Velocity Group

A light fog draped the roads leading into Concorso Italiano and the parking fields at the Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course were chock full of interesting cars, a batch of Citroens, a grouping of old Corvettes, a smattering of electric cars.

Concorso is the most family oriented of the traditional Monterey Week events and we observed a fair number of people carrying blankets, picnic baskets and maybe a bottle or two of wine.

Rows of marvelous cars that live for the road, with few trailer queens in sight.

On the long field there was terrific display of the delectable Fiat X 1/9s accompanied by the sun-squeezed yellow Dallaria. Sponsored by C. Obert Fiat of Santa Cruz, this is the 2013 D Modified Ladies Championship UFO Autocross Series Winner driven by the very skilled Brookie Cobb.

A bright red 1950’s FIAT Multipa was puttering around, loaded to the gills with people brought in by the REVS Institute of Naples Florida.

There was a lot of history to celebrate. Seventy years since the Lancia Appia graced our shores. Lancia’s first real post WW2 car 100,000 of the delightful four passenger car were built, but the really fun ones are the 5,000 clothed by Pinnfarina, Vignale, and Zagato.

Sixty years of Lamborghini of Sant’Agata. 350 GTs, 400 GTs, hand-made and few in number. These led to the first real modern supercar the Miura and the Countach, LM02, Diablo, Aventador, Huracan, Urus and more. Special displays charted the history.

A wild card was the return of Bizzarini. Bizzarini’s brilliant engineering included the Ferrari 250 GTO, the first Lamborghini V-12, Iso Rivolta, including the 5300GT Corsa which took a Class Win at LeMans in 1965.
Shining brightly were a couple of the (24 to be built) 1200 kg 400 horse, 5.3 liter Revival Series cars. They may look historic, but the construction, power to weight and style put it on the same plane as the recent Porsche GT3 RS.

There were expansive fields of street and racing Alfa Romeo, Apollo, Cisitalia, Ferrari, Iso, Lancia, Lamborghini, Maserati, OSCA, Siata, Ferrari P4/412P Tribute, unrestored and fully restored Citroen SM sat side by side.

The “tribute car,” a 1967ish Ferrari P4/412P recreation, here shown as the heading, was built over a ten-year period by John Nino, with assistance from British Ferrari privateer and racing legend David Piper.

One car beckoned. The dark blue Ferrari GT Lusso has been in the loving hands of Hoffman Hibbett for decades. A resident of San Jose, Hoffman has gone through the Lusso with quiet delight, work being done on the engine, transmission and suspension, the interior is original save the new carpeting and yes, the paint is new, but it matches the original color perfectly. What makes this car really special and the 2023 Winner in the Ferrari Class? Hoffman drives his Ferrari, he has taken it out for long jaunts at least twice a month for the last 23 years!

     Best of Show is always very competitive and Lead Judge Gino Londi had to tap into his decade plus of experience managing Hill & Vaughn Restorations for Phil and Alma Hill. In 2023 this top prize went to Michael and Toni Weinreb for their stunning orange 1967 Lamborghini Miura.
    The 2023 Winner of the Doug Magnon Award was Kevin Enderby with his 1997 Ferrari 355. The award is given to someone who has “steadfastly supported the car community”. Kevin is one of those people who reaches out and shares his knowledge and does a lot of legwork in support a wide range of activities in the car community. He is also the only person this author knows who has three Ferraris that get tracked frequently and have close to or over 200,000 miles on each odometer!

An AI robotic dog could be seen hopping around, there was the inaugural Ladies’ Fancy Hat Contest, vendors galore, great food and drink, superb weather and excellent company.

A really great Concorso Italiano for 2023.

And in the global experience that Concorso has always been, we end with a shot from the English car coral…but I heard it rumored the 23 has an Alfa 1600 engine...ED