Before you take the dirt-nap there are 10 things a car freak should experience. Those 10 things, in order of importance, are: rip through the gears of a Ferrari, build an engine with your own two hands, master the heel-and-toe downshift, accelerate through a standing-start quarter mile in less than 10 seconds, drive the German Autobahn at more than 150 mph, attend a Formula One race, attend the Monterey Weekend, buy a car you really want but can't afford, read "Unfair Advantage" by Mark Donahue and drive from New York to Los Angeles.
This Column Is About Number Seven.
The Monterey Weekend is actually a weeklong celebration of all things car, and it happens every August in Monterey, Calif., a historic fishing town John Steinbeck made famous in his 1945 novel, "Cannery Row."
Although it's a week long, it's called The Monterey Weekend because the bulk of the activities take place on the final Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and most attendees arrive Thursday, as I did. This past August my father and I drove up from L.A. in a black RX-8 we scammed from Mazda, and the trip couldn't have been better. The RX-8 and central California's twisty two-lane roads go together like booze and bachelor parties, and the RX-8's high-speed stability proved as impressive as its thirst. We hit 129 mph and several gas stations on the way.
Thursday night we paid our way into the first of four collector car auctions we would attend over the weekend. It was Christy's at the Monterey Jet Center. I always say that if I win the lottery, the first thing I would do is buy a real Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona. I would own the car before even calling my boss and telling him to stick it. Well, at this Christy's auction I saw the Daytona. It was fresh off a meticulous restoration. It was silver, with a black top and black interior, and it sold for $389,000.
The next day we attended the Concourso Italiano (www.concorso.com), which is the ultimate Italian car show. We saw hundreds of Ferraris, Lambos, Alfas, Abarths, Isos, Maseratis, DeTomasos, Bizzarinis, and dozens of others I never even heard of. Most were red. All were cool.
We spent Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the historic races (www.montereyhistoric.com), where we watched everything from a 10.5-liter 1904 Fiat to every Formula One Ferrari since the late '70s, to LeMans-winning Mazdas lap what has to be America's most beautiful road course.
That night we went to the RM auction, where we ran into James Chen, the owner of Axis Wheels, and watched some guy bid more than $1 million on an old Mercedes. Imagine being so rich you can pay $1.1 million for a car.
The next morning we went to the greatest car show on Earth, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (www.pebblebeachconcours.net). It takes place on the 18th green of the Pebble Beach golf course, which may just be the most beautiful spot in creation. Get there early before the fog burns off and the riffraff arrive. We did, and were lucky enough to have a solemn moment with the 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet owned by Joseph C. Cassini III from West Orange, N.J. Six hours later it won Best of Show.
What a great weekend. Cars, cars and more cars. Thousands of them. Each interesting, most beautiful and many the performance icons of their day. And the best part? The only Lamborghini doors I saw were on actual Lamborghinis. Let's just call it a nice change of pace.