Wasn't sure where to put these so I guess it's here. Concourso Italiano https://www.flickr.com/photos/13434495@N03/albums/72157685499531930 Pebble Beach but not the main concours: Turn around at Ripplewood for the drive on Highway One. Then the concept cars and fabulous F70 display. https://www.flickr.com/photos/13434495@N03/albums/72157688033084165
Wow! Quite a collection of cars at the Concourso Italiano. Two fascinating cars are not Italian though The DS convertible and the Pegaso... Thank you for sharing the photos.
Oh I didn't take photos that were representative of everything there. I also didn't take photos of cars I've seen so many times before like Maseratis, sorry. In years past there were many, many non Italian marques represented at this show. This year not so much. I have to say that this year's event was down quite a bit from my last two visits in 2013 and 2015. The Ferraris were in large part elsewhere what with this being the 70th. The F70 exhibit at Pebble was amazing. They're all museum pieces now ... actually better than that!
Concorso allows vehicles that are designed by Italians, even if the automaker is not of Italian origin. This explains the models you mentioned. Likewise, there is always a contingent of Cadillac Allantes that shows up
Yup. It didn't start out that way and I think on a percentage basis it's more Italian now than it may have been in past years? But that's a pure guess. It's a lot smaller and that's not a guess.
Fully Italian cars are still at least 95% of the show, if not more in my estimation. Then again, anything to add a little variety to the mix. Rows and rows of the same 308s, TRs, Gallardos, etc gets a little dull. The reason I go anymore is for the oddball stuff that comes out of the woodwork -- this year, the two Alfa SZs were great to see, along with a Lancia Scorpion, a Fiat 850 sedan, a pair of Maserati Biturbos... cars you just don't see on roads anymore.
Aside from Lancia I thought most of the marques were not well attended. In the years past there were many interesting cars in attendance, but today it's ho hum. Monterey has so much to offer on this weekend and yet there is very little at this show that makes you stand up and take notice. you can tell that the promoters of this event are no longer in the action that makes Monterey weekend great. Attendance was down too. Maybe its the fact that you can see the pebble beach tour on Thursday and see 20- 30 epic Ferrari's and another 20 rare Italian cars for free. Or go to the the Cannery Row show for free and see ten Pagani's. I don't think Ive ever seen a Pagani at CI. The times are a changing.
Yes I agree. The drop off from just a couple of years ago was staggering. For many of the long time attendees it more about seeing people we've know for years but that too is changing. The entrance fee is is also absurdly expensive unless you bring a car and have two people. I know people who went to the track instead. That's another issue. The organizers were worried about The Quail siphoning off attendees. It has and this hasn't helped. Eliminate the conflict with track and maybe that might help but my guess is that the party is over. I can't see myself ever attending this again. That being said I doubt I'll go to the Monterey weekend just to see cars either. I've seen so many over the years but without the human interaction that this event fostered and reinforced over the last 31 years why bother. Car clubs are on the decline as well. That might be a part of the problem. Undoubtedly the F70 celebrations had an effect for Ferrari attendance. You could see those at Pebble Beach for free but you had to have a good way to deal with the traffic & parking which we did. A lot of people won't and that's a part of the problem with the entire weekend. BTW, just as a reminder, my photos don't accurately reflect what was there in total. It's just that I've seen so many of the same model cars there over the years that I didn't bother to try and get great photos, 4 or 5 for each, of every car there. I remember the stories from when they held this event at the airport one year but it survived that, eventually. Time for a shake up. Not sure what that could be though?
I think all car clubs are dealing with the same issue our club has. As the marque gains in value and you have popular models the "collectors" purchase those cars and put them into their collections. Each time this happens you have the potential to loose a enthusiast who attends meets and shows. It's replaces the club member with a guy who has a "collection " or investment and they can only attend so many events with their "collection". More often than not they only contact the club if they want a part our need help fixing something. The result is that many of the clubs have been gutted.
