Monterey 2011 – Day 3

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is arguably the best event of its kind in the world. Never a disappointment, it brings cars from across the globe.

It also brings the best of the best car companies out, even the smaller more exclusive companies like Eagle, who make this beautiful restomod style E-type.

I loved this stop watch mounted in the Eagle.

Porsche had their usual display area, this time with a lot more race cars than usual.

This 911 had a serious whale tale.

Cadillac brought out their Converj concept, which looks pretty good in person.

Lotus had their usual display up with these Evora's waiting to be test driven by potential customers.

They also had this matte black Exige which is supposed to be a sort of "final" version of the current car.

Not all of the cars at the Lotus booth were new...

Ferrari brought their new FF. Even after seeing it in person, I'm not sure what I think about the car.

They also brought out this classic 288 GTO, the first one I've really seen up close.

After all the manufacturer displays the next stop is the concept car lawn, where the latest and greatest of the high end automotive world are present, like this SSC Tuatara.

The Tuatara was designed by Jason Castriota, the designer of the Maserati Birdcage concept, Bertone Mantide and the Ferrari P4/5.

This is the Jaguar CX-75 concept which has a very interesting power-plant.

This is the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale, a great looking car with the underpinnings from a Dodge Viper.

As usual there was a Veyron.

Or two.

The Lamborghini LP700 Aventador looks great in person and thankfully photographs very well.

The Porsche 918 RSR was parked in the same spot that the original 918 Spider was parked in last year.

The McLaren MP4-12c looked surprisingly good in flashy chrome paint.

The concept lawn offered me a second chance to get some photos of the 328 Hommage concept, which was nice cause the lighting situation of the display at Laguna Seca was pretty bad.

I really hope Cadillac makes the Ciel concept, it would be so cool to see one of these coming down the road.

After browsing the concept car lawn it was time to head in to the 18th green where all the Concours entrants are. The first car I saw was the 300SLR that Sir Stirling Moss himself drove way back when.

It took me a second to realize that Stirling was actually standing right next to the car!

This Ferrari 250LM was beautiful, I wish I had gotten more shots of it.

Mercedes was a featured marque this year so there were plenty of beautiful pre-war examples on the green.

The new motorcycle class was part of the show for the third year now, this year with all Italian bikes.

I had no idea Maserati made a motorcycle at one point!

I can never get enough of 300SL's, roadsters or otherwise.

This Gullwing had awesome plaid seats.

The Mercedes 600 is one of my favorite cars ever, so to see this six-door Landaulet (essentially a convertible) version was really exciting.

The 600 is famous for having owners that ranged from infamous dictators to Elvis Presley.

This particular 600 was owned by the Romanian government until the late 1970s.

There were a total of 22 Ferrari GTO's in multiple variations at the show this year.

This is especially amazing considering that these cars are changing hands at prices upwards of 10 million dollars a piece.

The above GTO's are series II bodied versions.

I loved the Gulf style paint-job on this 250.

This car was known as the GTO prototype.

This was one of the most elegant cars at the show, another pre-war Benz.

A classic Bentley lines up after winning best in its class.

Another Gullwing.

The Ferrari 250LM from earlier.

An old Forumla 1 Ferrari.

The period correct accessories on this 300SL roadster really set it apart from the rest of the cars in its class.

It was very cool to see the original Shelby Daytona in person, especially after seeing so many kit cars.

This car was the best of show winner, a very special Voisin C-25. It was very hard to get a decent shot of this car as it was constantly mobbed by people.

After the show was over it was time to walk back to the car at which point BMW's latest M5 drove by.

This Phantom Drophead was a fitting car for the event, opulence and style.

That's it for this years Monterey coverage! I hope you enjoyed it. If all goes according to plan I should be out there next year again.