Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Putting on any big event is too big a job for one person, but one person has to have the vision and the contacts, and yes, the reach and forcefulness, to make it come alive. With the Pebble Beach Concours, it was Lorin Tryon and Jules Heumann, both gone now, but Chief Judge Chris Bock has been there for a long time and has a steady hand on the throttle.
After Steve Earle founded General Racing in 1970, his vision forever changed the landscape of vintage motorsports, in conjunction with the nearby Laguna Seca track. However, try to think of one person who is the long term force behind any major Concours, (and there are a surprising number of them), and I think you will draw a blank. Not so here, where the main factor is the force and personality of the organizer, Gordon McCall.
Sixteen years ago, The Quail Motorsports Gathering at the Quail Lodge in Carmel started out an exhibition of some of the most desirable cars, both old and newer, in a garden party setting, located on an exclusive golf course, with exceptional cuisine. How exceptional, you ask? Well, there are six restaurants on the grounds, each one part of the Peninsula Hotel family with additional treats such as wine, caviar, oysters, gelato, champagne, and more – do I need to go on? I suspect that some people attend just to go from restaurant to restaurant, with an occasional peek at the cars on display. There is also live music at each restaurant, and I was floored by the local band Monterey International playing “Summer Wind,” as well as some unique instruments I have never seen before, from Asia and other venues. The show lasts six hours, which for a serious observer, is not enough time to visit all the restaurants and inspect all the cars, but it sure is fun to try.
This year, the featured classes were the 50th anniversary of the Lamborghini Espada (I counted twelve) and Islero, (3B1A7056 photo) the great Lancias, the great Ferraris, supercars, custom coachwork, plus prewar and postwar sports and racing cars. I will make a perhaps iconoclastic remark that while you can see great Ferraris just about anywhere in California, the Lancia display was absolutely fantastic, and no, you are not likely to see this again anywhere, except perhaps at Retromobile or Essen. This was the highlight of the day for me. It is worthy of a separate column, but I will touch on it here.
The cars that spoke
When I walked into the show a bit after 10 am, I was immediately handed a glass of Roederer champagne and invited to sample fresh oysters on the half shell, which is one hell of a way to start the day. I turned to the right and the first car I saw stopped me in my tracks: the Ferrari “Pinin” Torino show car prototype, built for the fiftieth anniversary of Pininfarina, which has been made operational by owner Prof. Doc. Anthony Noble with a BB 512 dry sump motor. This prototype/show car was sold at the first auction at the Ferrari factory. The owner has access to the original Pininfarina drawings and is continuing to update the car accordingly, such as an electronic instrument panel, a radiophone, and Bose headsets! There is no A pillar, and the headlights are molded in the shape of the body. Truly breathtaking.
Nearby was a special booth with a 1936 Bugatti type 57C Atlantic, which was judged the overall winner among a group of seven other Best of Show contenders chosen by the judges of the most prestigious car shows in the world. It is co-owned by the Mullin family and Rob Walton.
Directly across was a 1976 Laverda 750 SFC owned by Moto Talbott, whose museum is located right down the road in Carmel Valley and is a must see if you are at the Historics (www.mototalbott.com). I have profiled this excellent collection here a couple of years ago when it opened. Fortunately, Mr. Talbott was there to graciously explain the bike to me. This is one of the last of the 539 made between 1974 and 1976. It has been ridden two laps on a circuit by Piero Laverda as part of a display, but has never been ridden on the road! It was featured in the famous Guggenheim exhibition of 1999 (the most popular exhibition ever, with 4000 people a day!).
Now to across the street to the big lawn, where the first thing that grabbed me was a 1951 Cadillac 75 series woody/limousine owned by John McCaw. On this site, we are supposed to concentrate on French and Italian cars, but I have to make an exception here. Now, I look at a lot of cars every year, and I can tell you this was a breathtaking restoration of an extraordinary car. It was ordered by Gene Autry to take his band on the road and was custom built by Bohman and Schwartz in Pasadena, one of the great American coachbuilders. It was retired to Autry’s Melody Ranch and subsequently restored to 100 points.
At the other end of the spectrum was this 1952 Siata Gran Sport with Farina coachwork, originally fitted with a 1400 FIAT motor but subsequently fitted with a 53 Studebaker 232 V8 circa 1955. It has the Studebaker 3-speed with overdrive. The carbs are 2-barrel Bendix Stromberg WW Laydown units, which function like one four barrel, on an Edmunds intake manifold. A 1952 Hot Rod cover picture shows this with driver Ernie McAfee. The car sustained fire damage in 1962 and it was parked for 55 years. A sympathetic “just right” restoration was done by Joe Potter at Vintage Underground.
