'13 Motorsport Re-Union, aka Monterey Car Week

"Ahhh, I love the smell of vintage car racing in the morning............it smells of -- fog !"

At least it does if you're at Laguna Seca. It's that time of the year and The Historics are upon us once again. Drove to Carmel on Friday to be able to be start taking pictures as early as possible Saturday AM ( actually around 7:00 AM ) when Laguna Seca throws open it's gates, only to be greeted by a slight drizzle, low visibility, a penetrating breeze that chilled to the bone and a lamentable absence of vendors ready to serve great, steaming cups of flavorful and strong cappuccino. No problem, because as always, around 10 AM the sun started winning its eternal, daily battle with the morning fog and things finally got started.

Looking back I get the impression that last year my coverage of Re-union week was positively received and therefore propose to treat this year's Re-Union coverage pretty much in the identical manner, except for few minor changes: had to drive home yesterday evening to look after some personal business today and tomorrow morning before driving back to Carmel Monday afternoon, after spending all day Saturday at the track and taking in the Pre-Historics, ( called the Pre-Reunion these days ), and am posting some of yesterday's photos today, purely as a first course to a much more complete feast of coverage starting on Tuesday, August 20, '13 of the following events:

Tuesday, 8-13-'13 - Cars-0n-the-Avenue, the wonderful free Concours on Ocean Avenue in Carmel.

Thursday, 8-15-'13 - Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance

Friday, 8-16-'13 - AM: Legends of the Autobahn PM: Laguna Seca - track shots

Saturday 8-17'-13 - Laguna Seca, the BIG day for all classes

Sunday, 8-18-'13 - Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Until then, some purely random shots from the first day of the long week of some of the best vintage racing anywhere, to hopefully whet your appetite for the rest of the coverage after its all done next Sunday afternoon. The other change is that I shall try my damnedest to refrain from my usual windy, superfluous and customarily highly subjective commentary and just concentrate on posting the best pictures I am capable of taking, of the best cars, accompanied only by factual data from conversations with owners ........ when & where available.

Enjoy, and we'll talk again week after next.

JZG

Captions:

Photo 1 - the first shot of the weekend around 7:15 AM - not a lot going on.
Photo 2 - by mid-day things got a lot brighter & cheerier
Photo 3 - I know I said no subjective commentary.........but Geez, is this cheesy, formal, black draped entry portal for cars to the track really the message SCRAMP ( Sports Car Racing Association Monterey Peninsula - the organizing body and track owners) and the title sponsor want to telegraph to the world
Photo 4 - detail of the almost totally original 911 Ser.# 18, the first 911 ever to win a competitive motorsports event.
Photo 5 - details, pre-war Alfa-Romeo

.........and another set of 5

Photo 1 - a very clean and well restored 356 Roadster
Photo 2 - the nose of a Scarab sports racer
Photo 3 - It's going to be tough to completely refrain from editorializing, especially when confronted by such a perfect demonstration of a principle I feel strongly about. Have you ever seen a neater pit area........a place for everything and everything in its place. All the essentials, nothing superfluous, no chaotic, ostentatious display of mega-dollars and a cast of dozens, just one man and his son having fun.
Photo 4 - The 962-engined 911 Speedster seen in past Canepa C & C posts.......still for sale.
Photo 5 - a flat-head V-8 Ford-engined hot-rod from '52, pre-dating the entire Series of Max Balchowski's "Ol' Yaller" cars

............and the third and last set of 5

Photo 1 - front-end detail of 911 Ser.# 33, the ex-Edgar Barth dealer demo car, which is now a dedicated race car in the Cal/Nev area.
Photo 2 - details of some stiffening and strengthening work performed under the trunk lid of an early 911
Photo 3 - an ex-Derek & Justin Bell driven 962 with all the important bits exposed
Photo 4 - Ex-Nuvolari pre-war Alfa Grand Prix car ( Bonham's Auction )
Photo 5 - So far the only shot I have posted for no other reason than I think the heat patina on the headers on the Gurney-Weslake V-12 in the ex-Dan Gurney driven Eagle F1 car would completely defy any attempts at describing it verbally. How else but with a specific image could you illustrate the subtlety of the discoloration and the ferocity of the gas-stream seeking to escape the confinement of the combustion chambers..........from an era when Grand Prix racing was a sport worth watching & getting involved in.

Thanks for looking,

JZG

Awesome shots John, looking forward to being there myself late next week. The silver Roadster was recently sold by Canepa and has complete SWB 911 underpinnings and engine. A major accomplishment considering a torsion tube needed to be modified and installed to get the rear suspension to fit and work.

Great pics John. I am flying in tomorrow morning from Atlanta. Can't wait for some time at Laguna Seca. Will some of the Early S crowd be gathering anywhere?
Thanks, Tate

I am planning to visit the Tuesday on the avenue with my Audi Sport and then Saturday and Sunday I will have my 911 at the Porsche Coralle at turn 5. Looking foreword to an outstanding car week.

My T/A Camaro will be at the Tuesday Concours (#87). Stop by.
Alex

I couldn't resist the temptation to post a few more from yesterday's Pre-Reunion visit. I don't think I'm letting any cats out of any bags, but attendance was way down all day Saturday. However, with more than 500 cars registered and accepted for next weekend, I'm positive there will be many more, and more interesting vehicles in attendance.

Don't want to monopolize the events forum with my endless photos, just sincerely hoping those who don't have a chance to be there this year will enjoy being there vicariously from the beginning through the end via some of these images…….Enjoy !!!

