by Mike –
Concorso Italiano is one of the largest, if not the largest, gathering of classic and exotic cars in the world. It happens every August during Monterey Car Week.
Here are some of my photos from this event which was held on Saturday 19 August.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
My Lamborghini Espada won the third place award from the Lamborghini Club. This same Espada won first place from the Lamborghini Club at this event in 2005.
Summary
Article Name
Concorso Italiano 2017
Description
Concorso Italiano happens every August during Monterey Car Week.
Author
Mike Gulett
As always, thanks for photos and experience we cannot get anyplace else.
I do not see the Bizzarrini or Grifo cars.
Were they missing this year ?
I am old enough and fortunate enough to have owned and used many of the finest real GT cars of the 1950s and 60s. ( It is not fair that I have clearly aged but the cars here have gotten younger ).
If someone, even many owners , click on the specifications of these cars they would be surprised at how great a Grand Touring car they see or even own.
In the 50s and 60s these cars were there to be used not shown. I got to use them on very long and very fast trips ( days and cross country and international ) .
These cars are capeable of maintaining comfortable , reliable , very high speeds , for years.
I suppose they are too valuable to be driven that far and fast anymore. That is a sad situation for both the cars and owners. I wish they could be driven out of Carmel to Sun Vally as fast as the owners are capable. Except for Don who may be the only one of us that has skills and experience that exceed the top speeds of these wonderful cars.
Ken,
There were no Bizzarrinis at this event. In the second slide show you will see Ted Hirth driving his red Iso Rivolta across the stage and there are photos of the Pete Whitehead owned Iso Fidia in the process of being restored by Maurice Mentens. Based on what I saw this will be the best Iso Fidia in the world when done.
Mike,
Will this Fidia be at Concorso this year? It was not finished last year, but just a awesome car that was very well done!
Mike,
My buddy told me there will be a lot of Iso’s at Concorso this year. Is this also what you are hearing?
Thanks!
Concorso has certainly had a hard time building upon a theme …. Hopping around locations and owners ! It’s truly amazing how this one of the original three has not lost its audience Yeah I say
Very true, Concorso Italiano outgrew The Quail’s facility once they allowed Ferrari to join the event. They jumped around over the years but I think the Blackhorse is a good site for them. Missing are the great center displays that Frank Manderano used to put together showcasing outstanding examples of the different Italian marques. Every year I see fewer cars especially from the fifties and sixties. Many of these cars being lured away by The Quail. Its Ironic that the Quail is outgrowing it’s venue with massive parking and traffic problems and CI seems to be shrinking in size and attendance. Maybe they should swap locations.
Hi Mike
It was a great show, as you know!!! It was good to have seen you, Don, Wallace W. and many other car aficionados this week. Thank you for staying relevant by attending shows, C/Cs and sharing them with us. If ever you are in So CA please contact me so that I can take you to the venues in our area. Thanks for this site and all of the work you put in it.
Roger R
Roger,
It was great to see you again and hear about your latest car adventures. I certainly will let you know when I visit SoCal.
Hi Ken, Thought I’d let you know that Carol Freethy said to say hello! I told her you always ask for her and Jack. She asked how you were doing, and I told her you were just fine. Concerning my possible driving abilities, you have to remember I am now as old as the cars. Now I just tell stories about how fast I was, but as the stories go I just keep getting faster and faster. I do hope you are well. You were right there were no Bizzarrinis this year, but I think the fact that we had 12 on the showfield at Pebble Beach last year, everyone was giving it a break. Don
I have mulled over the no-show of some models (Iso Grifos and Bizzarrinis) at Monterey and have come up with a potential explanation. I call it the Prime Mover. Now that Bruce Meyer has restored his LeMans racing Iso Grifo A3/C, he brought attention to the dual marques (Bizzarrini and Iso) bringing them thousands of new fans. But many of those who own the cars now are not ready–or may never be ready–to spend the money to bring their cars back to a similar as-new state. So it might take a few cars changing hands to new owners who are willing to make their cars concours ready before we see any at Pebble–just as we did with the twelve Bizzrrinis last year. The same thing is happening with Italias and Indras–you see one or two but only when one is brought to Pebble Beach concours quality will more people discover it and want to follow that star.
I have belonged to the Iso Bizzarrini Owners Club for close to twenty years now and have a different opinion on why the Iso Biz car count is down at these events.
First thing to note is the build count on Iso and Bizzarrini cars combined is no more than 1800 cars. The highest selling car was the Rivolta GT at 792 cars followed by the Grifo at 402.
If you look at club meeting pictures from the 80’s and 90’s about 50% of the cars shown were Grifo’ and the balance was a mix of Rivolta GT’s, Fidia’s , Lele’s and Bizzarrini’s. The Grifo had a much stronger presence in the USA than Europe. As the years went by the count of Grifo’s increased. I think this was because as GT’s , Fidia’s and Lele’s fell into disrepair it often wasn’t cost effective to repair these cars due to their depreciation. The Grifo and Bizzarrini always demanded a higher price and thus were maintained to a higher level.
Looking at the mid nineties up until the early 2000’s most of our gatherings were comprised of well preserved and restored Grifo’s and Bizzarrini’s, the smaller balance of cars Rivolta GT’s , Fidia’s and Lele’s were more than often drivers. At this point most good driver Grifo’s were 30K and excellent examples of the Grifo were nudging 100K
Then in 2008 RM auction sold Grifo 245 for $ 308 K. The Grifo had been discovered by the collector car world. The Grifo was beautiful, exotic looking and easy to maintain, the perfect combination for the modern collector. Worldwide high end car collectors now wanted a Iso Grifo in their collection. Over the next nine years club members/enthusiasts (myself included) sold their Grifo’s to the collectors. In addition we have older members that choose to sell in their later retirement years.
As a result the majority of the cars that were once shown by club members are now hidden away in collections. These ex member cars are no longer seen at the majority of shows we used to all frequent. Collectors often have many cars as opposed to the club member /enthusiast, and they may not choose their Grifo to be shown in lieu of another collector car. So the Grifo is a no show.
Every year it becomes more and more difficult to get the cars out to the shows, The 50th anniversary of the Rivolta GT, at the Quail in 2012, the Grifo at CI in 2015 and Bizzarrini at Pebble last year being the exceptions.
In short the Grifo being dominant in the IBOC and becoming popular led to fewer cars on the show field.
If you own a Iso or Bizzarrini we encourage you to show it no matter what the condition, people really enjoy seeing the cars no matter what the condition.