An All-Italian Show during Monterey Car Week

by Wallace Wyss, with support from Louis Vandenberg, KUCR “Autotalk” show

OK you can talk about the fancy-dancy car shows during Car Week, the Pebbles, the Quails but let’s get down to one almost all of us can afford—Concours Italiano.

This event started out decades ago with Janet and Frank Mandarano and the Maserati Club but then slowly, incrementally, added other Italian brands.

Thankfully they added Iso early on and that paved the way for their present status as superstars (especially the Bizzarrinis, built on an Iso design). They also welcomed Panteras, which is one reason it has grown, some other concours discriminating against exotic cars with American engines.

This event is one event during Monterey Car Week that is always highly anticipated by Italian car owners. You don’t go there expecting to see a legion of early ‘50s and ‘60s classics because it’s mostly more contemporary Italian cars of the last two decades. Still we found a Ferrari TdF, a Lusso, an unidentified roadster race car, and we’re glad that the owners of the mega-expensive cars don’t stay out of the Concorso because they will be parked cheek-by-jowl with more mass market cars.

The philosophy of Concorso Italiano is to be “every man’s car show”, a show in which the average Italian car owner can enter and even hope of a class win.

The show takes place at the Black Horse Golf course which is in the middle of what used to be Ft. Ord military base.

Individuals can enter their car without being a member of a club so even if you are, for instance, owning an Iso and parked with other Isos, you wouldn’t have to be a member of the IBOC to be nominated for a class win.

I think that’s a plus because that will tempt some newcomer who has been hiding his car for years out onto the playing field and we can all feast our eyes on a new “barn find.”

They also don’t mind a “survivor” car, a restoration still not completed. In fact those are very exciting because we get to see a car “in the raw” (doesn’t that sound salacious!)

In each class there is a nomination of the best car among their group to go up on “stage” (actually a center aisle flanked by a grandstand on both sides.)

There the class winners are interviewed by the very practiced emcee Keith Martin (publisher of Sports Car Market). Early in the day they had author and ex-Motor Trend editor Matt Stone, who also boasts dulcet tones (but can’t do an on-point pirouette like ex-dancer Martin). Both are experts at extracting from often taciturn owners the real skinny on why they chose to champion the car they are driving.

Miles Kitchen, a collector in the Bay Area, also was an announcer.

Unlike Pebble, which features the crème d’la crème of the shows that week, or the Quail, equally a curated show, Concorso features cars that sold cheap such as the Fiat 850, which sold for around $2,100 new and the next step up, the Fiat 124. On the other end of the scale was a couple of La Ferraris which I think are above a million dollars. Plus Enzos and other limited edition Ferrari supercars. Some of the cars were displayed by dealers anxious to meet new potential customers.

Each marque parked alongside others of the same ilk. Ferraris were the Big Dog but the Lamborghini contingent was well represented as well. I counted at least eight Miuras (one of the marques honored at the event), and there might have been more. I was hoping to see the one and only factory targa (actually from the Bertone factory, built without Ferrucio’s co-operation). Also I didn’t see any LM002 off road cars. True they are ugly as sin, but with what other off road car can you still have the siren sound of a Lambo V12 at speed?

“I DID IT MY OWN WAY”

I guess the Sinatra song was actually entitled “My Way” but there were at Concorso a half dozen cars that well, would have made a judge at Pebble have apoplexy.

For example there was a GTC/4 displayed that had been cut into a targa, and though I am glad that the chassis can take it without cracking the windshield, that owner, in my opinion, went a bit overboard by raising the tail with a built in spoiler, and doing some fiddle with the headlights. But still I am glad it was there, if only to see what some folks like to do to their cars. Rest assured, it’s only going to take cubic money to have it redone stock but meanwhile he is enjoying one of the two or three targa GTC/4s out on the road.

PREMIERES

Now the promoter of Concorso is mindful that his event is potentially a source of news, i.e., first looks at new cars. Now he doesn’t get the cars on the “dream car” lawn at Pebble (the lawn in front of the Del Monte Lodge). But he did open the door to allow display of two cars there making their debut.

