For me the highlight of Monterey's Classic Car Week is the Pebble Beach tour d'elegance, where concours entrants are invited to drive their precious vehicles on a 50-mile route that includes a section of the equally fabled California One. The tour was first instituted as a tie-breaker for the Concours but I'm guessing most drivers take part just because it's fun to be sharing the road with some of the world's rarest and most beautiful automobiles. For the spectator there's another side to this: Great sounds. Old cars have a distinctive engine note that we just don't hear any more. So if you want to know how a vintage Bugatti or Packard or Mercedes or Ferrari sounded when they were new, this is your chance. The folks at Autoblog must have been up early in the morning and chased the tour all day, for they're serving up a fabulous photo album, which you can enjoy by clicking here. This lovely Alfa Romeo is an example. Now, if only they'd recorded those sounds!
[Photo credit: Autoblog]
Thank you Philip for your well written commentaries, which, for some reason, I have just discovered. Having a vehicle at Oak Bay (66 Shelby – yes a real one), and being involved in the racing and crazy car hobby both on the Island, on the Mainland and in Quebec, many years ago, I would love to read more of your work and meet you at some point. Please say hello to Nigel for me.
August 24, 2009 @ 2:32 pmYale Shap