Elitch, Vanhoolandt at The Quail

[Enjoy this superb interview with Stratos owner Mark Ketcham; please ignore the unfortunate background music that was impossible to avoid or eradicate. Ed.]

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos and videos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Although I have attended this event for the last four or five years, I am continually amazed and delighted by the overall experience and I generally don’t use such superlatives, unless it is for a really spectacular car, motorcycle, artwork, piece of music, or woman. Regular readers will remember my column on the Quail Motorcycle show held a few months back, and my interview with organizer Gordon McCall.

This was the fourteenth edition of this show. The press release says, “The Quail is not only known for its vehicles, but also for the luxury lifestyle and fine culinary components…and limits its attendance, providing guests with the ability to spend a leisurely day in a garden-party like setting.” Yes, it might seem like hyperbole to you, but the only word I would dispute is “leisurely,” because if you want to see and experience everything there, you have to hustle. I am embarrassed to say that I was only able to eat at four of the six restaurants, which I consider a personal fail of some import, because these menus are from one of the most famous luxury properties in the world, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels. There is simply too much to see to linger over a gourmet luncheon, or drink, or cigar, and where else can you make that statement?

Only about 4500 tickets are printed, and they sell out immediately upon release, so unfortunately it is unlikely that you will procure a ticket to next year’s show, but there is a waiting list at thequail@quaillodge.com.

The first thing I saw from the carefully curated entrance was a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150 C SS “Goutte d’Eau” (Raindrop). This year, Gordon McCall has added a new feature, called “The Best of the Best.” They start with the Best of Show winners from other concours (Amelia Island, Cavallino Classic, Concours of the UK, Pebble Beach, and the Quail), and 24 eminent judges made the call. The Talbot-Lago bested a Cord L-29, Ferrari 166P/206 SP Dino, 1903 Mercedes Simplex, 1924 Isotta Fraschini Type 8A, and 1968 Alfa Romeo Type 33 Stradale. This is really an impossible task of course, but the esteemed judges made a choice, and this must have involved a lot of homework and diplomacy on their part!

As I walked across the street to the other side of the show, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a perfect recreation of a Bowlus Road Chief. Having owned Airstreams for a while, I knew what it was immediately, but I have only seen one other. How perfect? The MSRP is $137,000. This was a good omen for the main show (www.bowlusroadchief.com).

Lola

I entered on the north side of the field, and the very first car I saw was in fact the highlight of the day for me: a 1963 Lola GT, which is the progenitor of the Ford GT 40. The owner, Alan Grant, was one of Carroll Shelby’s first employees, and a driver on the Shelby American Team that won the 1965 World GT Championship with the Cobra Daytona coupe. He drove at Monza in 1965 with Bob Bondurant. This Lola was shown at the London Racing Car show in 1963. He bought the car 51 years ago for $3000, after begging and borrowing every cent he could (at that time, a Cobra sold for $6000). Lola Cars was owned by Eric Broadley, and Alan had heard that they needed to sell the car because it was taking up room in the shop. When he made the offer, the response was, “On one condition: get it out of here before Eric gets back,” because Eric wanted to make it into his street car. Recently, Alan visited Eric in a rest home, and was surprised to see that he had a photo of this very car in his room. Alan just completed the restoration, and 98% of the car is original. This is the first of only three built, and Ford bought this and the second car to use as test mules for the GT 40. This car was also the inspiration for the Lola T70 sports car, an iconic racecar as well. What a great story and kudos to Alan.

Stratos

Right next to the Lola was another of my favorite cars, a Lancia Stratos. Now I know that I will never be able to have a real Stratos, but I have been thinking about one of the kits, which are pretty faithful recreations. It would be a tough choice between an R5 Turbo and the Stratos kit – this is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night. By coincidence, the owner, Mark Ketcham, lives in the same town as me, and he kindly agreed to a video interview, which is at the top of this article. It was another highlight of the show, and it was only the second car I saw.

Bugatti

The other truly spectacular car was the 1935 Bugatti type 59/50S, owned by Greg Jones. This car was driven by famous French driver Robert Benoist in the 1935 Grand Prix. The car was disassembled and hidden during the German occupation. It was purchased by Ray Jones, Greg’s father, in the 1960’s with the intention of restoring it. Ray was perhaps the pre-eminent source for Bugatti parts in the U.S. for many, many years. Greg just finished the restoration as a tribute to his father, who is ninety years old. He used parts from other cars in this series: engine #8, chassis #2, and rear axle/transmission #4, and constructed a replica body to the Benoist car. Greg also had to fabricate a new firewall and oil and gas tanks. This motor became the prototype design for the type 59/50 B cars that came later. Somewhere around eight cars were made and five survive. Another fabulous story that, like the Lola, took fifty years to fruition! As an aside, Benoist was a war hero and member of the Resistance; he spied for the Allies. Ultimately, he was captured by the Germans and executed at Buchenwald.

The thing about this show is that it is entirely possible to walk completely past a spectacular car, only to discover it when you walk past it again a few hours later. This happened to me numerous times, and I wasn’t drinking that much, I think. For instance, after walking past it 3 times, I suddenly noticed the most beautiful Cadillac I have ever seen, a 1934 V-16 convertible coupe, one of only two built, owned by Ken and Jill Gimelli. I had a number of surprises like this on the field, and it makes me wonder what else I missed. You could spend an hour on just one car, as every VeloceToday reader must know.

The main field was divided into themes.

The Great Rivalries, (Cobra v. Corvette, Ford v. Ferrari, Lamborghini v. Ferrari, Mustang v. Camaro etc.)
Fiftieth Anniversary of the Lamborghini Muira
A Retrospective of Laguna Seca Raceway
Pre and post War sports and racing
Supercars
The Great Ferraris

It is a fool’s errand to try and identify the most superlative; it comes down to personal preference and yes, bias. It is hard enough just to try on concentrate on what you are seeing. To that end, I was fortunate to be accompanied by our outstanding photographer, Hugues Van Hoolandt, because if you are taking photos that becomes the primary task. I asked Hugues how many photos he would be taking at the Historics, and he replied “somewhere around six thousand.”

Here are some of his photos of entrants that I found particularly attractive.

And so, another fabulous show, and I don’t think I saw everything. As I was leaving, I commented to someone about the layout of the show, and then he stopped me in my tracks. He told me that one of my absolute favorite singers, Doris Day, lives in an eleven acre compound overlooking the golf course at Quail Lodge. She moved there in 1981, after a three year construction project. As most people know, she owns the Cypress Inn in the village of Carmel, but what most people today don’t know is that for 20 years she was biggest female box office draw, appearing in 39 films. More importantly, at least to me, she was one of the greatest Big Band signers, having made 600 recordings. She had flawless delivery, with extraordinary breath control, diction, dynamic control, and phrasing. Perhaps she was looking down at the cars while I was there. I idolize Doris Day, so this was the perfect ending to the day. After that, it was time to adjourn to the Baja Cantina.