My 6 Favorite Street-Parked Classics at Monterey Car Week
Events like the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Motorlux, and The Quail allow car geeks to look at their leisure, with cars acting as contemplative objects. We forget that Monterey Car Week is actually a moveable feast and a certain subset of Car Week attendees prefer spotting cars in the wild, both street parked and cruising packed downtown Monterey streets like Del Monte, Alvarado, and Calle Principal. I’m part of that subset. As always, Monterey didn’t fail to deliver copious helpings of the weird and wonderful this year to snap and talk about (precise years are guesswork on my part):
1966 Ford GT40 (Replica)
OK, I’m going out on a limb here and assume that this was a replica since street legal GT 40 MK IIs are almost non-existent, and well into seven figures. Still, this car looked the part with its right-hand-drive, knock-off Halibrand wheels, Avon racing tires, and two banks of Weber carbs. Maybe it was one of the cars built for the movie “Ford vs. Ferrari.” I dunno, but it certainly looked impressive parked in the lot of the historic Hotel Del Monte.
1979 Datsun 280ZX
These cars weren’t particularly adored by enthusiasts when they were new. They were both heavier and softer than the original Z-cars, and not much more powerful. “Discomobile” was among the harsher epithets thrown at them back in the day. Nobody cares about that now, least of all, this car’s smiling Gen-Z driver. Pristine examples like this one are few and far between. It looked to be all original down to its period California Blue plate oh-so-seventies brown paint. I shouted my approval to the driver. He positively beamed. It was one of the best moments during Car Week for me.
1993 BMW 850Ci
The BMW of several decades ago was a much more endearing company. One that was willing to do some weirdly inspired stuff like the Z1, Z3 M Coupe, and this 850Ci. Thoroughly unconventional when it came out, most people didn’t quite know what to make of it. While its predecessor, the E24 6-series was a logical evolution of the gorgeous E9 coupe, this was a total clean sheet design. It’s aged exceedingly well. And this particular Mauritius Blue car was the ultimate spec available—a V-12 manual. While I wouldn’t necessarily want to be the one footing the service bills for this complex and powerful GT, I have to confess, I thought it was one of the coolest cars I saw this past week.
1971 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3
While we take ultra-powerful super-sedans for granted today, 50 years ago, your choices were limited to a Maserati Quattroporte, a Jaguar XJ-12, and this. Of the three, this 6.3 Benz was likely the only one that would offer you a better than 50/50 chance of making it from LA to Monterey without incident. I saw this car heading down Alvarado Street when it was still about 100 feet away, and guessed it was a 6.3, and not a visually similar (but much tamer) 280SE. I was right. Its magnificent gold paint, and the muted growl of its big V-8 gave this car a presence virtually unmatched on the streets of Monterey. Oh, and the windows were down, and it was playing Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” The mic drop moment of Car Week.
1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (Replica)
Looks are purely subjective, but I’ve always thought that the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe is the prettiest American sports car of all time. Maybe the prettiest built anywhere. Oddly enough, the day after spotting this car in a Monterey parking garage, I got to chat with the car’s designer, the legendary Peter Brock. Only in Monterey during Car Week I guess. I’m not sure who the builder of this kit is, but my best guess is that it’s either a Factory Five Racing or a Superformance effort. Either way, it was well-constructed, and drop-dead gorgeous.
1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Coupe
I have to confess, I was baffled by this one. The entire time I was staying at the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, this car’s cover never came off, and it never left the parking lot. The long-nose, and short Kamm-tail shape, and the Cromodora five-spoke alloy wheels were, however, unmistakable. It’s a Daytona, alright.
GT and Daytona yah!
The rest ehh!
Sighting a GT40 “in the wild”, even a replica, is certainly rare – and thus special. The grin on the ZX driver’s face says a lot about how much it means to people when we give them a thumbs-up, a shout out, or some sort of recognition for their rides.
I’m vindicated for my 83 280ZX 2+2! It was my transition out of sports cars and into the Family Truckster that came next (Custom Cruiser). Touchy handling car. Rear end would break out unexpectedly in a turn. Pregnant wife spun it on an onramp during a dry summer day. Fortunately she drove it out. Gather this handling issue was 2 + 2’s only. Loved cruising in it with T-tops out!
Well, vindication is pretty strong – partial forgiveness, maybe. 😉
Honestly? My 82 280zx was on rails with 100k mile factory suspension, doing court 90 degree turns at 35
For the 850Ci, I agree that it was hard to place in the BMW firmament back in the early ’90s. As noted, it’s aged well, very, very well. But the devil is in the details. The car pictured has Style 37 wheels – M Parallels to those who know – from a E38 7-series. They look fantastic, they mount bigger rubber than stock, and they tie the E31 to other BMWs which is just priceless. It took a while but the 8s are now Vintage Gems, & rightly so.
I owm an 850CI and I have to admit that I was initially skeptical of the purchase but now is one of my most fun car that I enjoy driving.
I’m surprised there was no mention that the 8 series pictured is owned by fellow Hagerty employee, Jason Cammisa!
I had no idea it was Jason’s car! Now it all makes sense. He does have impeccable taste.
What a great topic!
@streetparkedelegance
Beautiful Old Cars better then half percent of New Cars
Great article. I’d take the Pantera too. Note that while Factory Five cars are kits, Superformance cars are not considered kits since they are factory-made in South Africa. They are, however shipped to the US dealers without an engine or transmission so the new owner chooses those components and installtion is done in the USA.
The happy 280ZX owner is what we all want to see. He is enjoying life in his car!
I, too, revel in the cars we see parked or, better yet, driving around the Monterey Peninsula during Car Week. We’ve become friends with a fellow who stays at the same hotel as we do for close to 20 years. He drives up every dyearfrom L.A. in his ’73 Daytona. It’s a driver, not a museum piece. He even let me drive it around Pacific Grove one year.
Also this year I was driving in Pebble Beach to visit some old friends and coming the other way was a Bizzarini 500GT. (I was driving my Ginetta G4 so other people might be telling similar stories about my car.)
One of our close friends said that on the same day he passed a 250LM driving around Pebble Beach.
Shortly before the pandemic we experienced a memorable sight while walking in downtown Monterey on the Friday night. We were waiting to cross the street, which was a one-way street with two lanes. Stopped at the red light in the first lane was a Porsche 959; next to it in the next lane as a La Ferrari. Only in Monterey
Typos: Should read “He drives up every year from L.A.” and in the next paragraph Bizzarini 5000GT. To be clear, it is a Ferrari Daytona (not a Dodge).
Actually it might be 5300 GT (its being a 5.3L Chevy 327 c.i.)
With the popularity of the Daytona and how many replicas have been built I’m curious as to why no one has offered a Daytona 427 ‘ Super Coupe’ version. Yes the one and only original was sold off uncompleted and remained that way for some time. As such has none of the racing pedigree of the small blocks. Yet with only six of those originals being produced ( plus one AC like version that was totaled if I’m not mistaken) the chance of seeing a real deal parked is somewhere between slim and none Unless you go to ‘The SImeone’ for example, not much of a chance. With big block Cobras being more in demand than their small block brothers in the market a unique but largely forgotten 7 liter version might sell.