Ed Godshalk in his Cisitalia D46 Monoposto “barn find” condition. Ex-factory team car, 5th place in 1946 Coppa Brezzi race, 1st place 1947 Mt. Ventoux Hill Climb, Ex-Harry Schell. Renowned Cisitalia restorer, Geert Kistermaker is at right.
Story and photos by Brandes Elitch
Looking back, I have to say that some of the best memories are of the original Concours Italiano (later changed to Concorso Italiano).
At the time I was interviewing for a job with a bank in San Francisco, and my interviewers were my friend Joe and his associate, Willem Oosthoek, now perhaps the pre-eminent Maserati expert in the world.
Joe had just bought a very clean and original Maserati 3500 coupe (Willem has one too, of course) and wanted to get started on the restoration. At that time there was an organization called the Maserati Information Exchange (MIE) outside of Seattle, run by Francis Mandarano. Back then, forty years ago, (the event is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year) there were only two events, the races at Laguna Seca, and the Pebble Beach Concours.
Francis had the idea that there was room for a third event, featuring Italian cars. The first year, he invited his customers to a gathering at a local motel, located adjacent to Rt. 1, and there was a lot of enthusiasm. There was so much interest that Francis decided to think bigger and host an event for all Italian cars, and by a stroke of luck, he was able to procure the green outside of the hotel at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, the perfect venue. Click below for my brief history of Concorso, itself dating from 2011:
This year you might say it was reinvigorated by new management, and with the backing of a group called International Car Week (https://www.internationalcarweek.com/). This year, they supported both Concorso Italiano and another event the day before, called “The Paddock Monterey” featuring the RADwood Show – a 50-car curated display at the center of the event with ’80s and ’90s era cars, complete with a DJ playing retro music, a retro fashion competition, and wild builds everywhere.
An article in Autoweek by Mark Vaughn says it all: “Concorso Italiano is Back, and new owners have done a splendid job returning the Monterey Car Week event to its former glory.” Mark added, “…it had a healthy several hundred cars, almost all of them interesting, and enthusiastic owners who hung around all day in little picnic circles chatting away.”
This story had a happy ending, fortunately for all of us.
My personal interests are Lancia, Alfa, and Maserati, and it was good to see these groups get together again. There is really no other venue for something like this now.
I predict that the Concorso Italiano has turned the corner, fortunately. I also predict that the new event this year, The Paddock Monterey, will grow and become an annual event, because of the well-known demographic shift and changes in our hobby. For example, I saw a Renault Clio there and am now fantasizing about getting one.
A very special feature was the gathering of four significant Cisitalias. Says Cindy Meitle, “The idea for a feature class of Cisitalia at Concorso Italiano was hatched one year ago by Pete Vasquez and Ed Godshalk, and thanks to support from Frank Spinosa and the Concorso Italiano team, the largest collection of Cisitalia factory team cars ever assembled in the USA was a success.”
We also note that VeloceToday is once again presenting the story of the Lost Cisitalia D46, in which the Editor, Sam Coronia, (whom will be featured in these pages shortly) and Ed Godshalk played a role.
Thanks to the organizing committee for all the work that they went through to host this event and keep it going. They all deserve our thanks.
1947 Cisitalia “Aerodinamica”. Ex-factory team car, ran in the 1947 Mille Miglia. Auriana Collection
The rear of the Savonuzzi-designed Mille Miglia coupe.
1946 Cisitalia D46 Monoposto. Ex-factory team car. 1st place in 1946 Coppa Brezzi race. Behrens Collection
According to Ed Godshalk, this was a special lightweight spider “Allegerita” driven by Piero Dusio in the 1947 Mille Miglia. It came to Argentina with Dusio and was raced actively by Nicolas Dellepiane who rebodied it the early 1950’s. Mr. Dellepiane’s grandson Nico Dellepiane was present at Concourso Italiano and the current owner of the car, Don Behrens, was kind enough to let Nico drive the car.
1960 Cisitalia DF85. Again per Ed Godshalk, “It is sort of the last of the line of attempts to restart the company and is based on the Fiat chassis with a pretty custom body and an OSCA engine. It made a nice “bookend” to the display, my D46 (S/N-004) being one of the earliest cars and the DF85 one of the last.
Siata Spring (an attempt at a retro sportster)
Pegaso Berlinetta Touring Panoramica, 1956. (BT PO per “Ricart Pegaso, Mosquera/Coma-Cros)
A nice TDF. Chassis number maybe 0885gt.
Maserati 3500 GT Coupe
Maserati Frua Convertible
Alfa GT Zagato Junior, could be a 1300 or 1600.