Captions:


Photo 1 - I have no idea why so many Corvettes are painted black, but you sure see a lot of them
Photo 2 - since Corvette is the featured marque this year at Laguna Seca, a perfect '63 Stingray split-window Coupe in a most non-standard Red - I mean this thing was really RED - I sure don't recall GM ever offering a red like this back in the day
Photo 3 - A fuel injected Corvette motor
Photo 4 - as a counterpoint to the above, a Cobra 289 motor with freshly installed 40mm downdraft Webers
Photo 5 - and yet another motor, but from about a decade earlier, and much more rare than either of the above - a 2-liter 4-cylinder DOHC Ferrari in a 500 Monza sports racer

.............and another set

Captions:

Photo 1 - engine shot of the PHOTOQUELLE RSR
Photo 2 - another photo of the same botched image posted earlier today of this Metallic Green '70 911T, which was over processed so badly, that I felt I just had to post a more believable, corrected version.......apologies for the amateurish attempt above.
Photo 3 - don't know the car or the driver, but thought I'd put one up for the gents down under ( on the front fender.......Ron Goodman - Sydney, Australia )
Photo 4 - detail from the Ron Gruener-built 935 from the R. Webster collection
Photo 5 - can't post pictures from the track without including Italian cars - I personally applaud the trend of more & more Ferrari owners abandoning red in lieu of more imaginative and suitable colors for their new Ferraris.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Z Goriup

.............and another set

Captions:

Photo 1 - engine shot of the PHOTOQUELLE RSR
Photo 2 - another photo of the same botched image posted earlier today of this Metallic Green '70 911T, which was over processed so badly, that I felt I just had to post a more believable, corrected version.......apologies for the amateurish attempt above.
Photo 3 - don't know the car or the driver, but thought I'd put one up for the gents down under ( on the front fender.......Ron Goodman - Sydney, Australia )
Photo 4 - detail from the Ron Gruener-built 935 from the R. Webster collection
Photo 5 - can't post pictures from the track without including Italian cars - I personally applaud the trend of more & more Ferrari owners abandoning red in lieu of more imaginative and suitable colors for their new Ferraris.

---

So, the Photoquelle car finally had the fan color changed...it was only a matter of time. :(

.........and the last five.

Captions:

Photo 1 - a brand-spanking new Aston-Martin Vanquish - Yes, I know I said no editorializing, but I feel the first version of a few years ago looks infinitely better and sleeker - this car has an unfortunately high and bulbous hood which must be difficult in traffic
Photo 2 - a very nicely and competently done home-built sports racer.............I just don't think chrome-plated spoked wheels are ever safe, suitable or appropriate for a track car
Photo 3 - some of Bonhams Auction's assembled jewels, which will be bid on next Friday evening in Monterey
Photo 4 - The front-mounted supercharger on a '31 Birkin Bentley, which has been in the same family since purchased new back in '31 - supercharger and other mods added by the original owner at the factory in the '30s. Almost totally original
Photo 5 - Vic Edelbrock being disgustingly cheerful for that early in the morning, polishing his personal Hot Rod which he built as a 76th Birthday present to himself

Hope I'm not boring you

JZG

Great shots, John --- always good to see your stuff splashed across my screen

And the weather looks spectacular!

We're coming-up Thursday for the Legends show, Friday. I actually got an extra battery --- attached to another Little Marvel, as a matter of fact . . . so I can shoot some more pics. I was also thinking about maybe hitting some of the auctions --- do some walk-thrus + check-out some cars . . . but I need to see what Zovig has patience for

Meanwhile ---- keep your pics coming, please! . . .

This is a great drive for those interested Friday AM:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...ry-8-16-a.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr9146

So, the Photoquelle car finally had the fan color changed...it was only a matter of time. :(

---

Tom van Overbeek acquired the car last year. He got used to being competitive in Spec 911, so things on a car that was getting tired appear to have been tuned-up a little bit...

[QUOTE=John Z Goriup;666806].............and another set

Photo 2 - another photo of the same botched image posted earlier today of this Metallic Green '70 911T, which was over processed so badly, that I felt I just had to post a more believable, corrected version.......apologies for the amateurish attempt above.
Photo 3 - don't know the car or the driver, but thought I'd put one up for the gents down under ( on the front fender.......Ron Goodman - Sydney, Australia )

Hi John,,

Lovely pic of the metallic green car in the car park - you've inspired me to repaint my L in its original colour.

Re Ron Goodman - Ron is one of the pre-eminent repairers of Porsches, McLaren etc etc in Sydney, Australia. He is the official Porsche repairer in Sydney. He very kindly opens up his shop on Saturday morning for "church" where we all come along tell tall stories and wince at the cars in at Ron's for repair or restoration.

The little 356 has been beautifully restored, and its rapid. I'd expect to be seeing it there are thereabouts at the front of its group. The car was very successfully (and spectacularly) driven at Rennsport Australia in Sydney in May.

John...

I can't be in Monterey/Carmel this week and I really enjoy your coverage. I hope there are pix coming of Carmel on Tuesday. I heard it was a huge turn-out this year.

Cheets,
John

JA. Tues was fantastic on the avenue. I gave 2 guys your contact info for early parts. Tate

Got back in time for a great home-cooked dinner after a week of restaurant fare and overpriced crap from the various vendors at Laguna Seca and the Concours venues, and got unpacked in record time.

To continue with promised coverage of Monterey Car Week I'd like to do something completely different instead of just resuming to post pictures from the various events. I have a total of about 2500 images which I will download starting tomorrow morning , process and post in event order, but in the meantime

This whole week is about cars and every aspect of the automotive passion, but not much would ever become of this many-faceted obsession with our beloved vehicles if it weren't for the things they rest and roll upon........namely, their WHEELS.

