The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance began as a small car show in Monterey, California in 1950. Over the years it has grown into one of the world’s most respected and prestigious automotive events.
It is hard to explain the significance of this yearly event to outsiders of the collector car world. Newspapers and magazines have called the Pebble Beach Concours the “Super Bowl of Cars,” but I don’t think that does it justice. I would say it is more like the Kentucky Derby for car lovers – a big, one-day social event where everyone gets dressed up and comes together to celebrate a shared love of automobiles.
For years I had dreamed of going to Pebble Beach to see the Concours for myself. In 2016, my prayers were answered when I applied and was approved for media credentials as a writer for the automotive website GenerationHighOutput.com. My friend and fellow co-founder Mike agreed to come along for the trip.
DAY ONE
Our trip began on Friday, August 19th with an early flight from Phoenix to San Jose. We departed around 8:35 AM and touched down in San Jose around 10:45 AM.
Upon landing, it was an easy walk from the airport terminal to get our rental car. I had booked a Toyota Prius C hybrid car for the trip, thinking that a hybrid would save on fuel costs since we had a lot of driving to do. As it turns out, the car was completely gutless when it came to acceleration. With just 99 horsepower, the car was so slow that it felt dangerous at times.
Hotel rooms in the in the Monterey area were very expensive, so that was not an option given my modest budget. I booked the most affordable hotel I could find, which was in Fremont, California, an industrial suburb city near San Jose. This would mean a lot of driving from the South San Jose area down to the Monterey peninsula and back.
DAY TWO
The second day of our trip (Saturday, August 20th) was a busy one.
Badge Pickup
The first order of business was to pick up our badges for the car show on Sunday, as the event organizers do not allow badge pickup on the day of the event. It took two hours to drive the 87 miles from our hotel to the Monterey peninsula, due to traffic. The landscape was mostly farmland as we passed through Gilroy and Castroville. As we got closer to Monterey, we passed through an incredible fog that was hugging the treetops.
We arrived at The Lodge at Pebble Beach and picked up our wristbands from the Media Center. There was a little time to look at some of the manufacturer displays that were set up. Major car brands like Lexus, Tesla, and others had constructed elaborate pavilions to display their latest automotive creations.
Exploring San Francisco
Around noon, we left Monterey and drove north to San Francisco. The drive took about 2.5 hours. We met up with Mike’s uncle, who lives in the city near Golden Gate Park. We had a nice visit and ate some banh mi sandwiches for lunch.
Mike’s uncle had some time to show us around the city, and we spent the rest of the afternoon doing a whirlwind tour of some sights of San Francisco. We hit a lot of places, only stopping at each one briefly to take photos. It would be nice to go back with more time and really take in each place.
Sutro Baths
I had heard about Sutro Baths on the 99 Percent Invisible podcast, and it sounded like the type of quirky, unusual attraction that I was interested in. It was a short drive over to Point Lobos. When we got there around 4:45 PM, I was surprised at how many people were there, exploring the ruins and checking it out. We snapped a few photos but didn’t stay too long.
Presidio of San Francisco
After Sutro Baths, we headed over to the Presidio of San Francisco where we checked out a couple of historic sights. We parked and walked to the Eagles Point along the Lands End Trail, where we had a great view of the famous bridge.
From there, Mike and I hiked down to Battery Crosby, which was built in 1899 and was in use until 1943. The former gunnery station was built to protect the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
Sutro Tower
Leaving the Presidio, we passed by the Palace of Fine Arts around 6:45 PM. I hopped out of the car to take a quick photo of the iconic rotunda structure before continuing on.
We ended our day of sightseeing at Christmas Tree Point, near Sutro Tower. The daylight was fading at 7:50 PM under overcast skies. The temperature was dropping and it was incredibly windy. I was amazed at the fog rolling in over the city as night fell.
We had pizza for dinner with Mike’s uncle before heading back to the hotel for the night. It was a busy day with a lot of driving, but also a very memorable day.
DAY THREE
At last, it was Concours Sunday – August 21st. I was excited to experience the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show for the first time.
