Concorso Italiano 2016

Above, Hugues Vanhoolandt videoed Bowtie Ferrari author Randy Cook and Matt Stone discussing the Ferrari 0126A which was given a Chevy engine in 1958.

By Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted
Video clip by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The Concorso Italiano is a celebration of Italian cars, primarily for about a dozen car clubs, and without the hype, hoopla, and hysteria that characterizes many of the events surrounding the Monterey Car Week. There are other shows for Italian cars, but none this big, and none is such a celebrated destination. This year marks the 31st edition, and the eighth year since Tom McDowell brought it back to life. With roughly a thousand cars on the field, it has to be the largest exhibition of Italian collector cars anywhere. I include Italy in that statement, because the last thing an Italian wants to do is reveal their name, address, and the license plate of their Ferrari or Maserati to the tax police.

I typically get to shows early, and I surprised that when I arrived, around 8 am, all the cars were already in position on the field. McDowell says that all good Italian events must have a little chaos, but there was none in evidence here – this is a triumph of organization and planning. Kudos to event manager Samantha Tobias and event administrator Jim Tinsley for making it happen. You know that everyone has a different opinion and outlook when you realize that there are two Ferrari clubs, two Maserati clubs, two Alfa clubs, two Lamborghini clubs, and two De Tomaso clubs. Only the Fiat and Abarth people can get along in just one club, apparently!

The event is held at a golf course located in what used to be the Fort Ord military base, closed down in 1994. It was one of the largest such bases in the country, with 36,000 soldiers and federal employees (and their families) living there. It is one of the most desirable pieces of real estate in the country, adjacent to Monterey Bay, the largest U.S. marine sanctuary. About half of the base, 15,000 acres, has been turned into the Ft. Ord National Monument, in addition to Ft. Ord Dunes state park, about four miles of ocean beachfront. There is also a new university on the premises: Cal State Monterey Bay.

Monterey has other attractions, of course. There is the famous conference center, Asilomar, and the nearby Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. But for the rest of us, the key attraction is the twilight bike rides at the Laguna Seca racetrack – yes, for only ten dollars, you can ride your bike around the course! This is definitely a must on anybody’s list!

The goal is to have the old Fort Ord cleaned up by 2030 (a 36 year project!). However, there are still 5000 acres to deal with which were used for 77 years as an “impact area” for high explosive artillery. But today, the impact area is on the Black Horse Bayonet golf course, which proved to be a very good venue for a show this large. Last year it was pretty darn hot, but this year the weather was mild, cool even, a welcome change because in spite of what you hear, it is not 72 degrees everywhere in California all the time.

The themes revolved around that pivotal year 1966, and at least six significant cars were introduced then: the Miura, the Mangusta, the Duetto, the Fiat 124, the Ferrari330 GTC/GTS, and yes, even the little Fiat 850. What a year! There were some surprises too. In honor of the 90th anniversary of carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, there was the North American debut of the Touring-built Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, displayed with a few other cars carrying Touring coachwork. There were displays for each of the honored cars and a talk in the grandstand as each one was profiled.

Regular readers of VeloceToday will remember the reviews I did on Randy Cook’s two books about Ferraris with Chevy and other motors, “bowtie” and “blue oval” Ferraris. Randy was there to talk about it, and three cars were on display. I was able to sit next to Randy at Dave Wollin’s charity dinner, “Tribute to the Can Am” that night, and it was a pleasure to meet both Randy and Dave in person, two “True Believers” in the automotive firmament. As it turns out, not everything has been written yet about the history of the cars we consider the most desirable and collectible. See the video at top of this story.

The organizers also provided over thirty tents or canopies for sponsors and hospitality, and another thirty-plus for vendors. I enjoy looking at the artwork, and I particularly enjoyed talking to a student from the Art Center School in Pasadena, talking about his course of study. I have heard about Art Center for many years, and I was surprised to learn just how rigorous the course of study is, and that there were only 16 other students in his class! The Art Center has an annual car show on the grounds of the campus which is coming up soon, and is definitely a must-attend for L.A. collectors.

