Monterey Car Week: The pessimism takes a break

Photo: Tobias Sagmeister

Pessimism takes a break

By THOMAS GEIGER

Photo: Tobias Sagmeister

August 30, 2022 The Monterey Car Week with the highlight of the Sunday Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach is considered the high mass of the automobile.

Is it last-minute panic, the fear of the inevitable end of an era, or simply collective ignorance: While the car world is reinventing itself everywhere, the industry is celebrating one lavish horsepower party after the other old-fashioned tradition at Monterey Car Week, and is apparently having more success with it than classic car shows.

Because while so many exhibitors ran away from the Geneva Salon that the Swiss trade fair was recently canceled for the fourth time in a row, the organizers of the Monterey Car Week can hardly save themselves from inquiries: For a week, the famous 17-mile drive will be two hours south of San Francisco to the catwalk for treasures of all kinds and on a dozen golf courses, in luxurious mansions or simply on the village miles of Monterey,

Pacific Grove or Carmel, they celebrate a show around the legendary Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance that is second to none in the world: classic cars of all price and age classes, eaten away by rust or polished to a high gloss, hot rods and super sports cars , dazzling luxury limousines and battered small cars, Schnauferl from the turn of the last century and prototypes for the mobility of tomorrow - everything that is fast, beautiful, bizarre or rare or, at best, all of them, strolls through the Peninsula and is admired by everyone and everyone.

Because the lowest common denominator is the unbroken enthusiasm for the car, and there is no arrogance here: Whether multi-billionaire or simple mechanic, this week they will all be big children and enthusiastic about the same toy.

Photo: Thomas Geiger

Photo: Thomas Geiger

Photo: Tobias Sagmeister

The charm of the Monterey Car Week is that every car fan gets their money's worth.

Whether it's a Mercedes T-model with a mileage of more than a million kilometers, a big American car or a super sports car.

That's why this high mass of automotive culture has long since been carried out not only by collectors, clubs and fans.

Instead, the manufacturers are pushing harder and harder towards this island of automotive bliss and catching up on what they lost at the canceled trade fairs.

And all of this in an ambience that is not only much more benevolent in terms of climate, but also offers a better general atmosphere.

Because where elsewhere they are met with criticism or at least skepticism about their future viability and they are accused of being too old-fashioned, pessimism takes a break in Pebble Beach, they do not know envy and resentment here anyway, and climate concerns are willingly ignored.

Almost like in the days of flower power: Beach Buggy by Manx Photo: Fabian Hoberg

Prestigious mansions are becoming pop-up stores and party centers, hundreds of test cars are parked in parking lots, and order books are filling up by the hour.

You only see so many Rolls-Royce Cullinans in one spot at the Goodwood plant, nowhere else in the world can you see several Königseggs and Paganis at once during a morning run, and there are probably more Bugatti Chirons gathered around Pebble Beach than even in Molsheim have ever been sighted in one spot.

And at the latest at the Motorsport Gathering at The Quail, the memory of every car show, no matter how impressive, is forgotten.

If you get hold of one of the 1,200 dollar expensive and nevertheless often overbooked tickets for Friday morning on the golf course,

he strolls with champagne in one hand and oysters or canapés in the other hand not only between lots of crazy rarities.

Instead, the luxury brands in particular are presenting lots of new products: with almost a dozen world premieres, The Quail has more to offer this year than the IAA last September.

Which 911 to take?

The old yellow or the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RS?

Photo: Thomas Geiger

Sure, among the premieres there are also a few exotics with rather dubious prospects, of which you don't even know if you have to remember the name.

Because whether it really needs a monoposto or a hybrid Hyper GT from Czinger is just as up in the stars as the future of Hispano Suiza, because their existence is simply over for so long.

And the comeback of the De Lorean as an electric gullwing for the whole family will certainly not be a sure-fire success.

But even cars like the Mayers Manx Beach Buggy, reborn as an electric car, which jumps into the gaping gap of the VW ID Buggy, which was quietly buried before the series release, or the Bergmeister from Ruf are a show.

And since they are missing the Geneva stage, luxury brands such as Pagani or Königsegg or the Porsche inventor Singer are happy

No, not an electric car: Aston Martin Vantage V12 Photo: Manufacturer

Adds four more cylinders: The new Bugatti Mistral with the W-16 engine.

It costs six million euros.

99 are built.

Apparently all of them have already been sold.

Photo: manufacturer

Porsche celebrates the debut of the 911 GT3 RS, which is considered the sharpest evolution of the sports car icon and brings the now supposedly softened coupe closer to the race track than ever before, even if the trunk is left behind for the first time.

525 hp are offered, the top speed is almost 300 km/h.

Porsche has managed to keep the curb weight below 1.5 tons, plenty of CFRP is used, doors, roof and more are made of CFRP.