We started the day with breakfast in the trendy Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. We had an excellent breakfast at a restaurant called The Table, which I really enjoyed.
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
It was another long drive to the car show, and we arrived in Monterey around 1:00 PM. Traffic was very congested along 17 Mile Drive and parking was a real pain. We found a parking space near Bird Rock Point and caught a shuttle bus to the event. We finally arrived at the Concours d’Elegance around 2:00 PM in the afternoon.
The event ended at 5:00 PM, so we really had about three hours to see everything. We would have to move fast!
Concept Car Lawn
We checked out the concept car lawn as we made our way down to the main show field. There were a lot of amazing vehicles to see! Here is a partial list of the concept cars:
- Lincoln Navigator Concept
- Bentley Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase
- Genovation GXE All-Electric Corvette
- Maserati Quattroporte
- Acura Concept Sedan (Red)
- Lexus LF-LC Concept
- McLaren 570GT
- Cadillac Concept
- Rolls-Royce Black Badge Bespoke Series
- Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Concept
- Turbomeister BMW 2002 Hommage
- Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 Roadster
- Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo
- Alfa Romeo Giulia
- Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6
- Rimac Concept One
- Aston Martin Lagonda Vanquish Zagato
- VLF Automotive Destino V8
- Spyker C8 Preliator
Special Classes
One of the special classes for 2016 was for the “50th Anniversary of the Ford GT40’s victory at Le Mans.” There was a fantastic display of historic GT40 automobiles to admire, including the first time that all three Le Mans winning vehicles had been together since the 1960s.
Another special class celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Lamborghini Miura. There were lots of examples of this special car on display, including a Miura SV. Lamborghini had a special display featuring the Avendator Miura Homage special edition.
I spent the afternoon walking the show field and taking a ton of photographs. I bought a sandwich from a concession stand for a late lunch. In the late afternoon, Mike and I met up near the main stage ramp to watch the presentation of some of the awards.
There was a great celebration from the crowd as the Best of Show award was presented to the 1936 Lancia Asturia Pinin Farina Cabriolet.
We left the event around 6:30 PM, having spent about four hours there total. I was thrilled at having seen some incredible cars, but our day was not over yet. We still had to drive nearly two hours back to the hotel.
Visiting Friends
Mike and I hopped into the underpowered Prius C and headed north on California 101 towards San Jose. We had made plans to visit with some friends of mine in Oakland for dinner, so it was quite a drive before we arrived at our destination at 8:30 PM.
We visited for a while and had dinner, but Mike and I both had headaches from being out in the sun all day. It must have been around 11:00 PM by the time we made it back to the hotel. We were definitely ready to sleep after a long day full of activity.
DAY FOUR
We had a rude awakening EARLY in the morning on Monday, August 22nd thanks to the fire alarm going off in our hotel! We opened the door to our room and found water pouring down the ceiling and walls! We exited through the lobby and stood in the parking lot, still in our night clothes. The fire department was there. As it turns out there was no emergency, but a malfunctioning sprinkler system.
After the all clear was given, we went back to the room and tried to sleep for a few more hours. Around 9:30 AM, we packed our suitcases and checked out of the hotel. The front desk clerk gave a partial refund for the inconvenience.
It was a short 20 minute drive from the hotel to the rental car center at the San Jose Airport. We returned the Prius C and I made a mental note to select a different car next time.
We arrived at the airport around 1:30 PM and made our way through security. At 2:15 PM it was wheels up for a smooth flight back home to Phoenix. We were on the ground again at 4:05 PM. From there, I retrieved my car from the airport garage and headed home.
Final Thoughts
This trip was a good blend of both planned and spontaneous activities. My first time at the Pebble Beach Concours was certainly a memorable one. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have seen these incredibly rare and exclusive cars up close. I enjoyed checking out some lesser-known attractions in San Francisco. Finally, I was happy that my friends were able to make time for a visit.
Looking back, we did an exhausting amount of driving. In the future, I would like to minimize the amount of time spent driving back and forth. All in all, it was a really solid trip.
