Every August, the world’s most discerning car collectors descend on Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, for an unadulterated automotive orgy. The occasion is Monterey Car Week, where enthusiasts staying at four-night-minimum resorts arrive on dew-drenched hotel lawns in the early hours to ogle vintage Jaguars and Porsches. By afternoon they’ll cram into white auction tents to bid millions on the blue chips, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing or a Ferrari 250 GTO. Come evening, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce will host candle-lit dinners overlooking the yachts in Carmel Bay and offer VIPs private meetings with top-ranking car executives and sneak peeks of upcoming models. Flexjet parking is always on tap; the loafer and scarf count is high.
The week climaxes on Sunday at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a car show on the 18th fairway of the golf course. It’s like a very fancy dog show, but for cars. As guests order seafood towers and sip Champagne, navy-jacketed judges inspect the purebreds of the auto world: Alfa Romeos and Bentley Blowers decorated with liveries from races won last century; Duesenbergs and Packards with art deco fenders the size of card tables; Lamborghinis painted as bright as Skittles. The winner gets ribbons, a trophy, a bump in their car’s value—and bragging rights.
This year brought with it an unusual addition to the upper-crust ranks: a Midwestern insurance company working hard to fit in. Auto brokers, nouveau riche collectors, restorers and retired racing champions gossiped near auction tents and late-night fire pits, noting that Traverse City, Michigan-based Hagerty Inc. had given itself a makeover.
This story is from the April 03, 2023 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek US.
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This story is from the April 03, 2023 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek US.
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