The Annual Monterey Issue

Sleepless in Monterey! by Leo Mayorquin
www.cncpics.com
Monterey Car Week has been a dream, so
close yet so far, for many years. It is one of the best
weeks of the year if you’re a car guy—a collection of
events centered around the celebration of the automobile.
e world’s top cars, collectors, and brands all
descend upon the sleepy towns of Carmel, Monterey,
and Pebble Beach during this special week. It becomes
the norm to see a priceless collector car, which you
would normally see behind the softest velvet rope, just
parked on the street like any other car. I never planned
to attend Car Week this year but some persuasive
friends convinced me to drive up even though I didn’t
have tickets to any events and I had no hotel reservations.
I threw caution to the wind and decided to take a
few days o work so I could take part in and document
a car lover’s Disneyland.
Well, I only threw caution to the wind to a
degree; I decided to play it safe and rent a car together
with my friend, Dilan. Both our cars have over 250,000
miles so driving that far gets kind of sketchy. I rented
a 2013 Ford Escape, which seemed more than suitable
with an interior that was spacious enough to double as
a dormitory and a great fuel mileage rating. Disappointingly,
we never got to test any of its capabilities
because, after driving twelve miles, I made a stop and
the car refused to start again. We received a 2012 as a
replacement, and it was…well, a well-worn rental…and
that’s all I have to say about it. is set us four hours
behind our schedule and it meant that we were going
to be up for a long, long time. On top of this, I slept
only two hours the night before due to my excitement
but we set forth on our journey.
We arrived in the Monterey area and, as car
enthusiasts, the rst thing we did was start car hunting
to nd out what was in town. Immediately we found
row upon row of Ferraris and Lamborghinis lining hotel
parking lots. We also saw a McLaren F1, Ferrari 250
GT California Spiders, a Mercedes-Benz SLR Stirling
Moss, Bugatti Veyrons, etc. ere were so many exotics
just driving around that seeing one almost became like
seeing a Camry or an Accord. It was a taste of what was
to come.
e rst event we chose to attend was “e Quail: A
Motorsports Gathering,” one of the most exclusive
events of the weekend. We used our crafty skills and
connections to get in and we immediately knew why
it was such a big deal. ere were the best examples of
some of the most beautiful cars ever created. Ferrari