petya elitch

By Brandes Elitch

From the Archives, September 7, 2011

During the Monterey Car Week, the most amazing cars are everywhere, on every street and in every driveway (the good citizens of Carmel-by-the-Cash-Register are happy to rent rooms in their homes for the visiting hordes).

Abarth750 (inset), Pat Olsen with the 'Herbie' Scorpion Abarth. Large photo by Petya Elitch.

By Brandes Elitch
Photos by Petya Elitch

For the automotive enthusiast, there cannot be too many experiences like the Monterey Historics. The two Goodwood events might come close, but I draw a blank after that. I started attending in 1979, and I have never missed a year. For me, it’s just a three hour drive south, so as I see it, it would be negligent of me not to attend, right? Yet, even after all those years, the first few hours there are still a shock.

The most amazing cars are everywhere, on every street and in every driveway (the good citizens of Carmel-by-the-Cash-Register are happy to rent rooms in their homes for the visiting hordes). As my photographer/wife and I drove the detour through Seaside on our way to the Concorso, a small green car pulled up next to us at the light. She asked me what it was, and I turned to look at it. I started stammering, and she said, “What’s wrong?” I said, “Well, it looks like it looks like the Frazer Nash coupe that raced at LeMans in the 1950’s, but I’ve only seen it in photographs.” Here is a car that you could spend an hour looking at; the problem is that there is stuff like this everywhere! Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of activity, it is easy to see just the most outrageous and miss many other jewels that are not so obvious. In this column, I want to talk about two cars that you might have missed, but it would have been a shame if you did. They are Abarths.