Decor Girl

Car Week on the Monterey Peninsula is the one place automotive lovers, enthusiasts and spouses make a pilgrimage to, from every corner of the planet.  Actually it is like a week of rest, we shut out the rest of the world, ignore all the political bullshit and just unite over the love of the automobile.  Cars are their own religion, on the final day we pray at the 62nd annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Copyright © 2012 by Kimball Studios/Courtesy of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

Where do I start?  With over 1,200 pictures of our time at Automotive Mecca I could fill a year full of blog posts.  For this week I’ll cut to the highlights.  Come back each Saturday for in-depth reports on the events, test drives, concept cars, auctions and other car finds. On out way into town the first car we spot is #7 from the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic on his last leg of the 1,500 mile journey from Kirkland, WA to Pebble Beach.  Next was one of the favorites, a Blower Bentley.  It is always fun to guess what car we are going to spy first. As soon as we arrive in Carmel and unpack it is off the the McCall Motorworks Revival 2012 for food, planes and cars.  We even ran into the the Flight Options gang we saw the previous week at their event in Cleveland.  The best part?  Cocktails, supercars and a boatload of Peter Brock designed Cobras. I woke up early on Thursday excited for day one, starting with my 10:00 am test drive of the new Bentley Continental GT V8.  Photos don’t do a Bentley justice.  One has to touch, feel and drive to get the full meaning of their bespoke design mentality.  Problem was it made the next test drive, an Italian supercar, come off as well, pedestrian with noise!  Up bright and early for test laps at Laguna Seca, Mazda Raceway, Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, what ever in the heck they are calling it this year.  I just love the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.   No baby blankets or monster sized q-tips for these magnificent growling metal machines.  Trailer queens need not apply.  Cars being driven as they were meant to be.  This year is was all about the Shelby Cobra.  Yes, I’ve got snaps from the pits as well as the special Shelby Cobra display including Carroll Shelby’s very own and number one. You could forget all about your impending heatstroke, oh it was hot, while being mesmerized by racing legend Alain de Cadenet interviewing racing god Sir Stirling Moss at The Quail.  A perfect place for the foodie/car lover, the car show field is surrounded by gourmet food tents which satisfied my need for clean organic food.  (Earthbound Farms is right down the road.) What?  I don’t get to take the car home if it matches my outfit?  Even the special Rolls-Royce was an exact match to the polish on my toes.  This must count for something.  Bugatti, Aston Martin, Rolls, hmm how does one choose?

Let me say poo poo to all those car people who don’t get blue cars.  Why do you think the intro and ad cars are often blue?  Because they look the best.  Ha!  (I don’t wear red and I don’t drive red, period.)

Friday was another test drive day… the little blue number above in a different color, very throaty.  The Grand Marshall from the Concurs d’Lemons was hidden away in a the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance corral, who knew.  The high-low mix is not just for fashion. The Mercer racing boys with their speedy little 1918 Raceabout.  How is that for a car name?

It was all great fun.  But let me say, I could still use a vacation.  We barely had a free minute.  My iPhone had alerts going off almost by the hour of what we had to get to next!

This is just a taste of Car Week.  Keep coming back and I’ll fill you in on all the details with pictures from all the events.  I should add, one gets desensitized real quick to all this automotive splendor.  Time to remove the car goggles.