Here Lamborghini unveils the update for what is now its most important model and ennobles the Urus with an even sharper design and now 666 hp to the "Performante".

Because they would just shake their heads with us anyway and shower them with criticism, and because it doesn't really fit in with the electrical hype,

At the other end of the world, Mercedes-Benz pulls the veil from the 4×4 square as the ultimate offshoot of the G-Class.

And Aston Martin, just like Bugatti, heralds the farewell to two famous engines with two breathtaking roadsters.

The 700 hp V12 Vantage makes its debut as the presumably last model with +12 cylinders, and because the 16-cylinder no longer has a great future, the French are building around the 1600 hp and eight-liter power plant or better work of art Mistral, which with its numerous modifications is much more than an open Chiron and with a top speed of around 420 km/h - again - has what it takes to be the fastest roadster of all time.

And Aston Martin, just like Bugatti, heralds the farewell to two famous engines with two breathtaking roadsters.

The 700 hp V12 Vantage makes its debut as the presumably last model with +12 cylinders, and because the 16-cylinder no longer has a great future, the French are building around the 1600 hp and eight-liter power plant or better work of art Mistral, which with its numerous modifications is much more than an open Chiron and with a top speed of around 420 km/h - again - has what it takes to be the fastest roadster of all time.

And Aston Martin, just like Bugatti, heralds the farewell to two famous engines with two breathtaking roadsters.

The 700 hp V12 Vantage makes its debut as the presumably last model with +12 cylinders, and because the 16-cylinder no longer has a great future, the French are building around the 1600 hp and eight-liter power plant or better work of art Mistral, which with its numerous modifications is much more than an open Chiron and with a top speed of around 420 km/h - again - has what it takes to be the fastest roadster of all time.

Mercedes-Benz wants to go even higher: G 4×4 squared Photo: Thomas Geiger

As at a classic car show, there are even a few design studies.

The luxury brand Lincoln is celebrating the rescue by Ford 100 years ago with a spectacular space glider, which is intended to signal the dawn of the brand's electric and autonomous future.

Honda's offshoot Acura is also making a first move down Electric Avenue, unveiling the blueprint for a competitor to BMW iX or Mercedes EQS SUVs, and with Audi well along the way into tomorrow, the Bavarians have unveiled their three Sphere models for the first time. Studies collected in one spot and the continuation of the series announced with the sketch of a fourth.

They have still not revealed which of the concepts for an electric luxury sedan, a business van, a noble roadster or a cross between a Sportback and Allroad will go into series production.

Audi presents its Sphere models on the golf course near Pebble Beach.

It is still unclear which of these will go into series production.

Photo: manufacturer

There's also a form of construction that fits Pebble Beach better than anything else: coach building.

Because just as many of the classic cars over at the Concours are tailor-made one-offs, the luxury manufacturers are making use of new production processes and simplified approval processes and are rediscovering individual body construction.

The departments for exclusive extra sausages are no longer limited to outlandish equipment and idiosyncratic colors, but are now building their own cars.

The Continental GT becomes the Mulliner Batur, which also wants to give an outlook on the design language of future electric models from England.

And Aston Martin takes a look back at the glorious racing cars of the 1950s with the radical Roadster DBR 22.

Back to the Future 4: DeLorean alpha5 Photo: Thomas Geiger

By far the most spectacular nerd comes from Mc Laren Special Operations.

The British have brought their virtual racing car for Gran Turismo into reality and made it into a toy for the super-rich as the Solus GT.

Drawn like a Le Mans prototype hybrid for the Battlestar Galactica, with a canopy around the centered cockpit like a jet fighter, and powered by a 5.2-litre, 840 hp V10 engine specially developed for the Solus, the low-flying aircraft is to be built exactly 25 times.

The audience marvels at the Lamborghini Urus, which has been boosted to 666 hp.

Photo: Thomas Geiger

Bruno Senna presents the McLaren Solus Photo: Thomas Geiger

As different as the rarities for the rich may be, they do have something in common.

With prices between 300,000 and three million euros, they are extremely expensive, with quantities in the low double-digit range and are all sold out before the exhibitors have even pulled the cloth from the car.

Photo: Tobias Sagmeister

Photo: Tobias Sagmeister

Classic cars play a significant role at Monterey Car Week.

They compete on a racetrack, even pre-war cars are not spared.

However, if you get nothing, you will find plenty of other opportunities to spend your money in Pebble Beach.

Many thousands of cars are auctioned off here for three days.

While the last-minute panic is filling the books for new car sellers faster than the factories can build, the market at the auctions has apparently cooled off a bit, with many exhibits changing hands for the minimum price.

If you have a lucky hand, you might not only get a bargain, you might also secure a ticket for next year and then suddenly find yourself on the lawn at the legendary 18th hole, where the high mass of automotive culture takes place during the Sunday Concours d'Elegance traditional peak experienced.

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