Brandes Elitch & Hugues Vanhoolandt at Concorso Italiano

Back in 1984, I got a call from a friend, Joe Duray, who had just found a Maserati 3500 for sale in the local paper. Back in those pre-Internet days, that was how you found things, along with going to swap meets and taking Hemmings Motor News. We went to look at it and he bought it. The car was unmolested and totally original. It ran, but had no brakes. He had it towed to his garage on Greenwich St. in San Francisco, the third steepest street in the city. The tow truck could not climb the hill, so Joe decided to drive it up the hill and try coasting into the garage stall. Don’t try this at home. When he entered the garage, he had to get out of the car and stop it with his body. Once it was in place, he immediately downed 3 scotches to calm down, a perfectly reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.

Maserati 3500 GT Frua, Quattroporte and Sebring at this year's CI. Author had a Quattroporte as a company car!

Joe needed to start accumulating parts for the restoration, and discovered a firm near Seattle called the Maserati Information Exchange (MIE), run by Francis Mandarano. In addition to supplying parts, the MIE also published a first-class glossy magazine called Viale Ciro Menotti, dedicated to Maserati. (The name refers to the street where the factory is located in Modena). Then, in 1988, Mandarano hosted a small get together for Maserati enthusiasts, at the Carmel Mission Inn, just across the intersection on Rt. 1 from the Carmel Mission.

We attended this meeting. It was clear that there was a lot of interest in the marque, but it was just beneath the surface, unlike the rival from Maranello, which was much more obvious. The next year, in what had to be a pretty big leap of faith by Mandarano, he started an Italian car show, for all marques ( except that one from Maranello), at the exclusive Quail Lodge resort and golf club just down Carmel Valley Road a few miles. Shortly thereafter, I got a Quattroporte as a company car and at that point I was not just interested in Maserati, I was committed.

Once persona non grata, Ferraris now dominate Concorso Italiano.

In those days, you went to the track (Laguna Seca) on Saturday, and you went to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday. Francis decided to have his show on Friday, which didn’t conflict with anything then. The show was a big hit, right from the start. For the first few years he didn’t invite you know who, but eventually, bowing to pressure, they were permitted to appear. This did change the tenor of the show, but it was always a great show. I am guessing that the management of the resort found it to be a little too successful, in terms of attendance, and so it was moved to a golf course on the old Fort Ord.

This lasted for a few years, until the course underwent renovation, at which point there was a less than successful show at the Seaside airport in a fierce dust storm. Mandarano had now sold the show, and change of venue meant a re-alignment. The next year, there were actually two shows, but after that the event coalesced, and was now located at another golf course in Carmel Valley. At this point, the Concorso was managed by Tom McDowell, and this is his sixth year at the helm out of 29 years of production, so he is an old hand by now at this.

This year two big changes occurred. The event was moved to Saturday, and it returned to the Bayonet and Black Horse golf course in Ft. Ord, where it had been from 2003-2007.

Concorso still attracts the many varieties of Fiats such as this 1200 Spyder.

Now I have to say that I was not in favor of the Saturday time slot, because this is the big day at the track, and nobody can do both events in one day. This wouldn’t be a problem if the track was featuring a non-Italian car, but this year the feature was Maserati, which more or less started it all.

I solved this by going to the track on Thursday. This worked well for me as all the cars were there, and there were no crowds, but it might not work for everyone.

As far as the change in venue for Concorso, frankly all golf courses look the same to me, and I thought the last one was just fine, so no complaints there. Most important, the parking and access were completely trouble free, which is a huge relief at these shows. As Tom McDowell says, “All good Italian events must have a little chaos,” but I saw little evidence of that – everything was very well organized to be sure. Try locating 800 cars on a hilly grass field by 9 am and see how easy it is!

Alfas, rusty or not, have a huge club presence at Concorso.

Let me be clear that if you own an Italian car (and why not?) attendance here is mandatory. This is the largest Italian car show in the world. Think about that for a minute. A cynical person might say that this is because cars in California don’t rust, which could be true, although I have had a few rusty Alfas. The show has always been club-based, and each club seems to have worked out their own unique style over the years, and many club members have known each other for decades. So it is like a reunion for the various clubs, and there are a dozen of them.

Allowing other cars with Italian-designed coachwork, like this Jensen Interceptor, keeps things interesting.

