Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Brandes Elitch and Hugues Vanhoolandt
August 17, 2019 saw the 34th annual edition of the Concorso Italiano, in the eleventh year of its stewardship by Tom McDowell. It is located on the rolling turf of the Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Course on the old Fort Ord military base, adjacent to Monterey Bay. To get right to the point, this is the largest single day Italian car show in the world, with over 800 cars in attendance.
Tom always says that “All good Italian events must have a little chaos,” but there was no chaos, just the opposite. I am always amazed when I show up at 9 am and all 800 cars have been perfectly parked on the field in their correct pre-designated position, and that was the case again this year, although the show had been moved from its previous location near the clubhouse and that must have caused some re-thinking.
Tom has succeeded in reaching out to the individual single marque clubs that form the backbone of the event. The Ferrari Club of America Pacific Region has a vintage Ferrari Concours, managed by the club’s Director of Concours. Virtually every Italian marque has club participation here: Abarth, Alfa, deTomaso, Ferrari (2 clubs), Fiat, Iso and Bizzarrini, Lamborghini (2 clubs), Lancia, and Maserati. One highlight was the presence of the actual Dino that raced from New York to Los Angeles in the 1975 Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea race and won, driven by Jack May. Jack was there, signing posters of the event.
Alfas everywhere…atribute to the organizers who worked with the clubs to attract so many great cars. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo
This year the Concorso celebrated three anniversaries. First was the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari Dino, its first six cylinder car, designed by Leonardo Fioravanti. Second was the 60th anniversary of De Tomaso Automobili. Of course everyone knows the Pantera, designed by the late Tom Tjaarda, R.I.P., who was a regular attendee here. Lincoln Mercury dealers sold 5674 of them from 1971-1974. Third is the 70th anniversary of the Abarth brand, which is certainly one of the most iconic brands of any kind. Another feature was the Italian bodied Triumph Italia, designed by Michelotti and built by Vignale with six cars in attendance. Finally, Tom chose to feature a display honoring the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Giulia spyders, and also the Junior Zagatos.
As I have done in the past, I will highlight some of the cars which I found particularly compelling, starting with the winner of the Magnon Award, Joe Duray and CarlAnn Matz. Doug Magnon was a leading light in the Maserati Club who passed away at a young age. He was totally dedicated to the marque. This award was established in his honor, to showcase an owner who has worked diligently to keep their car as original as possible. Now I can vouch for this as I was with Joe the day he found the car in a lockup in Vallejo, about 35 years ago. The car had not been run in a while and had no brakes. At the time, he lived on the third steepest street in San Francisco. He had a tow truck bring it to his apartment complex, but the driver refused to drive up or down the hill. In a display of courage, knowing he had only one shot at this, Joe started the car, which could have stalled or died at any time, gunned the motor, and stormed up the hill and into the garage, where he stopped it with his feet, and proceeded to down three Scotches. Over four decades, Joe has patiently restored the car mostly by himself with limited professional help, and it is very correct and original. He deserves the award, as does CarlAnn, for putting up with all of this!
To me, the most compelling car on the field was the 1952 OSCA MT 4 LM Le Mans, owned by Phil White. This car ran Le Mans in 1953 and won its class by five laps. It was designed by Michelotti and is characterized by the scalloped fenders. Phil is also an historian, and showed a book by Phil Hill called “Inside Track, 1951-56” with original pictures of this car (I must have this 2 volume book). It has unique features, such as no fan, vents in the back to relieve heat, a riveted fuel tank, and an original tool kit next to the driver (at Le Mans the driver had to fix mechanical problems himself on the track). The hit of the show, for me.
The next car was nearby, a 1954 SIATA 208 CS with Balbo coachwork, owned by Raffi Najjarian. It had a Fiat 8V motor with two Weber type 36 carburetors. When I was looking at this, Raffi was busy taking another car, a 1952 SIATA 208 CS Bertone spyder up to the reviewing stand for an award, so I was unable to get more information on either of these from Raffi. Photo of both cars by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
I liked the black 1973 Maserati Bora, which was produced from 1971-1978 and was shown at that year’s Geneva show. It was designed by Giugiaro’s Italdesign, and had a 320 hp 4.9 liter motor accompanied by a ZF 5 speed gearbox, certainly a supercar of its time. The body was made by Officine Padane in Modena, one of 235 made.
