This year marked the 22nd year in a row that I have attended Monterey Car Week. While it is always amazing, the last few seemed to lack the fun that I remember from the earlier years. I am not sure what was missing, but it seemed as if somehow the spark was gone. It even got to the point that many of my friends and I thought of it as something we had to go to instead of something we wanted to go to.
I’m happy to report that this year was quite different, although I am having a difficult time pinpointing exactly what made it so much fun, but that is the word that sums up the entire week.
I arrived at my hotel in the 2025 MINI Cooper S on Saturday. After unloading, I headed to the track to see friends and watch some historic race cars fly through WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca at the Corkscrew Hillclimb. While there, I took a few photos of some paddocks, including the BMW one, which had a 3.0 CSL, a McLaren F1 LM, an IMSA E92 M3, and the LMR V12 in residency. After spending about two hours there, I headed back to my hotel to change and get dinner with my roommate, photographer Peter Singhof.
The next day of fun started Sunday at the new Automobilia Collectors Expo, where I ran into friends who were there to set up for the show and sell some books to event founder Ben Horton. Being there the day before the show opened gave me a preview what was going to be offered. Of course, I ended up doing some shopping and picking up a sold-out Autodromo Brian Redman limited-edition watch from my friend Amy at PeopleKars and a hard-to-obtain book on the Porsche 914 from Ben. All in all, successful shopping.
I ended the day back at the track for the last of the Corkscrew Hillclimb, followed by an amazing dinner at Tarpy’s Roadhouse with some clients.
Monday saw me not doing anything car-related, but instead 60 feet under water in the Monterey Bay on a scuba dive of the kelp forests. This was my idea for a way to relax before the week of back-to-back events. The water was a brisk 54 degrees, the coldest I have ever gone diving in, but it was tolerable thanks to the bulky and heavy-when-wet 8-mil wet suit. The kelp forests were very beautiful and it was indeed a relaxing and physically taxing jaunt, though well worth it.
Tuesday was a busy day that started at 7 a.m. with breakfast followed by setting up for The Classic Motorsports Monterey Kickoff show. This is the first big show of the week (as you can guess by the name) and the cars are evaluated by some truly amazing judges from concours events around the world. I had the honor of serving as head judge and the head of the car selection committee. This sounds like a great job, but it involves a lot of work. This year, I was actually able to judge a class for the first time: Aston Martin. This is usually unheard of when you are the head judge. Luckily, it was a small class, but it still featured five great Astons.
The rest of the show, I made sure the teams were ready, got the results tabulated for the winners, then set up the awards. This went much more smoothly than last year thanks to the help of my other judges, all of whom are friends, which also helped to make the show all the more fun.
The Best of Show winner was Paul Carrubba with his 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He has owned the car for more than 40 years and actually washed it when he was 15 years old before buying it years later. It had some needs and so it sat until he had the money to restore it. He then sent it to renowned West Coast Aston restorer Kevin Kay Restorations, who made the car new again. The story, owner, and quality of the car made for a perfect Best of Show winner and it was a true honor to present Paul with the award.
On Wednesday, I got up at 6 a.m. to drive to Bonhams and prepare for my first of two The ClassicCars.com Journal auction tours. My group and I spent about 90 minutes touring Bonhams and then I went over to RM Sotheby’s to prepare for the 2:30 tour. I had just enough time between the two for a quick taco for lunch. These tours were quite full with a total of 50 people in each. They all seemed to have a great time because they stuck around for the whole tour each time. That might sound weird, but there are so many distractions around these tours and people sometimes wander off. I hope the guests on the tour had as much fun as I had leading them through the auctions.
The day was not over yet. I then headed over to the Monterey Jet Center to attend Motorlux, the Hagerty hangar party that features scores of cars and aircraft on site for people to view, as well as ample amounts of amazing food to try and drinks to consume. I stuck around until roughly 9 p.m., then headed back to the hotel to sleep.
On Thursday, I helped my friend Phil Yanni get ready for another auction tour. His 1951 Maserati was ready, so all we had to really do was to make sure the car was clean.
While not all the cars that would be on the Pebble Beach show field were in attendance, it seemed as if most were. If you have the opportunity to go to Monterey Car Week, be sure to find a place to watch the tour in progress as it is a sight to see all of these amazing cars moving down 17-Mile Drive.
Next, I headed to The Lodge at Pebble Beach for the debut of the much-anticipated BMW M5 Touring. BMW started the introduction with a retrospective of every generation of the M5, culminating with the drive-up of the newest M5 Touring. The car got a mixed reception, but I doubt that BMW will have any trouble selling this practical supercar in station wagon clothes.
The rest of the day was spent going to RM Sotheby’s auctions to see which cars were being staged for sale that evening, followed by a party at the BMW house, where every generation of M5 was present for viewing.
Friday started at 6:00 a.m. After I got dressed, I headed to The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in Carmel. This is the most exclusive and also the most expensive event of the week, but one you should attend if you can afford it. It features a few hundred classic sports and GT cars as well as several new model introductions from manufacturers including Ruf, Hennessey Performance, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, and more. Think of it as half classic sports/GT car event, half ultra-exclusive auto show but with food and you get the picture.
