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concorso italiano

Get 20% off Admission at Concorso Italiano

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Cisitalias wanted for Concorso Italiano. Plus get a 20 percent VeloceToday discount on admission!

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Concorso Italiano. Alongside our event’s anniversary, we are observing the following marque milestones and seek additional vehicles for our show field. Overnight transport parking is available at our event for those exhibiting a vehicle. Owners can register directly at www.concorso.com, or they can contact me with any questions or for further details: cindy@carprusa.com

In addition, for VeloceToday readers, we are offering a 20 percent discount, applied to vehicle registration and/or the purchase of General Admission tickets. [Read more…] about Get 20% off Admission at Concorso Italiano

Concorso Italiano Photo Gallery

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A Dino Fiat sports a rather unusual hardtop.

Photos by Brandes Elitch
Smart ass remarks by Staff

Here’s Elitch’s selections of Italian cars from this year’s Concorso. Bear in mind that there was really no way to positively identify the cars at Concorso, which makes it a lot of fun and serves as a test of your knowledge when walking through the hundreds of great cars. But if you are lucky, the owner will be around, usually sitting in a beach chair, and would be willing to bend your ear for an hour or so about his favorite car. Not having time for much for that, we thought that readers can help us through the minefield below.

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Concorso Italiano 2019

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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. [Read more…] about Concorso Italiano 2019

Concorso Italiano 2018

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless othewise noted

I feel confident in saying that the Concorso Italiano, held during the Monterey Historics at the Blackhorse Golf Club in Monterey, is the largest, best organized, and most comprehensive display of Italian automobiles anywhere in the United States.

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Monterey Round One

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Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The 32nd annual Concorso Italiano was held at the Blackhorse/Bayonet golf course at Fort Ord, California, on August 19, 2017. Originally conceived by Francis Mandarano of the Maserati Information Exchange, this event has been managed since 2009 by Tom McDowell.

Concorso Italiano is probably the largest gathering of Italian special interest and collector cars anywhere in the world. Special features this year were “Seventy Years of Ferrari,” the 50th anniversary of the Maserati Ghibli, and the first part of a three-year celebration of Alfa Romeo, this year featuring the GTV, Giulia, and 4C. I particularly appreciated the interview on the stage with event originator Mandarano, who gave a history of the event and a tribute to Tom Tjaarda, who passed away recently, but was in attendance at previous shows. There was also an interview with Pete Brock, and one of the highlights of the day for me was getting to talk to Pete in person. [Read more…] about Monterey Round One

Brandes Elitch & Hugues Vanhoolandt at Concorso Italiano

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Alfa intro at Concorso: The pundits are quick to dismiss Alfa’s return to the US, but they would be wise to observe what has happened at Maserati, which went from selling perhaps 2000 cars worldwide to now selling perhaps ten times that just in the US!


By Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Back in 1984, I got a call from a friend, Joe Duray, who had just found a Maserati 3500 for sale in the local paper. Back in those pre-Internet days, that was how you found things, along with going to swap meets and taking Hemmings Motor News. We went to look at it and he bought it. The car was unmolested and totally original. It ran, but had no brakes. [Read more…] about Brandes Elitch & Hugues Vanhoolandt at Concorso Italiano

Brandes Elitch at Concorso Italiano

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When you said that your Lamborghini could pull like a tractor, I had no idea....

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Petya Elitch

If you have never attended the Monterey Car Week then you need to know that there are two basic rules: you can’t see everything, so don’t try, and – as we used to say in the Army – “Move with a purpose.”

There are years when I have skipped the races at Laguna Seca, and I stopped going to Pebble Beach after twenty plus years of regular attendance. But one event I don’t miss is the Concorso Italiano – the largest Italian car show in the world.

Let me point out why this is not happening in Italy. [Read more…] about Brandes Elitch at Concorso Italiano

Barbarian at the Gate

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Betcha didn't think we'd run this photo....

Dear Boss,

I took a little trip up the Coast to Monterey, so as promised, I thought I’d drop a note with a few images. I selected a big ol’Chrysler 300 for the trip, and arrived in my secret low cost no-tell motel in five hours.

On Wednesday I set off for the Embassy Suites and set up my booth at Automobilia, a sort of emporium for the flora and fauna of the automotive world– posters, model cars, clothes, old books (and new books). I was pleased to be in a booth next to Mike Rabin who is famous for making wheel discs He had a great sense of humor, especially considering he had to endure hearing my sales pitch at least 100 times. Finally he got to where he would interrupt my pitch to a new client, saying “It’s getting deeper.”
[Read more…] about Barbarian at the Gate

Friday at Monterey with Michael T. Lynch

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Alfa S-11

David Smith’s Alfa S 11 Corto Spyder Speciale, described in VeloceToday’s 25 August issue, shows its final form at The Quail.

Story and photos by Michael T. Lynch

In our previews of the Alfa S 11 and the Bugatti Type 64, we promised you pictures of the cars when they appeared during Holy Week. In addition here are a few more Italian gems that caught this historian’s eye.
[Read more…] about Friday at Monterey with Michael T. Lynch

MAD about Monterey

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Mary Ann Dickinson (MAD) eyes Monterey

Check out this 1938 Lancia Aprilia Sport Aerodinamica, a modern reconstruction of a pre-war car. Andrea Zagato built this one in recognition of his father’s original design, following the images from old photographs as there is no other record of the car. It is a sleek beauty, with lines way ahead of its time.

Every August we all trek to the Monterey peninsula in California for the Holy Grail of vintage car events, which have grown beyond control over the years like an abandoned garden zucchini. It is now a plethora of car shows, auctions, races, exhibitions and collector markets, all occurring in the same frantic week. And this car fun is pricey; attending Monterey has become a compulsory – and expensive – pilgrimage.
[Read more…] about MAD about Monterey

Monterey with Wyss

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By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Note: There are three sidebars (short features) to the main article so be sure to click on the banners to read them all.

I cannot resist Holy Week even though it costs a lot of Money. The challenge is seeing how long you can last without spending it. I have some advantages, being a member of the media which allows us a few crumbs off the table of “The Automakers”. Increasingly the Detroit and foreign automakers have looked at the demographics of the visitors to Monterey that week and discovered, oh-my-God they have found the last people in America with change jingling in their jeans.
[Read more…] about Monterey with Wyss

Brandes Elitch on Lancias at Concorso Italiano 2011

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The first of three featured cars selected from Concorso Italiano is this Lancia Flaminia Berlina. It was one of Batista Pininfarina's favorite designs; simple, elegant, refined and very attractive. Photo by Petya Elitch.

By Brandes Elitch
Photos by Petya Elitch

Last year I wrote a historical retrospective of the Concorso, which you can find at (click here). This is a large show – about 850 cars were displayed this year. Even in Italy, you wouldn’t get close to a thousand collector cars in one venue. If you are an Italian car collector (and if not, why are you reading this?) the Concorso should be on your list of things to do before you are permanently flagged off the course, so to speak. I would like to feature three cars which I found compelling, a purely arbitrary selection, and give you an overview of the event.

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