In addition, they accept non-Italian marques with Italian coachwork, and I find these cars particularly interesting. One of the best parts for me is to be able to speak to the owner about the history of the car, the restoration, etc. For instance, I enjoyed speaking the owner of the Jensen Interceptor, who enhanced the display with a sandwich board showing the history of his car (why doesn’t everyone do this?). And next to that was perhaps my favorite car of the show, a Ghia L64 owned by John Huggins (www.GhiaL64.com). The restoration of this car was stunning.

Ghia L64 owned by John Huggins was author's favorite.

This year, there were two features: 100 years of Maserati, and the Zagato Contemporary Collection. Another feature was the American release of the new Alfa 4C. I bought a 164 way back in 1992, and have been waiting for a new model for about twenty years now – me and a lot of other people. The pundits are quick to dismiss Alfa’s return to the US, but they would be wise to observe what has happened at Maserati, which went from selling perhaps 2000 cars worldwide to now selling perhaps ten times that just in the US! Two anniversaries were celebrated on the field: the sixtieth year of the Giulietta, and the fiftieth anniversary of the 275 GTB.

Andrea Zagato was in attendance.

There is an awards ceremony and the cars drive in front of a grandstand, where the moderator does an interview with the owner about the history of the car. There is also a fashion show, which seems to be a hit with the distaff side. Naturally, there is a vendor display area with all sorts of tempting ways to spend money. For instance, a few years ago I just had to have a large mosaic of the Alfa badge, which I really enjoy. The artist is Jim Valentine, and he is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists. You can see it at www.exoticmosaics.com. I would consider this to be a mandatory home accessory for any Alfisti, although my wife might disagree!

The Zagato display. In front, the 2014 Lamborghini 595 Zagato.

Mostly, there is a lot of walking at the Concorso, which is a good thing because, since the site is overlooking the Monterey Bay, the weather is just about perfect. If you are serious about automotive design, it will take you most of the day to see the cars. The area around the grandstand had a display of the featured marque, Maserati (the Maserati Club had their own display area down the hill). You have to wonder how this can be the Maserati Centenary, when the first car was built in 1926, but the official explanation is that a workshop was founded 100 years ago. There was also a display of “modern” prototypes by Zagato, which must have been flown in from Europe specifically for this event. I have never even seen pictures of these cars. I would call this display the highlight of the show. It must have cost a pretty penny to import all these cars for this show, because they cannot possibly be street legal in the US.

Moto Guzzi V7. Photo by Brandes Elitch

I was a bit surprised that there were few Italian motorcycles, but among the few there was my absolute favorite (well other than the V-8 factory racer), a Moto Guzzi V7. One suggestion for next year would be to invite some Italian motorcycle clubs for a special display. There are plenty of motorcycle clubs in the Bay area, and it should not be too difficult to arrange a special motorcycle display.

In terms of number, while I wasn’t counting, it seemed that the Ferrari clubs had the most cars on display, and there was a pretty representative selection of most years and models. Probably second in terms of attendance were the Alfisti. The Lamborghini and Pantera clubs are always out in force and seem to have particularly enthusiastic owners. There were 12 Maserati 3500 coupes on display, the most that anyone can ever remember being in one place at this show. I would have liked to have seen more Lancias and Fiats, but they are few on the ground these days. There was even a cute little Fiat TV spyder, fully restored, a very rare car indeed.

More rare Ferraris at the Auctions than on the stage. Here is Ferrari 212 Inter s/n 0107ES.

Someone estimated that there are fully 35 different events during “Car Week,” and more are added every year. But in my opinion, besides the Concours and the Track, there is only room for one or two other events in your schedule. If you own an Italian car, or even are just interested in design, this would be one of those events. And finally, just to put things in perspective for this wild and crazy week, consider the “Blessing of the Cars,” performed during an event at the Carmel Mission. Here, Rev. Bishop Richard Garcia of the Diocese of Monterey and Fr. Paul Murphy, pastor of Carmel Mission Basilica actually said a blessing over the cars, some of which might be considered sacred in their own right. Among them was a 1913 Pope-Hartford. Seeing this, the event spokesman Bill Gularte commented, “It’s unusual to see a bishop bless a Pope!” That’s Monterey!