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2019 Pebble Beach and Monterey Car Week Live Updates

Photo credit: Sam Cobb
Photo credit: Sam Cobb

From Car and Driver

Read everything else we have to say about Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

There's so much money and there are so many great cars on the peninsula this weekend that even parking lots can look like spectacular car shows. We are on the ground and at the major events, and we will be bringing you live updates. Stay tuned! –Jared Gall


See our favorite cars from the Concours d'Elegance:




Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Best of Show 2019 is . . .

1931 Bentley 8 Liter Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer

Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella

A Bentley has won top honors at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, fitting given that the British marque is celebrating its 100th year (centenary, as Bentley calls it). The Best of Show winner is a 1931 Bentley 8 Liter Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer owned by the Honorable Sir Michael Kadoorie.

It is powered by an 8.0-liter inline-six and claimed a top speed of over 100 mph in its day. This particular car has bodywork by coachbuilder Gurney Nutting and is said to be one of two vehicles built in this configuration. It was restored in 2004 and acquired by its current owner in 2010.

The Pebble Beach Concours notes on its blog that the last time a Bentley took the Best of Show trophy at the Pebble Beach Concours was 1965. —Joey Capparella

Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella

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Pink, wingless GT2 RS?! Sign. Me. Up.

A post shared by mike (@mike_magrath) on Aug 18, 2019 at 5:14pm PDT


Engines of Pebble Beach

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

It's a common complaint that modern engines aren't attractive. But compared to the steampunk jewelry hiding under the hoods of some Pebble entrants, your shined-up Chevy big-block isn’t so purty, either.

Cars tend to look better and less Italian with their hoods closed, and so they stay that way most of the time. But follow the judges around, and while they poke around underhood you can peer over their shoulders at the engines that make these historic beauties purr, pop, and roar.

When I first started taking these pictures, they were for my personal collection. I don't care what the engines came from, and I didn’t bother writing it down. So your guess is as good as mine as to those in the gallery below. But they sure are lovely, aren't they? —Jared Gall


Some interesting 1980s Japanese cars at the Japanese Automotive invitational at Pebble Beach.

What was once ubiquitous is now rare and desirable, especially when it's in mint condition. —Tony Quiroga

Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga




Dawn Patrol: It smells like salt water. Beyond that, um . . . it’s very dark.

It’s dawn patrol at Pebble Beach, the uncomfortable hour at which the truly devoted and demented gather to watch the cars roll onto the 18th fairway. You get to hear them run. You get to see them before the crowds roll in. You get to sleep later.

Hey, when do the cars show up? :) —Jared Gall

6:18 a.m.: I hear the first one . . .

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall


More Photos from Pebble Beach Dawn Patrol

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman


Audi has a new R8 LMS GT2, and it showed off the new race car in the best way . . .

...By letting us hop in the passenger seat for a blistering lap of Laguna Seca with nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen behind the wheel. —Joey Capparella


#respect

Guy's getting after it. Finished sixth in a deep field of Cobras and Vettes, in a $15 million Ferrari. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

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C/D Wankel Racer is in the House.

A post shared by Daniel Pund (@danielpund) on Aug 17, 2019 at 2:31pm PDT



Aston Martin’s celebration in Carmel featured plenty of very new cars and plenty of very old cars, but we were sad not to see any of the weird, boxy, angular Astons from the 1970s and '80s. The elegant Lagonda Taraf sedan (bottom right), sold only in the Middle East, was cool to see. —Joey Capparella

Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella

Plenty of people gawking at the new mid-engined Corvette in the paddock at Laguna Seca raceway —Joey Capparella

Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella



Some C/D history spotted in the paddock at the Historics —Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

From the Parade

Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty

One of the few cars driven by a woman at Laguna Seca today . . .

This 1928 Bentley 4.5 Liter, driven by Katarina Kyvalova, was one of a handful of cars driven by a woman at Laguna Seca today for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

We took a lap around the track in a 1929 Bentley 3 Liter for the company's centenary parade. The car was called the Green Fly, named after racer Johnny Green. —Sharon Silke Carty

Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty

Seen at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering

Over its 16-year production run, the Lamborghini Countach progressed from minimalism to overwrought maximalism. This pre-wing car with the arch extensions toes the middle ground. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

Ferrari 250TR. I’m at two. So, $50 million, give or take. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

LaFerrari. I’m at three. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

Outcasts of Pebble Beach

It’s brutal and beautiful, but just a replica. If it was a genuine Grand Sport, this Corvette would earn a more prestigious parking space. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

The irony of the license plate on this Zagato Aston being street-parked outside The Quail is nearly as delicious as the $1000 caviar being served inside The Quail. –Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall

I'm personally at three Sennas sighted this weekend. This one outside The Quail is parked next to F50 number one. Oh, and all three Sennas have had the clear door panels. So all of you would-be tastemakers who want to point out the weight penalty or frivolity of those panels should know that nobody cares what you think. —Jared Gall

Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall
Photo credit: Jared Gall


The Concours d'Lemons is the antithesis of every other car show of Monterey Car Week.