I was impressed with the 1993 Lancia Delta Integrale EVO 2 owned by Joseph Gabany. When he was younger, he played video games (Grand Turismo) and that set him on the track to get one. He had to wait a long time, and as soon as the DOT 25 year rule was met, he was ready to strike! He goes to Italy annually for the Vernasca Silver Flag hillclimb rally. This is an enthusiast.
Nearby was the 1964 ISO Rivolta GT, owned by Ted Hirth, which has attended the Concorso for 30 years! The car was styled by Bertone, and has a solid lifter 340 hp Corvette motor with 11:1 compression, accompanied by a Borg Warner T-10 four speed box. It has Borrani aluminum rims with stainless spokes.
When I was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany in the early seventies, I used to see an occasional OSI and here was a 1967 20.MTS on display. The original Taunus V6 cylinder motor was replaced with a Ford 302 and a Tremec T5. About 2000 of these were manufactured from 1967-8 and today only about 170 remain, with 5 in the U.S. While I am not enthusiastic about swaps like this, I think the owner did the right thing and is obviously very passionate about it.
In the same corner was the 1972 MV Agusta 750 S, displayed by the world class Talbott motorcycle museum in Carmel Valley, about a half hour away. I covered the Talbott for VT when it opened a few years ago. This has to be one of the most desirable bikes ever produced. The bike spent its life in Switzerland and has only 4000 kilometers. It was produced up to 1976 and replaced by the 750S America.
Next to it was a display area for the six Triumph Italias. I liked the 1960 model owned by Ben Cohen of Tucson, number 52 of 330 made. Given the low production rate, it takes courage and brains to restore one of these.
On the other side of the fairways was a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, owned by Hoffman Hibbett of San Jose. The car was designed by Pininfarina and bodied by Scaglietti, with about 350 produced. The car is cosmetically original, and redone mechanically. About 350 were made and about 300 exist. The owner told me, “The only way I know how to do time travel is to drive this twice a month!” Good for him.
Near the judging area was a 1983 Lancia 037 Monte Carlo works Group B car, driven by racer Walter Rohrl, which ran in the WRC in the first Martini livery. Of course, this is one of the greatest rally cars ever and it was a thrill to see it.
Issimi showed something spectacular: The New Stratos, produced by Manifattura Automobili Torino. It is based on the chassis of a Ferrari F 430 Scuderia, with a mid-mounted 4.3 litre V8. The original Stratos was built from 1973-78 and 492 were produced; the New Stratos production will total 25 at a price of $600k! Here it is as photographed by Hugues Vanhoolandt at The Quail.
I will note a car owned by a friend in France whom I met at Retromobile many years ago, the famous artist Francois de la Cloche (auto2lacloche.com) who does fabulous car portraits with colored pencil. A few years ago Francois acquired a Fiat 2300 S. I was unfamiliar with it, but there was one on display owned by Tom Gilman of Burlingame. This was built by Ghia from 1962-1968 and cost twice as much as an E-type! It has a Lampredi designed 136 hp 2.3 liter motor, six cylinder with two carbs and a four speed box.
For me one of the highlights of the show was to say hello to one of my heroes, Peter Brock, whose website is: https://bre2.net. Pete won a Gold Award for Best Automotive Heritage Book for his new book ”The Road to Modena: the Shelby-de Tomaso P70.” Peter was autographing posters and you better believe I happily stood in line to get one. Check out his website and order the book.
Nearby was the new de Tomaso P72, produced by Ideal Team Ventures. Norman Choi bought the De Tomaso brand in 2014, and is recreating Brock’s car with some updates from Wyn Design. They will produce 72 cars at $842k each!
Author Brandes Elitch with Lamborghini test driver
Valentino Balboni.
Kudos to Tom McDowell and his team, which must comprise dozens of individuals who helped to organize and place the cars on the field. Any show with 800 plus entrants is a big logistical challenge, and I am always surprised it is so well organized with nothing out of place. This is a really big show and to see everything you have to be prepared to walk a minimum of five or six hours without sitting down.
Brandes, where were you at Wiesbaden? I was out at the air base in the early 1970s. 7499th “support” group.
charley
Great coverage!
I usually have to take this day off to recover from the previous week’s indulgences and prepare to judge on Sunday, but now I am thinking I will have to attend next year in hopes that more of the rare and unusual treats show up.
Thanks
Another great report, thank you!
The Concourse just gets better with time. I was there with Bonnie which my crew hauled from Chicago….It was fabulous and mesmerizing, a highlight of my Alfa days. Thanks to Brandes for this excellent overview.