drawbacks were that it
was something else to schedule into an already hectic week of
activity, and a clash with the Tour de Pebble Beach, the first
opportunity to see what this year's concours had to offer.
The lure of a winery certainly seemed to have the desired effect
on the local Ferrari club members, as over one hundred and
twenty examples were registered as concours entrants and
display cars, whilst others turning up on the off chance on the day
had to be redirected to public parking areas, as the venue was at
capacity. There was a fine selection of models ranged through
and around the vines, the earliest example being the beautiful
dark blue 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet, chassis # 0255 EU.
Mention should also be made of the ex-Scuderia Filipinetti 512
F, chassis # 1048, which graced the main lawn in front of the
winery. For those who are not purists, and who like something a
little different, there was a 400i Cabriolet wearing highly polished
after-market wheels, and a 400i Stretched Limousine (carrying
all its added weight on wire wheels!) to meet their requirements.
There was a nice selection of 250 GT models, including a SWB
Berlinetta, chassis # 1905GT, and a California Spider,
chassis # 3195GT, plus a pair of Lussos, chassis #s 4521GT
and 5003GT. Add in a quartet of 275 GTBs, a sextet of 365
GTB/4s, plus numerous more modern variants, including many
Flat 12s, examples of the GTO (288), F40, F50, Enzo, and the
new California, and it can be seen that there was an interesting
range of Ferrari models on display.
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