It’s August, and the collector car world will reassemble itself on the Monterey Peninsula in northern California for the resumption of Monterey Car Week, that globally acclaimed showcase canceled by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which would have marked its 70th anniversary.
It began back in 1950, with a car show and a sports car road race through the Del Monte Forest. The dangers of racing on a narrow road among large trees resulted in the racers eventually moving a few miles to the east to a new purpose-built race track on a former military base, and what started as the Monterey Historics have of late been renamed the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
And what of that car show? It would blossom into the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, with the world’s most glamours automobiles displayed on the hallowed, Pacific Coast-hugging 18th fairway of the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links.
What once was a weekend gathering has expanded into other events — from a car show for Italian stallions to one for what appear to be automotive rejects that somehow have avoided the junkyard. Those events and a gaggle of parties and collector car auctions dominate the local calendar for a full week, as well as the weekend before when the vintage race cars do their warmup laps, plummeting through the Corkscrew curve as they hurry around the Laguna Seca track.
The 2020 concours was to feature most of the previous 70 Best of Show-winning vehicles. That didn’t happen, but they’ve been invited to return this year. And so have the other classes and the judges and the spectators. Also back are the racers and most of the other events, and the auctions, and this year the docket for those sales can only be described as spectacular.
The ClassicCars.com Journal also plans to return to the peninsula to share if coverage of what’s happening with you.
To get ready, we’ll be publishing a series of stories starting today — actually, starting a few weeks ago (we’ve already published nearly two dozen Monterey Car Week preview pieces). We’ll continue the series through the next week and on through Monterey Car Week, and then we’re planning some follow-up features and photo galleries.
We hope you’ll join us from start to finish.