The highlight of the day for me was getting to sit and take a quiz in the Operation Grand Slam Aston Martin DB5 commissioned by collector Joe Kaminkow and built by Kevin Kay Restorations. It replicates the “Goldfinger” DB5 gadget car but also adds elements that take advantage of modern technological developments to make each work. It has a smokescreen, machine guns, a bulletproof shield, an ejector seat, and a console that features not only the tracking device screen, but also the quiz I took. I have to brag a bit as I did get the high score on the quiz. Of all the cars I saw during Monterey Car Week, this one was my favorite and I have to thank the owner for letting me sit in it and play with his car’s many features.
The rest of the day involved me underbidding on five cars at RM Sotheby’s and receiving the dubious honor of being THE underbidder on all. Sometimes you get the car and sometimes it’s best to walk away empty-handed. This was a day that I was willing to let the cars go as their prices exceeded what my client was willing to pay.
Saturday morning saw me at Concours d’ Lemons, where I served as a judge with my friend Dan Neil, the Pulitzer Prize-winning auto journalist at The Wall Street Journal. Our class was Soul-Sucking Japanese Appliance and the class winner was a Subaru 360 that started off its hard life as a rodeo clown car at the California Rodeo Salinas. Its owner named it “The Cheeto,” which was painted in Cheetos orange and came with a judges bribe of – you guessed it – Cheetos (those little cheese curls were our breakfast, by the way). The whole experience was fun as always and Dan, a first-time judge at Lemons, laughed the entire day.
Later that day, I went back the courtyard outside RM Sotheby’s for the beginning of the auction followed by an early diner with Rolls-Royce. I got to bed reasonably early to get some sleep before the early wake-up call the following day.
Sunday started at a horrifying 3:30 a.m. in order to get ready for Dawn Patrol at Pebble Beach. We arrived via Uber at 5 a.m. and hit the field for Hagerty’s coffee and doughnuts. At around 5:45, the coveted Hagerty Dawn Patrol hats were handed out to those lucky enough to get one. Distributing these has to be one of the most difficult jobs for anyone working in Monterey during Car Week, but people this year were a bit more relaxed than in years past. Nobody fought over the hats.
At 6 a.m., the cars started to drive onto the field, which in the predawn hours is a sight to see. The hats are fine, but watching these cars driving up is the real reason to attend Dawn Patrol at Pebble Beach and worth the early morning arrival.
The cars at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance were my favorites in more than 20 years of attending what is the best concours event in the U.S. The Wedge-shaped Concept Cars & Prototypes class along with the 1990s BPR & FIA GT Race Cars class, in which racing cars were paired with their street car twins, was the coolest thing I have ever seen at Pebble Beach. I saw cars such as the Aston Martin Bulldog and the BMW Turbo concept, both of which I had only ever seen in magazines and books. The ability to get up-close and personal with these cars was one of the most amazing things I have gotten to do as an automotive journalist. As if that was not enough, I was also able to assist BMW Group Classic with their presentation of the McLaren F1 LM car. This was by far my favorite Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance ever.
The Best of Show award at Pebble Beach went not to a factory-perfect car but to an unrestored 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports presented by Fritz Burkard of The Pearl Collection in Zug, Switzerland. Concours Chairman Sandra Button said, “This storied Bugatti, the first Type 59 built, is a rare factory race car that recorded multiple Grand Prix victories at the hands of several important racing greats—and it also has ties to royalty. Perhaps most importantly, it wears all of its history to this day, having been preserved in the livery it was given when redressed by King Leopold of Belgium.” This is the first time a car in a preservation class has won at Pebble Beach, something most people thought would never happen.
There were a few snags, though. On leaving the concours with the F1, we ran into the world’s biggest traffic jam. Since the F1 is a racing model, it has no cooling fans, so after finally getting to the main road, I joined the crew in pushing it up a half-mile hill to prevent us from overheating this rare and expensive car. We did get some help along the way from an F1 superfan named Jake, who was thrilled to have the opportunity to help us push the car. I think Jake had the best concours ever.
After the long day at Pebble, I headed to Baja Cantina with the BMW guys for our end-of-week dinner. This is a tradition for us and it always makes for a relaxing conclusion to the week’s events and festivities. This year, something extra special happened at the dinner. Our table was next to the Aston Martin Bulldog’s owner. Thinking What is the worst that could happen?, I went up and asked if there was any way I could sit in the Bulldog as it is one of my all-time favorite cars. He was quite gracious and readily agreed. The car is truly spectacular and I actually fit in it. My experience in it capped off the week in a way I never imagined was possible.
Monterey Car Week 2024 was a magical combination of the quality of the events themselves, the appeal of the cars (especially at Pebble and The Quail), and most importantly, the friends I saw. It seemed as if we all had a bit more time together during the week with less rushing to the next thing. It could have been the inclusion of modern cars at Pebble Beach or that a preservation car won Best of Show (both of which were sheer genius things) that made it so fun. Maybe it was my approach to the week. What I do know is that I am already looking forward to next year. If you are a car enthusiast and have not yet attended Monterey Car Week, you seriously need to put it on your list of must-do things in your lifetime.
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