Concorso Italiano 2023

Story and photos by Brandes Elitch

This is the 37th Concorso Italiano. But I was there at the beginning.

Back around 1984, my friend Joe Duray found a 1962 Maserati 3500 GT coupe for sale in a lock-up in Vallejo. He asked me if he should get it. The price was $6,500. It was a very clean and unmolested original car, but it did not run well and had no brakes. Of course, I told him he must get it, and he did. I went with him on the inspection to make sure he did not back out.

Shortly thereafter, a year or so later, somehow we were made aware that there was going to be an informal meeting of Maserati people during Car Week, located at the Carmel Mission Inn, at the corner of Hwy 1 and Rio Road, next to the Barnyard Shopping Center. Of course, Joe and I had to go, and even though we had never met any of the other people who showed up before, there was a feeling of true camaraderie that I have rarely experienced at other meets, before or since. Clearly, something special was going on or was about to happen. The next year, the organizer (Frank Mandarano) moved it to a new location, called Quail Lodge, in Carmel Valley. I think it was there for about a dozen years, and I never missed a year. I look back on this as one of the most wonderful experiences I have had in the car world. I remember having Giorgetto Giugiaro autograph the dash of my Quattroporte, and rushing Sergio Pininfarina when he stepped up to the mike to have him autograph a book. Later on, I was able to get Dallara to autograph a Lamborghini brochure, and Anderloni to sign my book on Touring Carrozzeria. Priceless.

But things never stay the same, and one day the people at Quail Lodge decided that it was time for the Concorso to move elsewhere. This was undoubtedly a shock to the organizers. It was a shock to me as an attendee. At some point, things needed to be stabilized, and fortunately for all concerned, fifteen years ago Tom McDowell stepped up to the plate and took over the event. It must have been a huge logistical and frankly intellectual and managerial challenge at the beginning, but Tom and his staff were up to it. I would add that I think it took a lot of raw courage too. Tom used to say that all Italian car events must have a little chaos, but I have never noticed any chaos, just a well-organized and very successful day. Undoubtedly the planning starts at least a year in advance.

Putting together something like this requires tremendous organizational skills. The show is located at what was previously Fort Ord, a massive US Army base (44 square miles), built in 1940 and home to the 7th Infantry Division for many years. At one time, there were 50,000 troops stationed there. In 1994 the base was closed and most of the land was returned to the State of California. Now, many years later, there is a new university there, and a lot of new housing, particularly surrounding the golf course where the show is held. This requires buy-in from the locality (the City of Seaside) and the County (Monterey County) and careful planning for the traffic flow to the show so as not to antagonize the locals living there.

Tom is constantly looking for new subjects: a particular designer, a certain make or model. This year the anniversaries were the 60th anniversary of Lamborghini, sixty years of the Quattroporte (yeah!), and 70 years of the Lancia Appia. A feature this year was the Citroen SM. I have had mine for almost 40 years now.

Another design that I particularly admire (well I admire almost everything there) is the Fiat X1/9. I think it is brilliant. About 100,000 were sold here in the US (!) and I have been told that only about a thousand remain. I would consider getting one, but at this stage in life I think I might have some issues getting in and out of it.

I have very few regrets in my car history, but I should have gotten a Lancia Appia sedan at some point. When I returned from Car Week, I got an email from John Sexton that said, in part, “So much engineering talent at Lancia back then – amazing. That’s when they built the best car for the segment without regard for cost. Can’t do that for long….” You can count on seeing an Appia sedan at the Concorso, all 3 series even!

I think what makes this show is the participation of individual Italian marque car clubs. Each club pulls together their members to make a stand. Over the years I have seen individual clubs ebb and flow. That is life, I suppose. The clubs this year included:

-Abarth Enthusiasts Worldwide

-Alfa Romeo Association and the Alfa Romeo Owners Club

-Pantera Intl. Car Club

-Ferrari Club of America

-Ferrari Owners Club

-FIAT America

-ISO and Bizzarrini Owners Club

-Lamborghini Club America

-Lamborghini Owners Club

-American Lancia Club

-The Maserati Club CA

There are teams of volunteers who help things run smoothly, over a hundred of them, and that is a big group! And of course, it takes funding to pay for all of this, and this is where the sponsors are so valuable and play such an important role.

To make it all work, Tom has to coordinate the volunteers, the car clubs, the sponsors, and a hundred other details. Thanks to Tom and everyone else who makes this a success every year.

Alfa Romeo

Ferrari

Fiat

Lamborghini

Lancia

Maserati

Siata

Read about more winners here: https://concorso.com/2023-awards/