Lancia Lambda owned by Vicki and Paul Tullius, from Chico CA.
Maserati A6G 2000 Pinin Farina coupe
Maserati Bora.
Only Alfa we’ve never owned. Got one for sale?
Maserati T 151
Wild Jag.
Don’t forget the DS Citroens.
And one in this eye catching color.
Lancia Appia
Lancia Fulvia
Lancia Flaminia
Lancia Flavia
Fiat 1200 TV
The Paddock
82-A spiffy Fiat X1/9
TZ2 to go.
Is this the Renault Brandy wants?
Siata by Balbo. Yes, we have the full story on this as well.
An Aston Martin, we presume?
Been there and done that.
Glad to see this event living up to what it should be, but up to now has not been. I too was at the first Maser only events at the Quail in the 80’s and remember them with good memories. Francis did a good job in promoting Maserati in those days. I’ll try to make this one next year thanks to this report.
Hi Pete,
Great pictures of some very rare & beautiful cars, thanks for sharing!
Not to be a hater, but the description “GTO to Go” is actually an Alfa Romeo TZ2 body and the “Maserati 3500 GT Convertible” is a stunning & earlier Maserati A6G 2000 FRUA Spyder, Series III and final version on this chassis from Maestro Pietro.
Thanks, John
Thanks for reading…we really appreciate it and we have corrected these.
Pete I’m happy to help anytime!
My blood Typo is Rosso da corsa Italiano ? ?? ?
The Zagato Junior is a 1600. Besides the slightly longer and lower tail (visible in the TDF photo), the fuel filler door on the left (driver’s) side is the giveaway.
I have to say much credit for the success of CI in the FM era, was do to the familial feel Janet brought to her Strada Cafe. The food was excellent and wine generously served. Some great hours were spent there, from sitting with Stirling Moss discussing the post race party at the ‘60 GP of Riverside (his birthday) and Fabrizio Giugiaro filling me in on their latest Ital release in front of us to sitting with all my Northern Cal friends and assessing the field. Glad new CI management is reaching for the original spirit.
My son and I especially enjoyed the concourso this year as we were showing for the first time and had brought his ’74 Montreal to display. We were thrilled to win a 2nd place in the Alfa category. We were even more astonished when we drove it home to LA without incident over some lovely back roads. That was what the Montreal was made for.
The Lancia Flavia pictured is the later version known as the Lancia 2000 HF Coupe [820-436/437 type]. These were among the last of the cars with the Flavia flat 4-cylinder engine. The Flavia 2000 Coupes had an air vent on the bonnet/hood.
Always good to look at these photo features.
The Maserati A6G 2000 Pinin Farina coupe picture reminds me strongly of the Lancia Aurelia B20. The 6th series and some earlier cars had the quarter-vent window in the doors.
Pete,
Thank you for the article and love. Since launching the public event for Frank and Janet over 30 years ago, and working with three additional Chairmen since, my love for Concorso Italiano is unwavering.
Rejoining the team in 2025, I had the opportunity for the very first time to work with Tanya Kosta and Samantha Tobias, who each had worked for multiple Chairmen and multiple teams across multiple decades, but we had never worked together at the same time. Clarence Havobstak and Pete Vasquez did a great job with the cars on the show field. Ed Godshalk, Frank Spinoza, and Pete Vasquez did an incredible job assembling the Cisitalia display, and Pete did a mind-blowing job on the Legacy display. Mary Hamilton did a fantastic job with the fashion show, something which was always such a charming part of Concorso Italiano events. Steven Shonk, Toun Ray, Jeremy Moulton, Nic Coury, and David Kallander rounded out our team and contributed significantly to our success.
Our goal in our 40th anniversary year was to put the event back on track, with interesting cars and cars of provenance, worthy of enthusiasts’ attention. I could feel the vibe again as I circled our show field. I could feel the energy. I could hear the happiness in the voices of car owners and visitors. I could feel the life restored to our event. It was magical.
I have also represented you, Pete, and Veloce Today for a very long time. The thing I love the most is the way our subscribers actually pay attention to the content we put out, and actually know what they are talking about. Seeing the comments above on the photos you have posted, and hearing from those who actually displayed at Concorso Italiano this year, gives me the warm fuzzies.
Many said they wanted to “sit back and see” this year, preferring to wait for us to prove we could fix the event, which had been going in a different direction under prior management. Now, I hope that everyone will choose to register their beautiful Italian cars early on (and non-Italian cars as well) and plan to be part of our show field in 2026, and that the businesses who were contemplating getting involved will now feel comfortable doing so. We promise to take great care of all of you!
Ciao,
Cindy