Held in downtown Seaside across the street from chain restaurants and budget hotels, it's the place for crappy cars of all sorts. The dress code is nonexistent, the entry requirements are lax, and the combined value of all the cars on display is probably less than some of the nice new luxury cars street-parked around it. –Joey Capparella

We took to referring to the Concours d'Lemons show as "Turds on the Lawn," for figurative and literal reasons. An offshoot of the crapcan-racing series, this slightly self-conscious silliness celebrates the lowest, weirdest echelon of automotive enthusiasm. Here are some "highlights." — Daniel Pund

Turds on the Lawn

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

Actual turd on the lawn. —Daniel Pund

Shenzen Letengxuan Xiaoshudi ("Small Water Drop")

Imagine a bubble-top car from Woody Allen’s Sleeper but with even less sex appeal, and you have this curious death trap. The owner helpfully provided a list of items that were deeply wrong with the vehicle when it was delivered new, including handlebars that were 45 degrees off center and "external wires cut at factory after burning up in harness."

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

Small-Block All the Things Dep’t:

This 1978 AMC, seen at the Concours d'Lemons, is packing a 6.2-liter LS3 V-8, proving that effort, dedication, and common sense have little to do with each other. –Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

. . . and More from the Concours d'Lemons

The elusive Yugo Cabrio spotted: Ferrari-level rarity. Tetanus-level desirability. –Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman


This one's almost too on-the-nose. Bigfoot gas pedal, Fuzzbuster II, octagonal steering wheel, Independent trucks for drawer handles, oval windows, airbrushed wizard, and Thin Lizzy and Joe Walsh bumper stickers. Plus shag carpet where the magic happens. –Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman


This blue Dodge is a serious nerdfest. Sure, it has the octagonal, wooden steering wheel and the furry wall coverings common to the breed. But Vandalf takes it a step further with a hodgepodge of nerd-rific details such as the 20-side-die shift knob and, of course, the Gandalf mural on the sides. Tasting notes: Thematically complex with notes of sweet! –Daniel Pund

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund



My hotel parking lot just upped its game considerably.

There are nine Paganis, a Koenigsegg, and a Lamborghini Centenario lined up in an over $10 million row.

Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga

And parked outside of this murderer's row of modern supercars is the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, a mid-'90s supercar with 603 horsepower from a quad-turbo 60-valve 3.5-liter V-12. The Super Sport version featured carbon-fiber body panels, which dropped the weight by a few hundred pounds. F1 champ Michael Schumacher once owned a yellow Super Sport like this one. —Tony Quiroga

Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga

McLaren F1s! PLURAL!

More than any other car, the McLaren F1 is why I'm into cars, and there are a bunch of them here. I never had a poster of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, but I did have a McLaren F1 LM on the wall. Everything about it, from the gold foil to the center seat to the top speed and the price, was special and focused at a time when the other exotics seemed to be just getting silly. Decades later, and I'm still smitten. I may even buy another poster. –Mike Magrath

Photo credit: Mike Magrath
Photo credit: Mike Magrath
Photo credit: Mike Magrath
Photo credit: Mike Magrath



1. The Glickenhaus Boot. 2. Air in. Air out. —Daniel Pund

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

Remember that Volkswagen I.D. Buggy from earlier today (see below)? VW just let us drive it, along with the Meyers Manx that inspired it. It’s hard to beat the feel of the wind in your hair and the scenery of 17 Mile Drive along the coast, even if the Buggy concept was limited to around 23 mph for our drive. We went a bit faster than that in the Manx . . . –Joey Capparella

Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella
Photo credit: Joey Capparella

And the coolest car at the Legends of the Autobahn show is . . .

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

...this BMW-commissioned re-creation of the Marcello Gandini–designed 2002ti Garmisch. Check out the honeycomb backlight treatment, the cream leather interior, and the reimagined twin-kidney grille. Fantastic Italo-German collaboration. —Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

First glimpse of the Bentley EXP 100 GT, making its U.S. debut at Pebble Beach today.

