Concorso Ferrari at Pebble Beach Fairway One
Published on . Event was held at First Fairway, Pebble Beach Golf Course on .
#auto show #California #cars #classic cars #event #Ferrari #Monterey #Monterey Car Week #Pebble Beach #photo gallery
Sundays at Pebble Beach are renowned for the Concours d’Elegance — the crown jewel and foundational event of the Monterey Car Week. But however significant, it is not the only Sunday event.
Right next to the Concept Lawn, on a First Fairway in front of The Lodge, Ferrari celebrated 70 years in America with a curated selection of seventy cars from Maranello.
The rarity, heritage, and variety of cars on display were unparalleled. Whoever organized this short-lived mega collection did a hell of a job.
Most cars present were road-legal models — significant and sometimes exclusive for the American market, such as 250 GT California, 340 America, Ferrari California, Superamerica, and F60 America (special edition of F12).
Historical sports cars such as 166 MM Barchetta, 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 N.A.R.T. Spider, 312P, 330 P4, and 412P outlined competitive focus of the company and celebrated brand’s ambitions and sport heritage.
Being surrounded by these unique and cherished cars under a blue sky felt surreal. Realizing that they weren’t here yesterday and will be elsewhere tomorrow — never to be seen again in this same company.
My favorites were: the 250 GTO Lady in Blue, which was repainted to blue by one of the former owners in 1963, before coming second in the Targa Florio race in 1964.
Two red 330 P4 — numbers 7 and 24, and a yellow 412P. Curvaceous, complex, and riveted shapes with perfect finishes and glossy surfaces. Brand-new looking, out-of-this-world, and yet these same cars ran and won Le Mans, Monza and Daytona in 1967.
In fact, every historic car I looked up for this article had a distinguished autosport career.
Number 7 was owned by Lawrence Stroll in the past and is considered one of the best-preserved 330 P4s. Only three 330 P4 and four 412P were made and three cars were present on the field. Just wow!
1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder looks timid in the pale yellow, but features a great origin story. Commissioned by the first American Ferrari distributor Luigi Chinetti, only ten were made on the base of by the official Ferrari coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti. It’s most famous for its appearance in The Thomas Crown Affair with Steven McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Full fascinating story on MotorTrend.
The car that stole my heart is the 250 GT California Spyder SWB (short wheelbase) — an embodiment of elegance, craftsmanship and timeless beauty. It’s a fairly small car by today’s standards, it looks very modern, stunning, and ready for grocery shopping whenever weather permits.
Only a 106 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder were built between 1957 and 1963, with approximately half of them being short-wheelbase. These days, their price tag ranges between 8 and 15 million USD.
Ferrari Concorso had seven 250 GT California Spyders on display and in a variety of colors — dark blue with silver hardtop, light blue, Ferrari red, dark red, golden with a hardtop, and a few silver ones. Most of cars on display were short-wheel-based, and those are ones to get if you are curious.
Ferrari F60 America, based on F12 Berlinetta is a limited production run of ten cars devoted to 60 years of Ferrari in America, grabbed my attention with its striking seat design!
Driver’s seat is finished in red leather, while the passenger’s is in classic black. I didn’t expect to see that in a factory Ferrari car.
Makes me curious if F70 is coming up?
And that’s how I learned that the Ferrari Tailor Made customization program is a thing, and there were quite a few tastefully modified cars by in-house Ferrari designers.
12 Cilindri, despite its name, looks like a homage to the original Daytona, made its first international appearance at the Pebble Beach Concours.
For me, Concorso Ferrari was somewhat an unexpected but very fulfilling, bright, and inspiring addition to an already-packed Monterey Car Week. Technically, the first fairway exposition was free to attend, and I feel like it was the best experience Monterey Car Week had to offer in 2024.
Further Reading
- Lady in Blue 250 GTO Restoration
- Event Walkaround by Michael Owen
- Ferrari 250 GT #3589 Restoration video
- Ferrari’s broadcast recoding of the event
- Ex Lance Stroll’s 330 P4
- Ferrari 250 GT #2237 info
- Exhibited Ferrari 296 GT3 #62 — second in GT3 class in 2024 Sebring 12-hour race
- Brief History of Testa Rossa
- MotorTrend on 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder