The Truth About La Dolce Vita

As a result, the original concept for La Dolce Vita Automobili was created over a year ago, in November of 2007.  It started with requests from fellow Maserati Club International members to find an alternative venue for our annual Maserati Days celebration.  After much thought and input from the members we decided, due to the long history of Concorso Italiano, to give it a chance in 2008, but also to do some research on an alternative venue.  In the months running up to the event we heard from other Italian car owners there was a great deal of skepticism and candidly the event turned out to be less than ideal. It seemed to have lost its Italian flair and its element of a car community organized for the owners.  Our team agreed it was time to follow up on our inquiries and get serious about a show in 2009 that went back to a focus on the cars and the car owners with the kind of backdrop we had come to expect.
  
So, we understand that for a period of time, it looked as though LDV would be the only Italian car event on the grass?
You are right. As far as we could tell, it seemed that Concorso Italiano would be held at the airport for the foreseeable future. At the time, there was no evidence on the Internet, in print media or even by rumor of another 2009 Italian car show on the greens of Monterey Peninsula.

We had begun discussions with Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course to see if it was feasible to organize an event back on their spectacular grounds and we were received enthusiastically.  Many of the Italian Car clubs had expressed an interest in an alternative to what had become a little too commercial in an incredibly busy week.  There was a large contingent that was looking for an event focused around the cars, back on the green with more room to display the cars as art. Bayonet Black Horse was the natural selection as a venue people had come to know and love. I had been sharing my plans all along with a small handful of individuals here in the Seattle area and some select advisers in the car community. We scheduled our event announcement with a press release in the first days of March 2009, eager to present a show on the greens.
 
Then crap hit the fan. Tell us what happened.
Out of nowhere came an announcement that Concorso had been sold and the new owner intended to restore the event to what it once was. They didn’t even have a new venue at the time, but they had a great name with a lot of history behind it.

Uh-oh. Suddenly there are two Italian car events on the same day, both now on the greens. Did you try to come up with a different date, maybe Thursday, to differentiate your event?
Certainly, we looked at options and originally considered Thursday but after feedback from many car owners, given a difficult year economically, we decided to stick with Friday which had become a tradition among car owners, especially for a large population of car owners from the Bay Area of San Francisco.  We realize a vast number of collectors and enthusiasts come to the Peninsula as early as the previous weekend for a series of events including invitation only races at the track, the Carmel Concours on the Avenue, rallies and more. This may make for a natural extension into a Thursday event.

Did you seek advice from other organizers and if so from whom?
As with any venture, we received a variety of opinions and advice, and many of them did indeed think we were crazy.   I think you will see, based on the first year of such a massive undertaking, we were able to use the input to great advantage.  In short, we spoke with and listened to many prominent Concours organizers and took advice where we thought it would help make La Dolce Vita Automobili a success. We have incredible cars, excellent sponsors and our media partners have overwhelmed us with their support.

Did you try to change the scope of your event to include a different variety of cars?
Given the situation for 2009, we decided to stick to our original program.  What we found was that people expressed interest in a smaller, more relaxed event that was not highly commercialized. They wanted their car to be showcased in an environment where they didn’t drown in a sea of similar vehicles. They just wanted a clean, well-organized and friendly event with nice cars, good food and great people and we could give them this and get “back to our roots”. What we decided was that our non-Italian car displays would focus on European cars and we would accept featured marque cars from the other events on the peninsula which include Bugatti, Bentley and Porsche.

Might you change your name to reflect a wider vision?
The name works and people actually love it. We see no reason to change this. It’s catchy, it’s easy to remember and it has a nice ring. It looks great in print.  We chose the name La Dolce Vita Automobili at Black Horse because it perfectly sums up what we are all about…“The Sweet Life of Classic and Exotic Cars“.  The name is all about an attitude.  The Italian people exemplify living life passionately and with style.  Our name is a great expression of a beautiful approach to life and La Dolce Vita Automobili captures this energy. 

What has been the biggest obstacle so far?
I would say the dynamic, changing environment given the economy and again, having a first year event.  I am grateful to Cat’s Exotics, Driven Exotics and Griot’s Garage for their willingness to support our event and confidence in the philosophy of La Dolce Vita Automobili, to step forward in these times as sponsors this first year.  I look forward to a very nice event that our exhibitors, spectators and vendors will find rewarding and encourage those that missed out in 2009 to come be with us next year.  I am confident they will be on the ground floor of a great experience. 

We committed early on, to make this an event focused on the cars and car owners.  They are the reason for the show.  The biggest challenge is striking a balance.  As you probably know, an event like this is expensive to create.  We need to generate enough revenue to make it a first class experience at a fantastic venue, while keeping it relaxed and a little less commercial.  We need sponsors, vendors and spectators to not only help financially but to give it that energy and excitement that makes it more than a local gathering while keeping the family, relaxed atmosphere the car owners asked us for when we started this process.

Also, it is important to us to give back to the community and to benefit others in need.  We have chosen two fantastic partners to accomplish this.  A portion of all our ticket sales goes to the Shriners Hospital of Northern California.  Also, we have created the La Dolce Vita Automobili Scholarship through the Collectors Foundation allowing us to promote this passion to youth and the next generation of automotive designers.  We need to generate revenue to allow us to support these causes.

You have described what the show will be like this year. What about next year? What are your plans?
That is a great question.  We are already working on next year’s displays and have some very interesting things in the works.  A combination of not wanting to tip our hand too early and the fact that many of our plans are in the early stages, keeps me from answering your question with any details.  Just know that we expect to have even more great displays and twists to share with you soon.

We see that Concorso is opening up to cars like the Corvette. Do you think LDV might do the same or is it your desire to keep the event on a European theme?
There are a lot of great American icons out there but there are already many venues to appreciate them.  We will maintain our focus on the European cars and look to create a unique mix of cars to compliment the Italian theme at our core.  Our objective is to focus on quality, not become a parking lot of cars.

Since you have it to do over again, would you?
In a word, yes!  As with any new undertaking, I have learned a tremendous amount and will use that new knowledge to improve La Dolce Vita Automobili.  Having said that, we will remain true to the core values we began with; we will have a few hundred cars, not the better part of one thousand cars, all cars will get equal attention from the organizers of La Dolce Vita, all vendors will be highly visible and our exhibitors will enjoy hospitality throughout the day.  We plan on this being the first of many years for a fun, relaxing yet invigorating event.

La Dolce Vita started out as a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for what we saw as a great opportunity to return Friday to a day of relaxation and fun, something to look forward to again.  As you can imagine, organizing an event of this magnitude on the busiest day of the North American car calendar is rather demanding.  I’ve never had so many positive and negative thoughts in a short span of time in my life. Spending a great amount of time explaining that we are very serious and moving forward “no matter what” while rumors circulated that we were going to fold or be absorbed has been a huge challenge. Our team has done an outstanding job of connecting with car owners and individuals who are excited to support our inaugural event and eager to grow with us through the years.

If you would like to exhibit your car at this event, or if you feel your company can benefit from exposure at La Dolce Vita Automobili at Black Horse, contact Cindy@carprusa.com or 480 277-1864.

VeloceToday Disclaimer
1. VeloceToday served as an unpaid consultant for the event They asked, we answered. Period.
2. Advertising–LDV runs a VT ad, we run theirs, a financial wash.
3. VeloceToday will give an award during the event. VeloceToday columnist Larry Crane will officiate, give the award and be our point person.