Is it too early to talk about Monterey?

[OcCoupe]

Following tradition Susan and i went uptown while the girls went to the track. Went to Nico's for a proper lunch and a tasty bottle of wine. Susan isn't much of a drinker so the bottle went down real good for me. Mmm sand dabs never tasted so good.



Parked next to this at the pebble beach lodge.





Tonight cocktails with Paul Cain and the coupe clan, tomorrow Pebble.

[Ken H.]

Parked next to this at the pebble beach lodge.

How nouveau.

[Karl Grau]

How's the new audio system doing?

I have engine noise coming through. It's not horrible but I had a lot of quiet self introspection on the way up. I concluded that I wasn't hugged enough as a kid.

Hot Dam!
Congrats guys. What were the categories and wins?

I can't fault a man for following his heart, but does Heike know about it?

She's going to be in San Diego next month and I invited her to go sailing. I'm just going to let nature take its course.

[wkohler]

Congrats to you folks for taking home those trophies.

Darin won 1st in Clean. Charles won 2nd in Clean.
Jeff won 1st in the class for M Cars.
And Mike brought the first E28 to win the concours class. Also probably the first Bronzit car to win anything ever.

Pretty cool.

[M5BB]

This just in: three 1st places and one second place for the 4 of us. e28s representing at Monterey!

Visiting from Atlanta and just wanted to say these guys have some pretty darn nice cars. Congrats guys on the awards yesterday at the Legends of the Autobahn meet.

Went to Laguna Seca today and had a great time. Cobra is the featured car and Bob Bondurant and Peter Brock were there and gave a talk about the Cobra and the Daytona Coupe that won Lemans. They had a great poster of a Cobra to sell and I got one and was lucky enough to get Bob Bondurant to sign it. He is 79.
Going to Pebble Beach Concours tomorrow.
A bucket list item.

[Karl Grau]

Went to Pebble Beach today. A big thanks to Mike for letting me crash the Rolls Royce Hospitality Suite. I had to wear long pants and a jacket but hey, they had free booze and food.





Interesting cars and people.







I'm not sure how I'm going to break this to Heike...



Jeff and Darin are on their way back from Laguna Seca so we're doing dinner then it's early to bed for the drive home tomorrow.

[John SCB]

Nice pics Chas.

Here's a few more:







If you guys want to take a spirited run home (off the usual paths), I highly recommend taking Hwy 198 between the 101 and the 5. It's a 46 mile scenic run with a wide variety of twisites and open streches. It connects to Hwy 5 at Coalinga. It took me just over 5 hours to get home from Watsonville.



Griff got a little car sick after that serious set of twisties on the ride up to Carmel:



Congratulations to all the E28 winners.

Leave early. Drive safely.

[Ken H.]

Vat's dis? A collection of douches looking for their bags?

[Ray in Phoenix]

Vat's dis? A collection of douches looking for their bags?

Please sir! I had the pleasure of sleeping in one of those douches garage.
Congrats on all the wins.
Wish I could've been there, but was not invited. Wonder why?

[unt0uchable]

Wow, congrats on all the e28 wins! One can only dream of having a car that's half as nice as any of those some day.

[Devinder]

I arrived at the house just before 6 AM Friday morning and guess who was already up working on his car.


grills still not in


ok, grills are finally in


I guess you could call those shoes. Darin's feet were getting wet on the grass.


Now this is the difference between 1st and 2nd place


Once again, this is 1st place effort


Drink Daddy was an instant hit, although it was the cause of some problems later on.




Ron and Kimberly prepping the Rahal CSL. I think this won also.


some kind of car. There were cars at this event.


some kind of motorcycle. There was a stunning collection at Bonhams too.


Owen is very happy because soon he will be taking his DMV test in that Z1


We would like Kohler to splain this AZ car.


I'd like to thank our very own Tom Jones for giving us the docent's tour of some very special cars. I forgot most of what Tom told me about this TISA.






great paint and sparkle on this gullwing



Griff did not get sunburned


Darin rushing to accept his award


apparently you can bring your personal chauffeur, personal mechanic, poolboy, etc, but you cannot bring your personal bartender to the awards ceremony. I believe Paul Cain
s words were "get this contraption out of here"


1st place for Mike and Susan


Drink Daddy is back for the celebration


M5BB (Gary) stopped by


As you will see later, the Spaten girls also wore blue and green to differentiate themselves.



Jeff won 1st in M-class



Charles finishing off the bottle of gin that Carl Nelson gave us that morning.


Farrah approves


we went to Laguna Seca on Saturday and Sunday. The place was lousy with these cars. I thought they were rare or something.





Some of the coolest stuff is in the parking lot


They do get friendlier later in the day


For some reason he really wanted a shot of Patron


I dont know what this is but I am an engineer and we were eating at Famous Dave's ...


It looks like that TISA won some hardware too


Leave it up to these two to get pulled over while walking. She's explaining how you can actually get a WUI


see what winning will do for you. I talked to them the next day and blue was telling me how hard it is working 14 hours a day at this event. Green was telling me how it's worth it because she got invited to a Justin Beaver party that night.


They should really consider putting mufflers on these cars -- it would have been a much better event without all the noise. Here is the Hello Kitty Porsche headed toward Turn 5


M1 Procar


Jagermeister E9


Owen and Ben going back to San Diego in the batmobile. I'd like to thank Ben Thongsai for all of his help this weekend.