Seeing Bentley's EXP 100 concept in person is a very different experience than looking at a photo of it. Up close, it's astonishingly extravagant and, well, massive. It's exactly as imposing as a Bentley should be, and the detailing around the headlights and grille is spectacular. The Continental GT may have brought Bentley to a broader audience, but now it seems like high time for the company to move up to an even higher echelon of the ultra-luxury world. A production car with even a fraction of the presence of this concept car could do exactly that. –Joey Capparella


Another VW sighting, reminding us it's the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. —Sharon Silke Carty

Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty

Spotted: Volkswagen I.D. Buggy

Spotted at a beach parking lot on 17 Mile Drive is the VW I.D. Buggy concept, which is making its U.S. debut at Monterey Car Week this weekend. The concept car has a 155-mile range and a top speed of 99 mph—and VW is seriously considering making this concept a reality.

Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty
Photo credit: Sharon Silke Carty

We noticed the car while out on a morning run, and waving to us from behind the driver's seat is Georg Kacher, European bureau chief for Automobile Magazine and a Car and Driver alumnus from the early 1980s. –Sharon Silke Carty


Four Bugatti Type 51s out for a morning shoot. Scratch that—THE four Type 51s out for a morning shoot. –Eddie Alterman

Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

Acura Is Looking for a Hit. Maybe It's This Type S Concept

Acura unveiled its Type S concept this evening near Carmel, California. The car looks larger in person than expected, but the design is as clean and uncluttered as the studio shots Acura unveiled earlier this week. We previewed the Type S concept in a story earlier this week; the proportions and the stance are impressive in person. The concept hints at the future design direction for the brand as well as what the next-gen TLX will look like.

Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga

We expect that most of the proportions and the clean and uncluttered look will carry through to production. The lighting elements, which are closely related to what's currently in the Acura lineup, will likely also make it to production.

Photo credit: Tony Quiroga
Photo credit: Tony Quiroga

There’s no interior in the concept, so what Acura might do inside is still unknown. —Tony Quiroga


Missed You, Meredith

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

The single greatest thing about Monterey Car Week is not the immaculately restored prewar cars on the lawn at Pebble Beach. And, though they're thunderingly awesome, even the old golden-era Trans-Am race cars that blast around Laguna Seca at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion aren't the best part of the week, either. No, the best part is meeting up with old friends. And by "old friends" I mean Meredith. And by Meredith, I mean the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder the company has named Meredith.

Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

You see, we have some history between us. Meredith is the car that set the lap record (2:43.1) at the 2014 edition of our Lightning Lap event. We also spent a couple of days with her in Miami, doing a story for our 60th-anniversary issue (July 2015). There, we paired her with a 1989 Porsche 959 belonging to the late IMSA racer Preston Henn.

Porsche Cars North America decided that, once her time was done in its new-car test fleet, the company would keep Meredith around for kicks. The company trucked the deep-blue Meredith out to California to drive up the coast with a pack of mostly newer GT-series cars. It was great to spend a little time with our old friend on California's byways. She remains as explosively fast, inscrutable, and lovely as ever. Until next time, Meredith. Be well. –Daniel Pund


Photo credit: Daniel Pund
Photo credit: Daniel Pund

Welcome to Monterey, where you street-park your Lancia Stratos at Jamba Juice. — Daniel Pund


Photo credit: Eddie Alterman
Photo credit: Eddie Alterman

Mercedes-Benz SSKL, a.k.a. The Cucumber

Heresy and Brutality Are Always a Compelling Duo: 1932 Mercedes-Benz SSKL Re-Creation

This is a re-creation of the 1932 Mercedes-Benz SSKL that Manfred von Brauchitsch took to 225 kph (140 mph) at AVUS. Having just ridden in it at speeds not exceeding 40 mph, and suffering several mild cardiac events in the process, I can only surmise that ol' Manfred was out of his damn kopf. It’s loud, brutal, and you can actually discern the firing order of the 325-hp 7.1-liter supercharged straight-six-cylinder. The original car was lost to time, but Mercedes re-created it in the guise of this one, taking an SSK chassis and drilling holes in it to achieve Leicht, or lightweight, spec. Mike Kunz, director of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in California, claims that many of his colleagues thought the process heretical. But that process is what brought this car—technically the first Silver Arrow, predating the W25—to life. –Eddie Alterman


Welcome to Pebble Beach

The year's most glaring illustration of the class divide is upon us. While gearheads around the Midwest converge on 10 miles of Woodward Avenue in Detroit for the Dream Cruise, the entire rest of the world descends on California's Monterey Peninsula for competitive displays of wealth.

Actually, "competition of elegance" is the literal translation of "concours d'elegance," but the competition has morphed and grown to such a degree that the two anchor events, the concours on Sunday and the historic races at Laguna Seca the preceding days, now support a bevy of satellite events, from the Legends of the Autobahn German-car show and Concorso Italia (we’ll let you figure that one out) to the inevitable contrarian show, the always hilarious Concours d'LeMons.

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