Musings on a classic car weekend

[rshelby]

Musings on a classic car weekend

By Matt Nauman

Mercury News


MONTEREY - Scribbles from a reporter's notebook -- two actually -- taken at the Monterey classic car weekend.

STARS & CARS Celebrities and classic cars are such a natural fit -- glamour, excitement, lots of makeup and restoration work. There's even a magazine -- the DuPont Registry's Celebrity Car -- for those so inclined.

And, naturally, the stars abound on the Monterey Peninsula during the August car fete.

Now that legendary racer/car-builder/chili-maker Carroll Shelby is back in the Ford fold, he's never far from the Blue Oval. Wearing his signature black cowboy hat, he helped introduce the new Ford Shelby GR-1 concept at the Beach & Tennis Club of Pebble Beach. There to watch was car-collector and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

General Motors, which hosted a Cadillac event at Clint Eastwood's exclusive Tehama Golf Club, had Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker on hand. Allison Janney of ``West Wing'' was slated to mingle at some weekend GM events.

The Monterey Historics attracted the usual suspects -- great drivers of the past -- including Phil Hill, Stirling Moss, Bobby Rahal, Derek Bell and Brian Redman, among others.

And, at Sunday's Pebble Beach Concours, serious car nut Jay Leno of ``The Tonight Show'' came close to winning his first Best of Show trophy. His 191 Crane-Simplex Model 5 Holbrook Skiff -- an old, pretty car in layman's terms - won the Vintage 1916-1924 class. He joked that a millionaire doing well against billionaires (like Otis Chandler of the L.A. Times and cable guys Bruce and John McCaw) reflects the true spirit of the Concours.

STAMP OF APPROVAL Also at Pebble on Sunday, the U.S. Post Office gave a sneak peek at five ``Sporty Cars of the '50s'' 37-cent stamps that'll be issued in 2005. Two -- a 1955 Ford Thunderbird and a 1953 Chevrolet Corvette -- continue as popular models today. The other three -- 1953 Studebaker Starliner, 1954 Kaiser Darrin, a 1952 Nash Healey -- might be unfamiliar names to those who don't know car history.

The gorgeous drawings were done by Art Fitzpatrick of Carlsbad. I'm guessing Picasso never had millions lick the back of one of his paintings.

IN THE MONEY As expected, the half-dozen auto auctions held during classic car weekend raised millions for owners -- and auction houses, too. Overall, it reflected a continued upward trend in car values and a loosening of wealthy wallets.

Christie's said its sale took in $6.9 million with a 1956 Ferrari Testa Rossa taking top honors at $1.3 million. RM Auctions didn't release a final total, but the highlight of its two-day sale in Monterey was the $1.1 million bid for the 1961 Chaparral 1 Sport Racing Car. A 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Cabriolet went for $1.93 million at the Bonhams & Butterfields event in Carmel, which took in $5.62 million.

Gooding and Co. said it had total sales of nearly $12.3 million at its Sunday auction. Its ``Mormon Meteor'' 1935 Deusenberg SJ Speedster sold for $4.5 million, making it the weekend's top prize. And, at Russo and Steele, a red 2003 Ferrari Enzo went for more than $1 million.

MAMBO ITALIANO With new owners Jack and Leslie Wadsworth at the helm, Friday's Concorso Italiano at Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside seemed well managed. Lines were a bit long, as usual, but the sun even came out shortly after noon.

Highlights included 53 red Ferraris parked to spell the word F-E-R-R-A-R-I. It took quite an effort -- and really required a helicopter's point of view to appreciate the art of it all -- but getting a chance to walk among crazily parked Italian exotics was fun.

And that's the spirit of the event. How else to explain the group that used their Ferrari as a picnic table with a spread that included brie, pate and, yes, a nine-liter bottle of Mumm champagne.

With its fashion show, Italian opera performances and welcoming attitude -- large groups of non-Italian cars like Dodge Vipers and Mazda Miatas gathered -- the Concorso remains a smile-making event.


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