The 65th Annual Pebble Beach Concours d Elegance was held on August 16th 2015 and was the first time I had seen the sunrise at the event. Held on the 18th Fairway of the fabled Pebble Beach golf course, the morning mist was absent this year allowing for a golden sunrise to light some of the greatest cars in the world.
The Concours held on Sunday, is the culmination of almost a week of activities held during “Car Week” on the Carmel Montery penninsula. On Thursady prior to the event a “tour D Elegance” starts at the paddocks for the Concours and the cars drive south towards Big Sur and then have a leisurely lunch in Carmel allowing for many fans to see the cars. The Tour allows participants to earn extra points in case of a tie on the Sunday.
On Friday this year the competition Ferraris went on a drive throiugh 17 mile drive to recreate the former Peblle Beach races held onthe 17 mile drive back in the 50’s. Saturday evening the Auctions started at the Polo Grounds of the Pebble Beach Golf course and I got to see a Ferrari sell for $15 million plus commission.
But the big show is Sunday. I was up at 4:30 a.m. and off to the Main Event. The Pebble Beach Concours D Elegance is arguably the most famous car show in the world and one of my fellow photographers stepped it up this year by actually presenting a Ferrari for a friend of his. DIrk de Jager of Belgium is used to arriving early as a photographer to get a coveted Hagerty’s “Dawn Patrol” hat and was the first car to be driven onto the field. If any of my friends need a car presented at Pebble Beach, let me know for next year.
A few cars were owned by Canadians including the 1932 Auburn 8-100A Union City Body Co. Speedster owned by Gerry Hockin of Burlington, Ontario. Toronto’s Brent Merrill’s 1935 Packard 1207 Twelve Coupe Roadster and Pickering’s Denis Bigioni’s 1948 Talbot Lago T26C Grand Prix Racer also graced the fairway. The 1953 Abarth 1100 Sport Ghia Coupe of Grant Kinzel from Calgary was a great car in a very tough class with 6 other entrants…the likes of Aston Martin DB2’s and Alfa Romeo 6C’s and a Delahaye…but it still won the judge’s hearts and placed first in the Postwar Early Class.
The far end of the Fairway is reserved for one of the featured classes and this year it was for Ferrari’s that had raced at Pebble Beach…the rule about not showing cars more than once a decade must of eliminated many cars as so many competiton Ferrari’s have been shown recently.
The Custom cars at that end were also well received….but one car was still under wraps when I had to head back towards the exit on my way back to the races at the Mazda Laguna Seca racetrack.
On the way back to the exit I got to meet Nadia Comaneci and Ion Tiriac and see his 1952 Rolls Royce Phantom IV Hooper Sedanica de Ville.
The photos are proof of why some people including Jay Leno state that this is the best car show in the world.
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