Another adventure during Monterey Car Week…
by Wallace Wyss –
In terms of public relations, I have to admit that Ferrari has quietly maximized their presence at Monterey Car Week by establishing a home of sorts in Casa Ferrari, a home like structure located scant feet from the fairway where the Pebble Beach Concours takes place.
The structure might have been a home once but now it’s an entertainment center for an invited crowd of Ferrari owners. I spent some time there as a reporter this year, and in every room saw a tasteful homage to the Ferrari lifestyle. One room for instance had a classy Fifties race car with a painting of a race car on the wall.
There were not only tables outside to dine on, but fire pits (explain please, the fires seemed to be burning in pools of ice!) on a veranda ideal to view the Ferrari-only concours on the lawn, a show that takes place simultaneous with the vaunted Pebble Beach Concours, which also features a half dozen Ferraris those being judged while at Casa Ferrari it is enough to be accepted as representative of the breed.
The magnanimous thing about the concours at Casa Ferrari is that they allowed the general public to view it at no cost and you do indeed see rare cars, even ex-Le Mans racers (even one so valuable as a 250GTO, which last I heard is above $70 million). One off show cars and the very latest from Maranello (alas they deliberately refrained from showing the Purosangue, their new SUV).
I think Ferrari should be praised for, in the fairway show, making this part of their private party viewable by the public because surprise surprise, there are visitors to Pebble Beach on concours day that can’t quite scratch up the $400-plus fee for the big concours but at least, at Casa Ferrari they can see some noteworthy cars. Another show Pebble has for free takes place on what I call the “Dream Car lawn” in front of the Lodge where automakers new and old compete for space to show their latest concept car.
Cautionary note: Though the Ferrari-only show on the fairway was free, access to the Casa or veranda was not, so I’m afraid unless your dealer invites you, you’ll miss out on that delightful menu.
I know Mercedes has a building at Concours Village (where they were having a reception and had a few examples of Mercedes classics on the lawn outside), but their structure has a car showroom vibe while Casa Ferrari is more like visiting the home of some fabulously wealthy Ferrari collector who just happens to be throwing a party.
What Ferrari has done is create a sort of a “home away from home” for Ferrari cognoscenti to return to each year, without that worry a car salesman will soon approach. It doesn’t happen at the Mercedes building but that dread comes unconsciously at a more showroom-styled buildings. Ferrari realized the more home-like atmosphere they could create, the more welcomed it would be.
The day before the Pebble Beach Concours, Ferrari also had a tour starting at 2PM leading up to the display though I missed it (by having a booth at Concorso Italiano). I would have liked to see the vintage open race cars being driven by drivers in vintage driving suits and “pudding bowl” helmets.
Though I say there were no salesmen taking orders for cars at Casa Ferrari, there was a tiny bit of commerce on the site, a discreetly placed small boutique featuring mostly if not all women’s fashions each bearing the prancing horse. I only saw the price of one dress, at $1000, but I think there were more Ferrari-branded items in that room than you would ever find at a dealership. Alas, I didn’t see any art (I’ll have to talk to them about that…)
I am not sure how you get on the invite list for Casa Ferrari but I gather from comments on the website, ferrarichat.com, that you had to be dealer invited. So among my memories of Monterey Car Week 2022, is those pleasant moments spent at Casa Ferrari. Alas my own Ferraris (308GTS and GTC/4) are long gone from my stable but hey, maybe restored someday, they will show up on the lawn at Casa Ferrari…and if you say a 308GTS is too common to be on view there, I saw a 308GT4 among the cars on display, which I consider one of the most inept Ferrari designs ever but hey, it has the full pedigree, and since Ferrari was celebrating their 75th Anniversary at the Casa they made an effort to see that as many examples of the offspring as possible were represented…
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is a fine artist specializing in commissions to portray Ferraris. He can be reached at malibucarart@gmail.com
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