by Wallace Wyss –
San Marino is a posh community carved out of Pasadena and it is a fitting location for a concours d’elegance.
I would rate the San Marino Motor Classic as a good warm up for Pebble Beach–many of the same car models but always full of surprises. This year was no exception–they had the usual Rolls Royces, Packards and Bugattis but surprisingly a ’59 Chevy low rider convertible that, despite bizarre styling, still made an impression with its lavender color. And a whole row of ’32 Ford hot rods.
This hand made car was the work of Luc, who does custom aluminum bodywork for classic car owners. He and his father worked together until Luc took it over.
There weren’t as many Ferraris as I thought there would be since one of the chief supporters of the event is David Lee, a local jeweler, but he made up for not bringing his 30 or more Ferraris by bringing the pristine white 250GTO probably one of the most expensive cars ever soldcin modern times. It is far more beautiful in person.
The Porsche 356 crowd had at least half a dozen of the egg-shaped cars.
Another Ferrari that caught many eyes was a 275GTB Spyder. Now you might say they didn’t make 275GTB Spyders but they did allow their US distributor Chinetti to run off a few but this car is actually a later model Ferrari rebodied as the Chinetti Spyder. They even started with real 275 GTB body panels but they were so flawed they created an all new body. I didn’t photograph it because it was off in a corner in dark shadows compared to the sun all round and my camera refused to take a good shot of it.
The star of the show was the Ferrari 250GTO, one of 36 made, owned by Mr. Lee, who is recognized as America’s leading Ferrari collector.
Several automakers supported the show and I have to say it wasn’t an intrusion, they blended in quite well. Of course having the choice of free coffee in a dozen forums at the Ferrari tent may have influenced me.
One of the most unusual cars was a fire truck from the early teens, nobody likes fire trucks more than Hizzonerr america’s Prince of Wales Gary Wales. This one had all the extra trim you could imagine including coins fastened to the body. Gary who restored classics, got on this fire truck binge some years ago but this was one of his most bizarre.
Gary Wales and one of his firetrucks.
In European cars they had a few later models which were one time not legal in the US but now that the Bill Gates law (where he got formerly illegal cars admitted) we Americans are getting to see the cars we were denied by the Gummint.
The Sixties and Fifties American cars were great examples. I had not seen an Olds Starfire convertible since the Sixties and the owner of the Thunderbird Sports Roadster told me of Elvis’ adventures in an identical car.
There was a gala dinner the night before but as a member of the press I was not invited. (Hey, San Marino planners – if you want pictures of that event, you gots to invite me!).
Panteras are showing up at more shows, once scorned because of the Ford V8 and high production run (over 7000) but now the rarer bodied version like this GT-5 are showing up. These were made AFTER Ford stopped importing them to the US.
On the day of the Concours I saw about 30 set dining tables in an outdoor area, but it was not full so I don’t know how the Sunday meal is going. I think they are going to great lengths to make going to the Concours a memorable experience for the whole family and business friends.
The wood bodied Ford gave a glimpse of when real wood was used on postwar cars. Amusing were all the window decals-that was the thing in the ’50’s–commemorate every park you visited!
I also went to the art show immediately adjacent and met several artists who easily excel in expressing the beauty of cars. One had paintings that somehow changed when you photographed them but I am too technology ignorant to figure out how to do it.
This show is a jewel among car shows in Los Angeles and now that they have moved it to June–easier to take than when it was in late August.
Camilo Pardo, credited with leading the design team for the 2004 Ford GT painted several views of the car and who knows it better?
Entry fee for viewers is under $50 which make it roughly one tenth of the Pebble Beach ticket price–and there’s free parking which is hard to find at Pebble.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss is a co-host of Autotalk, a weekly car show broadcast from KUCR Riverside.
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