Carmel-by-the-Sea, 15th of August, 2017

Finally the Monterey Car Week officially started with the first event, the Concours-on-the-Avenue on the Ocean Drive at Carmel-by-the-Sea. First in the morning we headed to the Quail Lodge for the annual start of the Quail Rally brought together by Sir Michael Kadoorie for his close friends.
After lining up the cars in front of the lodge and having some breakfast the cars left for a small tour arriving at the McCall party tomorrow evening. A colorful mix of classic and modern cars made their way out of the Quail grounds passing all the construction going on the field for Friday and the Bonhams tend that await its clients at the entrance of the property.

... Gallery >>>

After the cars left into the typical foggy morning at the peninsula the first cars arrived at the Ocean Drive in Carmel for the annual Concours on the Avenue. Many years ago the free show started as a two-day event but over the time it became a one-day show on Tuesday. Once it was featuring both Porsche and Ferrari but over the years less and less prancing horses could be seen on the street most likely because some owners are afraid of risking their cars being damage between the masses of people taking the opportunity to see some cars for free as the street show is one of the few shows during the week one could get away without paying a fortune. Today’s show was very much dominated by Porsches from the different eras including a couple of wonderful pre-A examples including split screen window versions as well as a whole line-up of Speedster. Furthermore some 911 RS in different colors stood alongside the race cars from the track including a 934 in the famous Jägermeister colors.

Certainly American shows have to include hot rods and light weighted ponies. Ranging from a W16 in a show car to the quarter-mile racers there was something for anyone to look at. Finally the race cars from the track showed up with their police escort making their ways though the Carmel Valley to be shown on the side road. Most interesting was the Jaguar XJR-5 but also a few race Porsches.

Furthermore the pickups and small commercial vehicles showed a very unusual DKW Schnellaster restored to perfection by his owner scoring 99 points winning a deserving Best in Class. But when coming to the Best of Show the judges were more conventional as the only two vintage Ferrari were lined up for the final price. The 330 GTS finally won most significant Ferrari on the field while the 250 GT TdF won the most prestigious award being set up for the final drinks in front of the Cypress Inn.

After leaving the show we went down the street to the reception of a dear friend and colleague Allan Rosenberg and his exhibition at the Sunset Center showing his work from the last decades in historic racing and shows around the world.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the auction previews with RM Sotheby´s, Gooding&Co as well as Bonhams showing their high valued cars for the weekend.


Report & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de