I thought of their styling as making them Ferrari competitors, but their promoters were not handing out brochures so I can’t tell you much about them but one was designed and built by Ken Okuyama who is the same Japanese designer who, while working in Italy for Pininfarina, did the incomparable Enzo and one other production car plus a prototype, the Ferrari Rossa. The first car he did on his own was a small one but I am glad he has seen we want to see something more supercar-ish from the creator of the Enzo and this car looks like it will fill the bill.

Concorso is to be congratulated for giving him a place in their show because us Ferrari fans wondered what happened to this worldly designer, who also ran Art Center School’s Trans Design Dept. for awhile.

The gray car I don’t have a clue to its identity. It was equally sexy, but a muted gray, perhaps not the best color for a hot new exotic car.

Another new design on display was the Disco Volante Spyder by Touring. This beautiful blue car succeeded in having the feel of the original ‘50s Alfa Discos. Probably too late to buy one–they only made seven.

Another coachbuilder who had almost died, but has come back was represented by the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Concept.

LAMBORGHINI

I was hoping to see a LM002 but maybe it’s in their future to be concours superstars. In those you get ugly styling but an engine that could have come right out of a Countach.

The catalog of the show, free to every ticket buyer, is really splendid (even as truth be told, I wrote some of the stories in it) and I think that’s an extra added attraction to any concours when they have a catalog you can learn from later. I especially enjoyed the story on the Mangusta which included production photos and the story on Ferraris powered at one time or another with Chevy V8s (the horror!).

BOOTHS

Booths? They had at least 30 to 40 of them, some selling exhausts, some selling books, others selling jewelry and m’lady’s clothing. I myself had my wife gainfully employed at our art and books booth in the new “art tent row” and we met many “repeat” customers from years before and new ones intent on commissioning a portrait of their car. Art prices in general were far below the $10,000 range like we saw in the AFAS booth at Pebble.

I think the vendors though the operational word was “reachable” as, let’s face it, many of those there had expensive cars out there on the turf are a bit wary of being a first-time art buyer. I can see this booth segment growing as Concorso becomes a sort of mini-Pebble in every category.

One shocker was the booth ran by a business that sells wrecked sports cars, and they had two examples that had taken hard hits but were still rolling so to speak. I think it’s wonderful that they give buyers an opportunity to buy a car that “needs a little work” at a lot less than it would cost if 100% stock condition. After all if you own a body shop, such a project car will give the boys in the back room something to work on when things are slow.

There’s also a VIP Lounge, which I didn’t dare approach, not being a VIP, but I am sure it had refreshments and such available to members all day long. Many of the marque clubs also had a tent for their members to relax in, each with a guard at the door to bar freeloaders like me (fortunately they had a media tent). There were also food trucks for those who didn’t belong to a club or the VIP Lounge.

THE FASHION SHOW

Concorso is a celebration of the Italian life style, so it’s natural they would have a fashion show. I got a kick out of some grade schoolgirls nearby imitating the prancing of the fashion models and am going to send them a memo to show some children’s clothes next time. (Gucci-Pucci on the playground?)

THE PARKING

Unlike Pebble Beach, the Concorso has “easy parking” on a section of golf course and, though I didn’t experience the line to get in (using instead a VIP entrance) I can say it’s relaxing compared to the pressures of parking at Pebble which are akin to climbing Mt. Everest carrying a 70-lb. bag of cement.

Pricing per ticket is far less than the Quail, and Pebble so this show can be thought of as the Monterey Car Week show that’s for everyman, still justifiable for driving several hours to because this show alone has a bit of everything and I know because I went to the Quail and Pebble in addition. My radio show colleague enjoyed it even with a 6-hour trip both ways.

SUMMING UP…

The Concorso is the show you go to if you have an Italian car that’s not “Pebble material” but you still want to meet other owners and shoot the bull on what’s available for your car and what you can expect in terms of the longevity of various components. Plus it’s a chance to see how other owners have fitted out their cars and to collect memorabilia.

With the prototypes it’s also a glimpse into the future—you see what present day automakers are making and occasionally get a glimpse of what’s to come in the exotic car market. I’ll be there next year for sure…

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is a fine artist, specializing in exotic cars. He accepts commissions for car portraits. Write Photojournalistpro@gmail.com for prices and photos of past commissions.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

photos above by Wallace Wyss, photos in the slide show below by Mike Gulett