Events at Monterey Car Week

By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Warren Wyss, Dr. Dennis Palladino, Michael Gulette

Here’s my brief report of the 2019 Monterey Car Week, beginning with Wednesday, August 14 and continuing on through Friday August 16. Part 2 will cover Friday through Sunday.

Wednesday, August 14 Automobilia

On Wednesday we arrived just in time to catch the waning hours of Automobilia, a two day show that runs at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Seaside, near Monterey from Tuesday through Wednesday. They bill themselves as the “largest automobilia show in America.” It’s geared toward memorabilia–old posters. racing or PR photos, club badges, and even some actual car bits, like those hard-to-find Marchal or Cibie or Lucas foglamps.

Among the vintage books I found one of my own books. Some of the other books offered by Horton’s there at Automobilia were signed copies, which makes them ever so more collectable.
There were at least three automotive fine artists, one being a local Salinas man, James Caldwell, who it’s been fun to see grow in talent from year to year. His prices for portraits of cars in oil are now in the four-digit category.

There were model cars of all different scales, some in the hundreds of dollars, definitely not what you want for your kiddies who might bash them into the furniture. I fell in love with a leather racing helmet at one booth but me thinks the scrutineers at Laguna might frown on their safety rating, since this style predates the fiberglass ones.
This show cost a mere $20 admission price, the bargain of Car Week.

Wednesday Evening, McCall Aviation Party

On the Wednesday of Car Week there was a proper party on the tarmac in front of a big hanger at the Monterey airport. It had maybe 20-30 vintage cars, a few new ones, and some airplanes, both old (WWII era) and new biz jets. Everybody was dressed to the nines (short of tuxedos), with music and appetizers to match the elegance of the evening.

There, I saw new prototypes being unveiled, but I was put off by a new VW prototype that looks suspiciously like an old Meyers Manx dune buggy. Even if it’s electric, (beaches and ecology do, I admit, go together rather nicely) I thought it is far from elegant. And is anybody going to write Bruce Meyers a check for inventing the Meyers Manx way back if this goes into production?

It was only when I got back that I saw a story by ace reporter Dan Neil of WSJ who had actually driven the VW prototype and said that VW is not going to sell it with that body but is interested only in selling the platform ready to run and various and sundry fledgling automakers can put on any body they want. So going from what Neil said I think at least some outside one garage automakers will be doing Manx-styled bodywork.

The show also featured the latest private jets, so the combination of a car show plus air show was a fine way to start Car Week.

Thursday August 15, (very early) The Carmel Tour

We knew we had to get to that little village very early because of the lack of parking. It’s only a tiny village so when 10,000 or so spectators pour in and line the main street to see what’s billed as the Tour d’Elegance, parking is hard to find. We might have gotten the last one at 7:30 a.m.! The event was originally set up as advance publicity for the Pebble Beach concours, basically a lunch break of volunteer concours entrants who go on a tour of the Peninsula, the tour ending in Carmel where they all have a nice lunch and the assembled crowd oohs and ahhs at their show cars.

Thursday August 15, Retroauto

As satisfying as Automobilia was, I had to see what the same type of show would offer in a fancier venue. So on Thursday, I found time to make my way to Retroauto, a show that runs Thursday through Saturday at Pebble’s lesser known hotel, the Inn at Spanish Bay. It could be called Pebble Beach’s own version of Automobilia, though some may have the opinion it’s aimed at a more affluent enthusiast. And unlike Automobilia it’s free.

RetroAuto claims that they offer “an elegant and thoughtfully curated collection of exhibitors,” which not only have genuinely vintage items but new luxury goods with automotive themes. I met with several vendors whose wares I always enjoy seeing, like Chelsea Motoring Literature with all their original pamphlets. L’Art d’Automobile , once domiciled in a penthouse in Manhattan, was there from their home in Texas with magnificent racing posters. The founder, Jacques Vaucher, was once a racer himself. He has failed to pick up a Texas accent, still maybe that French accent charms the customers.

When it comes to photography you can’t find a better studio photographer than Michael Furman, who had a booth selling his splendid books. The superstar artist of this show was Young Brit Tim Layzell, who presented many past posters he had done for Pebble Beach. He has an outsize booth and it’s difficult to compete with someone who’s so prolific.

Thursday afternoon, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

This used to be the high point of my Monterey visits, back when I was shooting race cars. But now, with only a normal spectator pass, I tried to find a suitable scene for a future painting in race cars parked in the pits. What makes the pit stop displays entertaining is the elaborate signs car owners post with their cars history; essentially histories of who raced it before, when and where and a bit about the particular car. The track publishes a list of which classes race at what time, so you need not miss your favorites. The track also has a sort of midway of tents where you can find fine art, very artful t-shirts, model cars and books. I love the way Nicholas Huntzinger, of Switzerland, is progressing year by year, now with some fine art to go with his graphically dynamic shirts.

I saw one automaker capitalizing off the crowd along the midway. It was Rover, who had built a little hill and you could sign up to drive a Rover up the hill. Not enough of a hill for me, but I appreciate the chance to go off-road, even if it’s only for 100 feet. Very clever indeed was a Chevrolet with a 2020 mid-engine Corvette tucked away in a small booth near the building that houses pit row. They not only had a new Corvette coupe, but a second 2020 with a cutaway body so you could admire how it was made. Their booth was crowded all day. I predict this car, at roughly $60,000, will wreak havoc on used Ferrari V8 prices. I think the 2020 Corvette is a model for the way GM ought to operate, setting up small displays for special niche cars at various venues, gong to where the people are instead of asking them to come to a big auto show.

Next up, what happens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.