During the week there are many venues to visit where all kinds of tiny slices of the car-nut market are highlighted and presented in their best light, to sell and get your money, to show and raise desire for their products to fever pitch, and sometimes simply to impress with studied indifference towards spending huge sums of money, or to simply have the safest, fastest car for the track where you can measure yourself against other cars & drivers in your class.

The common thread in this is the wheel, and not for the first time as I walked through the pits or on the lawn of a Concours did I notice how much attention, work, money and care is spent on giving cars character and finishing off the exact look these owners wish their cars to project to the world by way of putting wheels on the car that the owners are convinced are the cherries atop their automotive sundaes. In another hobby I'm passionate about, building 1/43 scale, museum quality white metal Grand Prix cars, there is an old, time-honored saying: "no matter what model of which car you're building, if you get the wheels and the paint right, you'll have a winner".

So, in addition to the highest quality photos I'm capable of and the most complete coverage of each event I visited that I can offer, and which I committed to post when I return, here's a completely unplanned and random cross section of various wheels on many different cars I ran across during the past seven days at Monterey Car Week. The idea came to me as I studied the wide variety of just one type of wheel, Fuchs wheels on various 911s, and how many owners in some small and sometimes grandiose way try to differentiate themselves from other owners of Porsches with like wheels. With luck, maybe there's an idea or two buried within this group of images.........all I can say is that you would be very surprised to know how many of these are pictures of wheels on Porsches.

Please don't bother to critique the images from a photographic standpoint, since I just pointed the camera in the vast majority of cases and snapped the shutter. All following photos are minimally processed, except for some cropping to remove extraneous detail and concentrate on the wheel, while hopefully leaving enough of the car in the picture to assist in identification. I suspect the majority of members will be able to make heads & tails out of the photos and will be able to guess exactly what they're looking at.

Tomorrow, after I download the rest of the images I will start to process them and continue with the serious business of sharing the excitement of Car Week with the membership.......meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this small offering.

JZG

.........the second of seven sets of five

.........the third of seven sets of five

.........the fourth of seven sets of five

.........the fifth of seven sets of five

.........the sixth of seven sets of five

........and the last set of five.

Very nice John. I found myself snapping photos of a lot of the same wheels. Such a great little detail.

Hope you had a great week down there.

Kent

..............on with the show.

Getting some of my images downloaded and starting to organize them in some kind of order to post coverage of the events outlined above which I attended, but first, a series of random shots taken during Monterey car week to set the tone, provide a little atmosphere and lead into the first event, Doug Friedmann's wonderful "Cars-on-the-Avenue" Concours in Carmel on Ocean Avenue.

Happy to answer any specific questions IF I know the answers.

Enjoy,

JZG

Love your photos, John. Thanks for taking the time to post!

.............and five more.

......and a final set of "introductory" photos.

Thanks for looking.............will press on later today with many more, after I tend to the house, pool, pick up last week's mail, drop off the cleaning and have a large cappuccino.

Incidentally, that's Nick Mason, drummer for the Doors back in their day, who showed on of his Ferraris at Pebble. Can't remember when I met a more laid back, deep and insightful gent than him.......wish there were more like him, who do what they do for the sheer joy of playing with cars, not the money or for profit and the quick buck.

JZG

John,

Thanks for sharing...yet another epic car week. I NEVER tire of it!

Dave

P.S. Nick Mason is with Pink Floyd since the mid sixties.

Ya, I was gonna say that too. Nick Mason is from Pink Floyd. John Densmore was the drummer for the Doors.

I know absolutely nothing about popular music, not back then and even less nowadays....all I know is that he played for an English group at one time, and that it was not a chamber music quartet....and I took a stab. Sorry I guessed wrong.

Back to the cars, please.

JZG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Z Goriup

I know absolutely nothing about popular music, not back then and even less nowadays....all I know is that he played for an English group at one time, and that it was not a chamber music quartet....and I took a stab. Sorry I guessed wrong.

Back to the cars, please.

JZG

---

I am all for getting back to the cars, but the Doors are an American band. ;)

Really great stuff John.
Thanks for sharing.

To continue, I finally got the images I chose from the wonderful "Cars-on-the-Avenue" Concours processed and am ready to post.

Note: Without derailing this thread, I would like to sincerely thank Randy Wells for his words of advice & help in the photography thread in the Off-Topic forum and his patient, most useful advice on better photography. I've been doing this passably well & passionately ( or so I thought ) for a long time and have managed to accumulate about 25,000 digital images on my hard-drive, but up to now have not been as acutely aware of the importance of the post processing phase of digital photography as Randy has made me by offering his selfless council and especially his emphasis on finesse, small changes, subtelty, and most importantly, getting it right in the camera, to minimize what needs to be done electronically later, to arrive at stronger, purer and truer photography via skill and a sound basis of knowledge of photography. I have slowed down, applied everything I've learned recently and look forward to continue to refine my humble offerings further as I become more comfortable with new digital tools - and it is important to bear in mind that what you see posted here has been downloaded to a CF card in the camera, then to the computer hard-drive, then manipulated with software, down-sized for posting on this forum, sent through third-party routers and it's all being watched on monitors which may or may not be optimally calibrated.........anyone's images you see here are likely to be quite removed from what the photographer saw the instant he fired the shutter, degradation is inevitable.