Hey, there's my car on the side of the trailer


This is why they make you sign waivers all day. These cars keep getting in the way and you need ear plugs everywhere.
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I guess you cant embed. here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYqTjLwwj2w

[Ken H.]

"Enjoy it while you can, motherfucker, because as soon as you get back on the highway I am going to tear off your head and shit down your neck."

[Ray in Phoenix]

Darin and Charles, keep this picture if Costco ever questions your membership status...
Just saying....

[jay]

Devinder, great pics! Thanks for sharing and giving us some good laughs! These guys are comical!

Congratulations on all the awards fellas!!!!

[Philo]

I've got to go next year.., looks amazing. Gary B... way to go ! You made it all the way up from GA. Btw.., do they close the course down for the Concourse event ? It's on the 18th hole, right ? I can't imagine they'd let golf balls fly around those wonderful and expensive machines.

[Karl Grau]

Whew, home sweet home.
The car ran like a champ and traffic all-in-all wasn't too bad, not even on the 405. It used a little over a quart of oil in 983 miles of hard driving in hot weather. I will admit that I get a little stressed driving on the sections of freeway where there is no shoulder. If anything were to happen, it's probably adiós muchachos.



I'm don't normally care about trophies (because it's about the people dammit ) but this one is kind of special and will get a few weeks of glory on the mantle.





BTW, the key to warm weather driving is loose shorts and proper ball adjustment. The Greeks knew it, the Carthaginians knew it, now you guys know it.

And lastly, it's always a good idea to shut the water off to the whole house when going on vacation.

[vinceg101]

Glad to hear it Charles; big congratulations all around for your guys' accomplishments. 4 E28's wining the top slots in their classes is something to be quite proud of indeed.

And lastly, it's always a good idea to shut the water off to the whole house when going on vacation.

OH NOOO! Nothing too damaging I hope...

[Karl Grau]

They do get friendlier later in the day

That's because they start DRINKING later in the day. The thin one must have a hollow leg because she was really knocking 'em back.

They should really consider putting mufflers on these cars --

I agree, it really spoiled an otherwise great day.

OH NOOO! Nothing too damaging I hope...

Luckily I have neighbors who give a shit (without being nosy). While on his morning walk, Gary heard the sound of water moving through the pipes and shut the main valve off. It could have been a lot worse. I meant to shut it off but I was running late.

[OcCoupe]

I made it home!!! The car performed like a champ. Got stuck in some LA traffic fortunately my neighbor sympathized with me and is now feeding me cocktails. Great trip can't wait till 2013!!!

[wkohler]

So, can you like win again and stuff next year or something?

[OcCoupe]

So, can you like win again and stuff next year or something?

Yessir

[wkohler]

That, like, um, seems so, um, unfair and junk.

[OcCoupe]

That, like, um, seems so, um, unfair and junk.

I could very well be wrong. I will ask.

[johnnye23]

Wow late to the party on this thread . Congrats to each of you on the impressive hardware you were able to take home with you.
Looks like everyone had a great trip this event is now officially on my bucket list !

[OcCoupe]

I've got to go next year.., looks amazing. Gary B... way to go ! You made it all the way up from GA. Btw.., do they close the course down for the Concourse event ? It's on the 18th hole, right ? I can't imagine they'd let golf balls fly around those wonderful and expensive machines.

It is an amazing event and should be on every car enthusiasts bucket list. This year tickets to Pebble were $250.00 per person at the gate; but you could buy them online for $200.00. The main event, (Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance), is at the end of what is probably one of best car weeks in the United States.

As for closing down the course, they shut it down completely since it takes almost 3 solid days of constant preparation to get the course ready.

Some amazing cars including Best in Show:


The Maharaja's, Wayne Carini riding shot gun.

This is where all the winners que up for their prize and photo opp. This particular car belongs to the Maharaja's family (India). The neck actually turns, the eyes light up as well as the necklace. One of the judges sat in the back seat and played music via a keyboard that was used to entertain royalty as they rode in the back. Charles and I were right at the lineup within arms reach of the cars.

Crown Prince Mandata Singh with the 1934 Rolls-Royce known as the Star of India:


One-of-a-kind Norman Timbs Special:


Judging can be fierce, points lost for dirt on a fender or even the wrong bolt under the hood:


Two American made Duesenbergs were runner up for Best in Show:


As the day progresses you couldn't even see the cars through the sea of people:






One of my clients showing his award winning Ferrari:




Something that makes the event special is how the owners of these amazing cars are there and eager to speak with you. They come from around the world traveling from Australia, Japan, India, and South America to name a few. I can't imagine what kind of support it takes to get these cars up to this level.

'Till 2013!!!

[1st 5er]

Somewhat breathtaking.
Thanks for sharing it again with us and Congrats on your wins.

[Matt]

I was actually in Seaside last week. I drove through Carmel and realized that a zillion car events seemed to be going on. And later i realized BMW stuff was happening that very weekend. I had no idea.

I was in my giant blue school bus. You may have seen me. I was in stop-and-go-traffic going south on hwy 1 (or was it 101?) through monterey torwards Carmel, and infront of me is a freaking Lamborghini. And I'm in a 1986 school bus, full size

I got a ton of stares, laughes, and pictures taken of me while I was driving this monster around.