Of course, the real enjoyment comes from just wandering the field and looking at cars that jump out at you, and talking to their owners. Just like the Quail Lodge show, where the first car I saw turned out to be my favorite of the whole day. When I walked in the entrance, I looked to my right at the nearest display, and immediately I saw what turned out to be my most memorable car of the day: a 1952 OSCA MT 4 Vignale berlinetta, chassis 1120, owned by Phil White of Portola Valley. Phil acquired the car just last year.

This special OSCA was commissioned by Dr. Mario Damonte to enter Le Mans. It did, and it won its class. It weighs just 1400 pounds, including an extra battery in the back! It has radical front wheel arches which vent the heat from the motor and front drum brakes, a feature later copied on the Ferrari Testa Rossa. The car has been in a museum for the last forty years, including the last thirty years in Japan. There is no fuel gauge and no speedometer – why would you need those? When I told Phil that I needed to make sure that our photographer Hugues Vanhoolandt would photograph his car, he replied that Hugues and his two assistants had already spent a full hour photographing it, so I knew I was on the right track.

I then headed to the “classic Ferrari” exhibit, and here were some pretty special cars, including a blue 1948 Touring bodied car owned by Tom William, a grey Vignale special competition 195 S, a 1951 340 America, a yellow 1955 750 Monza, owned by Alex Pilibos from Fresno, and a red 1958 TDF 250 GT owned by Michael Stein. Some of the cars did not have owner information on them, or any other identification. The surprise was an American LaFrance firetruck converted to a car hauler – which brought more smiles than anything else there.

There are non-Italian cars too, not too many. They have to have some Italian link or Italian elegance of line. Two that I liked were an original Citroen DS Chapron convertible (the DS was designed by Flaminio Bertoni, who was Italian, so there) and a 1971 DS phaeton (four door convertible). This car was very striking. The top was constructed over the course of a few years, and the chassis had to be braced heavily. How heavily? – about 1300 pounds worth of bracing! There are some “replica” Chapron convertibles out there in various forms, but I don’t believe anyone has ever built a four door convertible, and this car was built to a very high standard indeed.

There were just acres of Italian cars, and you would naturally seek out people who owned the same car that you have at home in the garage. I have an Alfetta GT, 3-litre type 75, and spyder, and a series 3 Quattroporte, so I was pretty happy. These clubs seem to have a pretty active membership, even fifty years after some of the cars were built! The judging is done by the members of each club for their own cars, so it is relaxed and non-competitive (well, perhaps not in the Ferrari section!).

As I wandered the field, I was drawn to a car right in front of the Art Center tent: a white 1959 Alfa Touring-bodied convertible, owned by Don Peterson of Nevada. He says he took on the four year restoration to teach his then six year old grandson about cars. Don actually worked for an Alfa dealer in the 1970s. In 1971 he had another Alfa, but when the crankshaft broke he found he couldn’t get the parts, so he replaced it with 8 other Alfas over the years – this is what you call an Alfisti! After years of searching, he found this car in Oklahoma on eBay. It looked pretty respectable but the engine was out. After he got into it, he found that the rockers and the sills were rotten, so he replaced them. He found that in the mid-80s, Alfa sold the 2000 sedan in Brazil, and that some motors had been shipped to Germany and were still in the warehouse. He was able to obtain one from another eBay listing.

It is a long stroke, with a bigger bore, wet sleeves, and a cast iron block. He built up the motor and now it puts out 135 h.p. at the rear wheels. He also added 16 inch wheels to replace the original 165 x 400 ones. The car, which was originally delivered to Hoffman motors, looks stunning in its Grigio Bianca paintwork. Don is a True Believer and it was a treat to listen to him describe in detail how the restoration came together. Of course, there were probably hundreds of similar stories on the field, but here typically by owner-restorers, not owners who sent the work out to a restoration shop. And that is what I like about the Concorso Italiano.