________________________

After the Pre-Reunion, the next event last week was the free Concours on Ocean Avenue in Carmel on Tuesday of Monterey Car Week. This jewel, conceived by Doug Friedman has been getting better every year, in the sense of higher quality cars, placement and arrangement of cars, organization and response to participants requests and complaints. In the past the first couple of hours of the morning were a nightmare, with cars idling endlessly, overheating, being directed to the wrong spots etc. etc. This year staging was a model of efficiency and went off without a hitch............so much more enjoyable when the stress of getting the car ready for show is removed.

I apologize that I simply wasn't able to get a significant number of clear shots without people in them since the crowd was even bigger than last year. I suppose I could have waited longer at each car until the magic moment arrived when there were no fat asses, big beer bellies and obnoxious kids in the way but there just were not enough hours in the day, so I cropped each shot to show the car and a minimum of extraneous clutter. It's a condition that prevailed at all venues this year.

I'm not sure if I should take the time to write captions with every photo, or just post the images and try to respond to specific questions as they arise.......if you'd like, please indicate your preference and let us know. Until I hear from you folks, I'll reserve my comments only to shots were I suspect there might be obvious confusion.

Enjoy.

JZG

PS: tomorrow, its the Pebble Tour Stop, also on Ocean, but altogether different cars and a different format.

Captions:

Photo #1 Steve Moal, the famous Oakland, CA hot-rod builder had six of his now customer-owned cars entered, which all entered en masse.
Photo #2 a rare little '53 Ferrari 500 Mondial 4-cylinder sports racer
Photo #3 Paul Camusi's Tangerine '71 911T which was previously covered in the "New star rising" thread - it took the newly introduced Bruce Anderson award for excellence.

.......next group

Photo #4 - there were four VW and Porsche-based coach builder bodies at the Concours which all shared one very important detail - they all were equipped with what are popularly referred to as "suicide doors " where the door is hinged at the rear edge of the door to ease stepping out of the car. Shown are two of these unique models
Photo #5 - a fortuitous line-up & a perfect opportunity to show the evolution of the 356 windshield which defined the earliest Porsche models. At the left, a split-windshield very early car, i.e. the front glass consisted of two flat safety panes divided by a metal brace; used in the Gmünd cars and through the '52 MY. For '53 and through '55 models the front glass was changed to the "bent windshield", wherein the windshield still consisted of a flat panel bent into a V shape, but no longer separated by the steel center support, rather a single piece of glass - it distorted. For '56 and later, the curved one-piece windshield was introduced.

......for the third set I'd like to dedicate all five shots to a single, amazingly well done and effective '58 356 sun-roof Coupe by Gary Emory - in fact I'll go so far to suggest that this is the original and ONLY real Outlaw.

Just look at the way the body modifications around the side windows were handled, and the manner in which the 550A Spyder hatch covers are integrated in the rear quarter panels to house the fire suppression system. In the rear, a Polo 4-cylinder 2540cc, 180 HP twin-plug engine is hooked to a 901 5-speed transmission, ZF limited slip differential, all supported by a 911 rear suspension system with 911 torsion bar tube and stopped by RS60 annular disc brakes. The car weighs 1900 pounds.

Many a visitor ( including yours truly ) just stood there open-mouthed in wonderment and spent a long time studying this masterpiece.

Stunning, magnificent !!

...........and 5 more

..........and another set.

Phil Bagley's Florida-based Klub Sport Racing organization really outdid themselves this year. Brought a large number of cars, including some new examples that show off the high quality of their workmanship and competence very well.

Photo #1 - Don Ahearn's new car, a '67 911 ex-factory race car, Ser.# 308107, purchased by Don in January of this year and prepared by Klub Sport. This car has been raced since new, and is one of the early "Sports Purpose" machines which were raced as Trans-Am cars in the US. It was originally equipped with Rally kit, roll bar, limited slip diff. with airport gearing in the 901 box, and a 100 liter fuel tank. You really need to hear this car run.....it will give you goosebumps.

Photo #4 - Stephen Childs' '73 911 RS Lightweight, one of 19 RH drive cars - regularly & robustly driven, just as it should be.

Photo #5 - I made up my mind to include a shot of this experiment the moment I laid eyes on it, no matter who or how many others posted images of it..........however I'll make no effort to explain it, justify it or comment on it. I'm not sure anyone can.

asnd yet another set of 5.

Photo #1 - the name of this beautiful color is Peru Red, but I suspect that Porsche, as they've been in the habit of doing for decades, merely took an earlier color and renamed it, in this case 356 Orange, offered for the '58 MY as an option. I think it's the same color as the 912 from Gilroy which showed up at EASY earlier this year and drew so much attention.........but, I may be wrong.

Photo #2 - Bob Smith's immaculately presented and prepared Metallic Green Targa - simply beautiful.

Photo #4 - '54 Ferrari 375 sports racer, which went on to take the Best of Show trophy.

Photo #5 - '57 One-off Ferrari 250 Coupe

.......and the final set of 5.

John....your images are tack sharp...what camera are you using?

Andrew

The camera I like best and use the most is a manual focus Leica M9P full-frame digital rangefinder with the following M lenses: 21mm Super-Elmar Asph., 24mm f2.8 Elmarit Asph., 35mm Summicron Asph., 50mm Summicron ( fourth generation ) and 90mm Summicron Apo-Asp.

Also use a Canon 5D Mk II with a 24mm f3.5 T/S Mk II manual focus, 35mm "L" f1.4, a manual focus Zeiss f2.0 100mm Macro-Planar for details, and a Canon 400mm f5.6 "L" for shooting moving cars on the track......always with a monopod.

