Concorso Italiano Monterey Car Week
Published on . Event was held at Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Club on .
#auto show #California #cars #classic cars #event #Ferrari #Monterey #Monterey Car Week #photo gallery
Pleasant sunny day at Concorso Italino — an amazing lifestyle event originally set up for 2024 by new owners and organizers out of Italy. Some things didn’t go as planned, and there was another, not as public, change of ownership just a few months before the event. As a spectator, you wouldn’t notice it, albeit may be from a single food vendor which struggled so serve all visitors and participants at the same time during the lunch break.
There were more than three hundred cars on the field, and I am not talking about a single model of a single mark here.
All major Italian car brands were on display: Fiat, Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini, as well as niche and less known brands, such as De Tomaso and Bizzarini (Revival car).
60-s
Alfa-Romeos were well represented with rows of ever relevant and never out of fashion GTVs and Spiders. Surprisingly, modern Guilia and even Stelvio didn’t look like they don’t belong and their colors certainly added to the charm.
The main field was full of Rosso Ferrari (mostly 80-s to 00-s models), and all non-red colors stood out. There were two orange ones, and my camera couldn’t capture those colors correctly. It was later when I learned about color grading!
White 512M, which is a factory evolution of 512TR,
looked like a Lamboghini Countach spaceship in the sea of red.
Lamborghini cars (including a few Miuras and 350GT — the first passenger car of Lamborghini) occupied a smaller field, and a lovely lake-bed type landscape offered plenty of great photo opportunities.
70-s
Pininfarina displayed a few full-electric dual-tone colored Battista, and you could easily spot a carbon fiber weave under the paint. The recently acquired and restarted Bizzarrini brand had a brend-new red 5300GT Corsa Revivial on display. Peterson museum presented a display-only Alfa Romeo F1 car with #77 running number of a Valteri Bottas (aka naked biker).
Each car brand got a golf-course “valley” for itself, and that worked well — you kept walking through car brands and generations within. If I were to change anything, that would be a more spacious placement for Ferrari cars, which was approximately 60% of all cars present.
80-s
My personal favorites were the red Ferrari 330GTC, lime-green Miura (out of three or four!), and a brand-new Hurracan STO still running on dealer plates.
I also learned about Lamborghini Jalpa — it has a very special style and a “gym buddy” personality. Visually, it is a blend of a wedge-shaped and a timeless gentle lines design.
90-s and 00-s
Car owners and visitors were a great and enthusiastic crowd, easy-going and willing to chat. Some folks did note that, perhaps, the 2024 event didn’t set a record in number of cars on display, but for me there were more cars on the field than I could process, appreciate and take pictures of.
2010s and up
Non Italians
As in 2023 there was a special space for non-Italian cars.
Aston-Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupe presented by ISSIMI and Shelby Daytona were my favorites in this bonus category.
Concorso Italiano is becoming a celebration of an Italian lifestyle, design and fashion. There was a live DJ set with speakers all around the field, soprano singer Monika Spruch and a fashion show.
I came there for cars, Italian style and vibrant colors, and loved every minute. See you there next year! Bring the sunscreen.
Further Watching
- Lamborghini Jalpa review by Doug DeMuro
- Great walkaround with some interviews by tiafo!Garage
- Petersen tests Bizzarrini 5300 Corsa Revival at Willow Springs