BHTo truly understand modern car culture, one must embrace the past — and nowhere is automotive history more rewarding and jaw-dropping than the 18th green of Pebble Beach at the annual Concours d’Elegance. The Pebble Beach contest is the great grandson of 17th century French Aristocracy carriage parades during down sweltering Parisian parkways. Eventually, horses gave way to horsepower and the Concours d’Elegance (“competition of elegance”) became a car show of sorts for proud French drivers (we can easily imagine them with berets, calf-skin driving gloves and pencil-thin moustaches).
Today, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the pinnacle of automotive excellence, and the end of a week of classic car activities in the Monterey area. So when we got the chance to attend the 62nd annual event, which raises more than a million bucks for charity, we grabbed our camera and iPhone, bow tie and suspenders, and set off for Carmel Bay to see the 200 pristine vehicular specimens dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s.
Our photo essay begins after the jump.
Quickly, however, what seemed like the most impressive car we’d ever spotted was overshadowed by an even more amazing specimen.
The Concours encompasses races at Laguna Seca featuring 1920s Bugattis and Porsches, auctions that include a 1968 Ford GT 40 going for $11 million, parties at night and Ferrari motorcades during the day — but everyone comes for Sunday morning, when the best of the best are on display for judging.