Don't and won't ever own another zoom except on a pocket camera where IQ is really not that important as long as you get an image.

Respectfully,

JZG

.......next event.

After Tuesday's "Cars-on-the-Avenue" affair there's a bit of a hole on Wednesday, since the only "official" event is Anton Singer's Memorabilia Expo at the Embassy Suites hotel.

Therefore let's skip to the next popular public event on Thursday mid-day, the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance. As mentioned previously, this approx. 50-mile drive started out as a means to break potential ties in scoring on the field during Sunday's famous Concours, the thought being that the 5 points awarded to any car that completes the drive & successfully demonstrates the cars functions on the road will break potential scoring ties. The drive, which usually includes about half the cars entered in the Sunday Concours starts in the early AM at the Polo fields, meanders along 17-mile drive, then South on Highway 1, heads inland a few miles and winds up on the divided section of Ocean Avenue in "downtown" Carmel, where the cars are parked two abreast, nose-to-tail over the six or so blocks of Ocean Ave.

..............and there's the Rub. This is a free event, and with the price of tickets to the Sunday Concours escalating every year, it attracts more & more people every year and has long ago ceased to be the free glimpse of the cars, rather has turned into a free-for-all mob-scene with the few rent-a-cops haplessly standing by the cars, unable, untrained and / or unwilling to tell the hordes of the unwashed to please keep their distance. With my own eyes I have seen well-meaning grand parents plop their toddler grandchildren into the driver's seat of a multi-million $$ open car so Grammy can take a shot of the precious little sh*t with their iPad.

To avoid interacting with that segment of the public I usually try to find a spot along the exit Route to shoot from, and try to get images of the cars in motion, and to hear them run. Since this event takes place in Carmel past mid-day, the fog's usually gone by then and one can get good, sunny shots of the cars.

No, Jack's and Rolly's car ( the last two shots ) were not part of the Tour officially, but they were easily the two most photogenic subjects on the Avenue and richly deserve to be featured to capture and demonstrate the true spirit of the early 911 community.

PS: I've said this before, but I think this year was most likely the last time I'll subject myself to this particular experience..............the hassle and stress of it all is just not worth it to me any longer.

......and the next set.

The last car, the black '21 Duesenberg Coupe, is the very same car that some of us who regularly attend the Canepa Cars & Coffe Saturdays have featured previously in that respective thread.

JZG

...........and 5 more.

Car #2 ( please forgive the motion blur ) is an early attempt by the factory to create a 911 based Cabriolet, using this '64 Karmann built and modified Coupe with its top removed.

and the final set of 5.

As you can see, the crowds get pretty thick by the time the cars are ready to depart and if you want shots of the event you're well advised to secure a good spot and to not move from it under any circumstances, hence the same perspective and angle.

Photo #5 - Ferry Porsche's personal '70 911S sunroof-equipped "Company car" in Metallic Olive Green........quite beautiful in the dazzling sunshine, not so much so on Sunday in the fog on the 18th green at Pebble Beach.

Later today..........."Legends of the Autobahn" coverage.

Thank you for the wonderful photos, John. Any chance that you got one of the blue Siata 208S that was sitting in the paddock at Laguna Seca? It was my favorite roadster of the week. My phone camera photo doesn't do it justice.

Exceptional as always John..... keep'm come'n

John...

The visuals are so outstanding that my senses of smell and hearing are stimulated as well. The craftsmanship of your photos matches the craftsmanship of the cars.

John

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Z Goriup

.......next event.

After Tuesday's "Cars-on-the-Avenue" affair there's a bit of a hole on Wednesday, since the only "official" event is Anton Singer's Memorabilia Expo at the Embassy Suites hotel.

---

Hold on JZG...There is something to do on Wednesday...Its WAY more fun than the Expo..

This year was the Inaugural Carmel Mission Concours. They did not receive too much attention as people were still feeling them out. If you went, you had a NICE time..

NOT the fluff and high dollar cars you saw at the Carmel Concours on the Avenue. All the proceeds went to the Mission and the Knights of Columbus. Admission was $25.00 but the value was there. Wine tasting, the Mission courtyard was beautiful (weather helped) and the cars were pretty nice.

Next year, I'll be entering and would like to encourage anyone here to do the same.

My photographer skills are not like JZG, but you get the "picture"

Good seeing you and your wife on Monday..Ocean Avenue returning to "normal"

Ray, you're right of course. I had read about the car show and the blessing of the cars, but for once, my wife, who's been giving me premier accommodations in Carmel and a complete package of tickets to just about every event during car week for the last twenty years for my birthday (which is just around the corner), accompanied me this time and I just didn't want to push my luck by filling every day with car stuff, so we went to Point Lobos and Pfeiffer Big Sur and really enjoyed the day...........next year, the show at the Mission.

and now, on to "Legends of the Autobahn".

I used to fill my Friday with the Concorso Italiano and the "Quail Gathering" but Concorso has gotten really trite, they have raised their price to where it's nowhere near being a bargain anymore, and it's far too full of Fiat V8s - isn't that what most current Ferraris, and all Maseratis and Alfa Supercars really are, and I find the Quail with its $600 ticket price and their strict 3,500 ticket limit a real turn-off........therefore I split my day between the Legends Concours and shooting cars at the track at Laguna Seca to avoid some of the Saturday crowds.

Legends is free, convenient, and it's the perfect stop between other events nearby and you can talk to people you see but once a year. My wife particularly enjoyed it because she kept pointing to half the cars on the lawn, saying - " I remember when we owned that one !"..........and that one............and that one.

JZG

..........next set

and another five.

