Monterey Car Week is, without a doubt, the most overwhelming event I've ever attended in my life. Anybody who is remotely interested in automobiles and has the pleasure of being here in mid-August will be on a constant swivel. I was fortunate enough to be invited by Cadillac to stay with them at Carmel Valley Ranch and attend some of the unreal shows that annually draw some of the most incredible vehicles in the world. Friday's event, an event with a $550 ticket, was The Quail Motorsports Gathering. Each year the golf club hosts different themes of cars. This year, that meant competition Mustangs, 100 years of Maserati, pre-war sports and racing cars, and "the great" Ferraris. It was also probably the only time all six Bugatti Legends Editions were in the same place, sharing the same grass.
As usual, nearly every car there was special. Stories could be written left and right about why the Singer Porsche stood out, or why that BMW 1602 was a sight for sore eyes, or how you've never seen that gorgeous purple color on a Lamborghini Miura. It's honestly too much to cover, and the only way for you to truly experience it is to make your way to Monterrey at one point in your life. However, because you might not have been able to attend this year, I picked out a few of my favorite cars, the ones that sent different signals to my brain. There were a lot of oldies, and one extreme newbie.
1.
1954 Plymouth Explorer by Ghia
Near the inner circle of the lawn was a small collection from the L.A. Petersen Automotive Museum. In that group stood the Plymouth Explorer, a concept created from the hands of Italian coachwork masters Carrozzeria Ghia. Designer Luigi Segre led the creation, which was a result of Chrysler making an attempt to build one-of-a-kind dream cars to improve the company's image. Considering this car is absolutely beautiful, our bet is that that worked.
2.
1987 Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione
The 288 GTO Evoluzione has an incredibly interesting back story to match those wild slits, slots, and scoops on its body. In the early '80s, Group B rally racing was in full effect and was in what many people these days call a golden age. The cars were all-wheel-drive, they had a shit ton of power, and they were extremely light. Ferrari built a homologated version of the 308 GTB called the 288 GTO, named after its 2.8L, 8-cylinder engine. In order for the car to race, more than 200 road-going models needed to be produced. Unfortunately, because the rally cars of the time had absurd power-to-weight ratios, the races resulted in many horrible crashes that killed numerous drivers. Group B was discontinued, and all 272 examples of the GTO were left for the public.
This included five or six (various sources say different things), 288 GTO Evoluziones, even more track-focesed versions of the original GTO. The Evos were able to get around 650 horsepower out of the twin-turbo V8, and they weighed in around the ballpark of 2,000-2,100 pounds. These models were the first street-legal production cars to ever hit 300 km/h (186 mph), giving them pretty legendary status. Fittingly, these GTOs are largely considered the inspiration for the uber-legendary Ferrari F40.
3.
1917 La Bestioni Rusty One
Consider me a sucker for cars with large body parts structured out of wood. And former fire trucks turned into boss Sunday cruisers. The Rusty One, originally built as an American LaFrance, beat the odds against its own name's curse and was one of the most unique cars on the lawn. The boattail speedster has a wooden rear deck with an incredibly awesome shark fin. It has a gear-driven rear axle. At one point it sat in a field for more than 50 years until it was rescued and restored to proper form. It's purely inspiring being the presence of 100-year-old cars that can still hit the road.
4.
2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo
Before the press has even finished trying out the Gallardo's replacement, the Huracán, and before any public person has even taken delivery of one, Lamborghini decided to flex the model a little more by showing the world debut of the Super Trofeo at The Quail. The menacing racer is built for the Blancpain series, and is more focused than the road car. It gets 10 more horsepower from the V10 and it sheds 355 pounds. That brings the total weight to 2,800. How'd it drop the weight? Not by cutting the body, but by removing the all-wheel-drive system, making this bad boy a rear-wheel-drive fishtailer. The Super Trofeo also adds new front and rear diffusers, additional aero pieces on the body, and special Pirelli tires.
5.
1962 Ford Mustang 1
It's not often you get to walk right up to a car that was the origin of an icon and a legend. The Mustang 1 Concept was just sitting there with all the other cars, no barriers, no ropes, just a couple chairs for the owners. This car debuted at Watkins Glen for the F1 United States Grand Prix as an effort to challenge Chevy's Corvette. It had a mid-engined four-cylinder engine and had a wedged aluminum body. Though pretty much nothing carried over to the first-gen production Mustang, this is where it all started.