The last photo of the dark, dark blue 911 ( Yes, I know, everyone thinks it's black - but I really put a lot of effort into getting the color right in this shot and it's very close to real life ), is the completely original "barn find" from a residential garage in Pacific Palisades where the car has been hidden for the last 30 plus years. It's got less than 60,000 miles on the clock and was shown and sold through European Collectibles in March of this year during the LA Lit show weekend to its new and present owner. A truly remarkable specimen.

JZG

.......and the final set.

thank you.....thank you......thank you......

" Motorsports Reunion" at Laguna Seca.

To me, the Saturday session at the track has always been the defining event of what attracted me to what were then called the Historics, when I first moved to California. The day embodies every aspect that makes Vintage racing the all-absorbing passion it is for so many people.

I don't intrend to just gush and hyperventilate over what a great day I had ( and have had every year I attended the Historics ) at this wonderful little corner of California, other than to say I'll keep doing it until I'm no longer physically capable of humping it up to the Corkscrew turn. A good day here makes me very happy, makes me feel young again, and sustains me during the winter. Occasionally sitting down at the computer and reviewing the shots from a particular year to spot details of cars and find familiar people in the shots provides deep satisfaction in the off-season and invariably gives me something to look forward to.

I've spent a lot of time at this keyboard the last few days since I returned and am falling seriously behind on other obligations, so here are the photos I've chosen from Laguna Seca '13...........sans commentary, other than to remind everyone that this year's featured marque was Corvette. All that really accomplished was to make me wish even more fervently then before for Rennsport Reunion V next October........and that's straight from the horse's mouth.

Enjoy,

JZG

PS: Sorry, don't have a single image of the blue SIATA - If anyone would like a caption or a detailed description of what we're looking at, let me know and I'll eventually get to it.........after I finish this thread later today or tomorrow morning with Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance coverage.

next set - there'll be a total of 8 sets of 5 ea. = 40 images

John,

I share your sentiments on the Historics...I brought a friend down who had never been, he couldn't get enough.
His eyes were lit up like a kid in a candy store. He told me he wished he'd known about them years ago...I told him
"I've been telling you about them for the last 10 years!"

Thanks again for posting
Dave

........#3 of eight.

Apologies to Tilton, but I too thought this was a spectacular view of ol' Moby Dick......had no idea he was going to post a similar shot when I fired the shutter on my camera.

...........#4 of the promised 8.

Photo #2 Steve Schmidt's ( owner - Honest Engine ) pit area and collection of cars just keeps getting better n' better every time I see it......Congratulations !
Photo #4 a '80 Ferrari 512 LM - it was under a red awning which turned everything a sick magenta shade , hence the b&w conversion.
Photo #5 rear frame section and diff. support structure of an Aston-Martin DBR 2.

..........#5 of eight sets.

Photo #5 a noble gaggle of racing Porsches brought and looked after by Jerry Woods Enterprises - that's Jerry W. in the black shirt and hat.

..........and Number six of eight.

Photo #4 - good friend Walt Sikes's '67 2000cc track machine, which is featured along with Walt's '65 Carrera Panamericana car in the current issue of Excellence with photos and a fine article by Randy Wells.

Edit: Walt's silver race car shown here is not the car featured in the Excellence article mentioned. Walt also owns an Irish Green '65 911 which was the other car featured in the article along with his Pan-Am car....sorry.

JZG

..........#7 of eight

.....and the final set.

re Photo #2, I have no idea how John Dilger ( Editor of our ESSES quarterly ) scored the choicest parking spot in the entire compound.

The last shot is also my last shot I snapped from Saturday. I was on my way out to make the long uphill hike to the car when I hard the unmistakable howl of a flat six turbo motor in full cry along the finish straight. I hadn't heard that they announced that Moby Dick, the GT1 and the Baby Turbo would be doing a series of demonstration laps, and managed to snap this one shot,........ with the 50mm lens at its last setting and focused at infinity. Sometimes the Gods indeed are smiling.

Thanks for looking

JZG

Bravo John......

Incredible work John....thanks for taking the time to post and narrate!

GREAT PICTURES, John. Thanks for sharing

Thank you very much!!

Thanks for posting John! I gotta say, I really do like the B/W in #62! There is something about it that is very cool!

John

If it's the third Sunday in August, well, then we've arrived at the final event of Monterey Car Week,............the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

This year's edition was splendid as always, except for one earth shaking exception: there were Porsches present, 911s specifically, carefully & individually considered by the selection committee and invited to mark the 50th anniversary of the long-lived sports car icon, which was officially debuted to the world at the Frankfurt Auto Show of 1963. There seemed to be a greater number of cars on the lawn than in recent years, the crowds were bigger andf started earlier, at first it was more foggy and drizzlier than it usually is, but the sun eventually came out as it always does, and it turned into yet another routine demonstration of just why this is justifiably considered widely to be the best Concours d'Elegance in the world.

As is their custom, the organizers of the Concours chose multiple marques as the featured brands of the show, this year including Lincoln, Aston-Martin on the occasion of their centennial, and Indy Roadsters from the classic Offenhauser-engined era as a special display.

As always, if you'd like additional info please let me know.

Thanks again for logging on and looking, and for all your replies and comments.

JZG

Photo #1 - Don't be fooled by all the sunshine and light, the day sure the Hell didn't start out like that, in the early hours it looks a lot more like Photo #2 - cool, wet and clammy

...........and the next set, the second of nine total to do this event justice.

.......set #3of the nine promised.

It's awfully good to see that the members of the selection committee must love early classic Alfas as much as many of us who used to own Alfas do.

..........this entire set of 5 photos in the fourth set are dedicated to one car, the remarkable '63 901 Prototype Coupe.

I respectfully submit that it's really worth your time to study the details and see what Butzi, Ferry et al, and everyone who had a significant hand in the design of this timeless masterpiece changed, left in or took out as the 911 Series matured over time.

.......the 6th set.

Ferraris have always been well represented and treated with affection and respect at Pebble - and this year was no exception. Now that the shock & awe of $35 million $$$ GTOs and other stratospherically priced, ultra-rare specimens has apparently morphed from rare exception to the expected, it's good to see bread-and-butter sports racers and one-offs realistically restored, presented and shown. No matter the prices, let's remember they're still just cars and the most joy one can derive from owning them is to drive them. It's only then that the sensitive enthusiast will note that there's really no mystery and certainly no mystique about any Ferrari, that the cars and those that designed and built them were, as the old saying goes "cooking with gas", just like everyone else who was building the best GTs during the golden years of the later '50s and '60s when sports cars reached their zenith...........and those are the musings of an old Ferrari owner who bought and sold his only Ferrari, a '60 GT 250 SWB, exactly fifty years ago this year. The only tangible memory remaining of that car today is the Nardi steering wheel in Ruprecht, my current 911.

...........set #7

.......ans set #8.

One of the other featured brands this year was Lincoln - here an entirely original aluminum-bodied '29 LeBaron-built Aero Phaeton. The strange looking appendage in the rear is the owner's idea of establishing a visual connection between his custom-built car and the rudders in the tails of airplanes of the day which he used for his airline.

Another featured marque on the lawn this year was the venerable British marque Aston-Martin. Never as technologically current as their German and Italian competitors, but always so damned English. Another brand that's drifted way too far from their roots.

the final set 0f five.

On the way in and out of the Concours you're steered past the manufacturer's displays and the concept displays.

EDIT: Part of the temporary Porsche factory display was this beautiful '67 911S Targa. It is number 460 of the 483 S Targas manufactured, and is one of only four cars produced in the special color of "Canary Yellow". The accompanying sign goes on to tell us that today it is the only car of the four left in its original color. The car is part of and was provided by the Ingram Collection.

Also shown a 918 which looked awfully close to what you would expect to see in a production car from Zuffenhausen. In my opinion the car looks just fine overall, but Jeez, that busy, helter-skelter mess of disconnected elements over the engine compartment spoils the entire effect. I hope they reconsider this and change it to something more attractive, appropriate and more logically resolved.

The last car is a new, smallish SUV-type shown by the AMG division of Mercedes-Benz. Make mine a conventionally glossy, non-metallic, Olive-tinted British Racing Green with deep amber / tan leather interior, a sensibly sized, normally aspirated AMG V8 with a traditional clutch-operated six-speed and I'll send my deposit check by Next-Day Express mail.

Thanks again,............see you again in the third week of August next year.

Bravo John. Bravo.

Thank you, Peter, much appreciated.

After reviewing the Pebble post I noticed that I had promised 9 sets but only posted 8, therefore, to fulfill my promise of nine sets of shots and retain some credibility, here's the absolute, last set of photos from this year's Monterey extravaganza.

Photos #1 & #2 are of a couple of Ferraris which had been treated to complete ground-up restoration by their Classiche program. Well done.
Photo #3 - Rolls-Royce Wraith, 624 HP with 590 lb-ft of torque - 0 to 60 = 4.4 sec. the most advanced aspect: a satellite-aided transmission which receives input from the GPS system to "see" the road beyond what the driver actually sees, and anticipates his next move based on his driving style, speed, location etc. and then automatically selects the appropriate gear.
Photo #4 - Aston Martin's totally unexpected concept super car, the CC 100 Speedster, to celebrate the company's centennial and to commemorate their most successful race car, the DBR 1.
The last shot - Norman Dewis, ( the gent in the red vest ) legendary Jaguar test driver and development engineer, 92 years old.........and still makes the trans-Atlantic trip to Monterey every year.

Now I'm really done.

JZG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Z Goriup

. . . Another featured marque on the lawn this year was the venerable British marque Aston-Martin. Never as technologically current as their German and Italian competitors, but always so damned English . . .

---

Gordon Murray

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...5&d=1377450328,[IMG][/IMG]

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...7&d=1377450328,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...6&d=1377450328,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...3&d=1377450328,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...2&d=1377450328,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...8&d=1377310790,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...2&d=1377314179,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...9&d=1377451362,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...0&d=1377451408

Some of my photos from the 2013 motorsport Monterey car week

John. a fantastic thread, I particularly liked the wheel essay. Super photography, great subjects and details.

John, thank you so much for this excellent thread. I look forward to your Monterey thread every year.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...9&d=1377473462,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...4&d=1377450328,http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...1&d=1377314063,
550 porsche spyder

Curt,

great shots of one of the most authentic, well -preserved vintage Porsches of all.......that little Spyder has more patina, soul & character than just about any other vintage car out there. I hope no one ever restores it, it would be a crime.

I hope you don't mind if I take the liberty of adding to your photos by posting the attached shot of a sign chronicling the story of the acquisition of the car that the owner displayed with that car in last year's Reunion when I had a chance to chat with him.......a more real and delightful gent you'll never meet.

JZG

Hi John, Thank you for the history sheet on this 550 spyder, you just don't see cars that show the years of race history as shown in the patina on this Porsche. What an investment at $2,000 dollars...

Thank you John for all your outstanding photos and commentary
Curt

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...1&d=1377473642

John enjoyed your photos.
Some good car stories with every car.
fyi Pre and Reunion track photo link. :)
http://photos.bobheathcote.com/event...olex-Monterey/

In spite of the music overlay...Nice Vintage racing noises from Reunion. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4xDBJQswgA

I'm starting a little house-keeping of my hard-drive to clear everything off it that is not used on a daily basis, sort all my photos by various categories, subjects, etc. and saving everything onto external hard drives.

Ran across the following random images which I have not posted before…….all from Monterey Car Week '13, all taken on Saturday of the Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca.

Enjoy

JZG

and another 5………...

and another set

and five more………..

and another set of 5……….

and still more……….

and the final set.

Thanks for looking,

JZG

Thank you John!

+1 Thank you John! A wonderful summer flashback in late Fall.

Now that the latest issue of the ESSES is hopefully in everyone's hands, please allow me to post the rest of my images which I think are fit for viewing, from Monterey Car Week earlier this year. I didn't want to pre-empt John D's great issue of the current edition of the ESSES and therefore waited until its publication last week to put up the remaining images that have not been posted / published yet, to present a more complete picture of what has become over time the premier US-based vintage / collector car event.


None of the following photos have been shown on pages 1 through 9 of this thread, nor published in the ESSES.

Hope you enjoy…………
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ______________

The next six sets are all from Tuesday's "Cars on the Avenue" Concours, the first concours of the week and an event rapidly rising in popularity & prestige.

Note: If you'd like additional info. about any specific car or photo, please feel free to post & I'll do my best to answer it.

JZG

and 5 more….

and another 5...

and 5 more…. the first two are of member Stephen Childs' '73 right-hand drive Lightweight RS, driven to and from the event.

and another set….

and the final set from " Cars-on-the-Avenue ".

The #15 Bud Moore Boss 302 historic Trans Am race car was formerly owned by our own Early S member...aka Silverbullit.

To continue coverage of the 2013 Monterey Car Week, here are some images of the Pebble Beach Tour, a 55-mile drive along Calif. Hwy 1, 17-mile Drive and a 2-3 hour display of the cars participating in the Tour along Ocean Ave. As mentioned before, I don't particularly care for this event, since it utterly fails to capture & honor the spirit of the Pebble Beach Concours itself, but it does offer a unique opportunity to see and hear rare & important cars being driven one would not normally ever encounter other than statically displayed.

JZG

and 5 more…...

and another five

John nice snaps in spite of the crowds everywhere. :)

and another set of 5...

………..the final set from the " Pebble Tour '13 ".

To finish with Monterey Car Week once and for all for '13, here are the remainder of my images from the Pebble Beach Concours itself, the signature event that started this whole love affair between collector car fanatics and aficionados and the Monterey / Carmel area back in the fifties, even before Laguna Seca was envisioned and opened in '59 to hold the first races.

Thanks for logging on and taking a look ……………see you all next year.

JZG

and for the next 5...

…..and 5 more

andf still more...

three more sets to go

and one more set of 5...

and the last set of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance photos.

I promised at the very beginning no commentary and on the whole I've actually managed to refrain from editorializing on the photos and spared you my customary pontificating, but at the sight of the first car in this set, namely, that white, asymmetrical, bar-of-soap-on-the-floor-of-the-shower-stall blob I can hold my tongue no longer. It's Raymond Lowey's BMW 507 styling study he submitted to compete with the original Graf Albrecht Görtz's design………..how on Earth did he ever earn a reputation as one of Americas's greatest designers with creations like this.

JZG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Z Goriup

the signature event that started this whole love affair between collector car fanatics and aficionados and the Monterey / Carmel area back in the fifties, even before Laguna Seca was envisioned and opened in '59 to hold the first races.

---

Uh, John... The Concours started out as a display of a few cars on a practice tee as an adjunct to the 1950 Del Monte Trophy races, also known as the Pebble Beach Road Races. The car show moved to the Lodge in '52. Originally, the show wasn't for "collector cars," but was just for a few nice contemporary sports cars. By the mid-Fifties people started bringing out classics.

After Ernie McAfee died slamming his Ferrari into a tree at Pebble Beach in 1956, Granite Construction's bulldozers were used to blaze the Corkscrew through the oaks to connect some Fort Ord roads into a circuit. The first race weekend at Laguna was on November 9, 1957, and the main was won by the legendary Pete Lovely in his famous Ferrari.

In my admittedly provincial view, the Concours was not a "signature" event until 20 years ago -- and then, only after Steve Earle's 1974 track-party took off and boosted the musty old Concours's attendance figures. That's history as I remember it, although I'm young... First P-B Concours in '69; first Laguna Can-Am in '71... Others here remember better than I do...

-- David

P.S. Graf Albrecht Goertz was Raymond Lowey's man at Studebaker -- in fact it was Goertz who was responsible for the "Lowey" Studebakers. It's an interesting curiosity that Lowey's studio tried to compete with Goertz on the 507 concept. Of course, Goertz was also doing super-secret contract work for some cuckoo-clock factory over in Zuffenhausen in those days as well...

Thanks for the back story David. :cool:

The open 911 prototype pictured is my car. The Thursday tour is absolutely my favorite part of being an entrant in the Pebble Beach Concours. First, the scenery of the drive to Big Sur while being surrounded by the world's most amazing cars is better than anything we have here in Ohio. Second, the crowds in Carmel are enthusiastic and knowledgable. It's an absolute blast interacting with the people and I always learn something about my own car, regardless of how obscure it may be. Thank you for posting these pics; they bring back great memories.