Two years ago I was privileged to attend a private reception at the Lee Auto Collection in Reno, as part of the Classic Car Club of America annual meeting. This is one of the finest museums in the world, particularly for Rolls-Royce. Robert Lee had recently passed on, and his widow, Ann Brockington Lee, hosted the tour, and a wine and hors d’oeuvres party afterwards. In the back room I saw a Lagonda V12 drophead being readied for a complete ground up restoration, and I am very interested in this since I owned one for forty years. Anyway, Ms. Lee was showing the car which was subsequently awarded Best in Show here! It is a 1953 Lancia Aurelia B52 Pinin Farina 200 C spider. The car is a one-off, and made its debut at the 1953 Geneva motor show. It had a 2-position windshield with a raised portion on the top edge of the driver’s side, no roll-up windows, and grill coverings on the rear side-body vents. 98 of the B52 chassis were built, out of a total production of 7087 for 1952-3. The Aurelia was made from 1950-1958 and 18,201 were produced. It was powered by a 90 degree V-6 designed by engineer De Virgilio, under supervision by Vittorio Jano. It is truly one of the greatest cars of the postwar era.
The Great Lancias
This was a feature called “The Great Lancias,” and it featured six race and rally cars from the 1980’s, all owned by John and Suzanne Campion of Florida. How they were able to acquire this extraordinary collection is beyond me.
1983 type 037. This is a mid-engine sports and rally car built to compete in the FIA Group B World Rally Championship, and won the manufacturer’s’ world championship in the 1983 season. It was the last RWD car to win the WRC. It was a collaboration between Pininfarina, Abarth, Dallara, and project manager Sergio Limone. About 200 roadworthy cars were built to comply with the Group B regulations.
1985 Delta S4. This is a Group B rally car which competed in the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986, until the Group B class was disbanded. It replaced, and was an evolution of, the Lancia 037. It was powered by a 1759 cc DOHC 16 valve supercharged, turbocharged and intercooled, longitudinally mid-mounted motor. Out of 12 WRC entries it secured 5 wins.
1988 Delta HF Integrale 8v. To quote the British magazine Car, “When the Integrale arrived, a legend was created. No four wheel drive saloon is as much fun to drive, full-stop…few cars will get you quicker from point to point, or make you smile so much…whichever of the four series of Integrale you’re driving, the experience differs only in the ferocity with which you attack the horizon.” It scored six successive World Rally Championships from 1987 to 1992, and is certainly one of the greatest cars of the era, and highly collectible today.
1981 Beta Montecarlo Turbo. After its fabulous WRC campaign with the Stratos, Lancia decided in 1979 to compete in the Group 5 series of the World Championship for Drivers and Makes. Pininfarina developed the chassis and bodywork in a silhouette formula, and Dallara supervised the construction. The motor was constructed by Abarth, using a turbocharger to produce 370 bhp at 8800 RPM. It took the Division 2 title in 1979. Five cars were built for 1980 and won the World Championship of Makes. In 1981 the cars used twin turbos putting out 450 BHP, and it won its second World Championship.
1982 LC 1 FIA Group 6. This car was built for the World Endurance Championship, and the 24 Hours of LeMans, from 1982 to 1983. The Dallara chassis had an open cockpit, powered by the 1425 cc straight-4 Lancia motor with one turbocharger. They won 3 overall races in 1982 and 3 pole positions. Unfortunately, as the car debuted the FIA had already decided on rule changes favoring the new Group C.
1983 LC2 FIA Group C. Built from 1983-6, this was the Lancia factory’s effort to compete in the World Sportscar Championship in the factory Martini Racing team (and later raced by privateers until 1991). The chassis was a joint effort by Dallara and Abarth, with an aluminum monoque and kevlar/carbon-fiber bodywork. It used a Ferrari 308C twin turbo mid mounted motor. A total of seven LC2’s were built by Lancia, and another two were built without official backing. The car was more powerful than the Porsche 956, but was hampered by reliability and fuel consumption issues.
In this limited space I cannot convey even a small part of the overall event, which must take an entire year to plan. Thanks to Gordon McCall and his staff and all the volunteers who make it happen, and not incidentally for the contributions to five local charities.
Great coverage and photos! One note though: this 1952 Siata Gran Sport was not the Ernie Mcafee car featured in Hot Rod magazine, but was clearly inspired by it, as they both had the Studebaker 232 V8. This car was an East Coast version, titled from the mid-fifties on the VIN number of the 1953 Studebaker engine.
The outstanding , in depth reports by Brandes Elitch keep coming. Thank you for your excellence. The photos are also top notch. Congratulations BEST RK
The Aurelia engine was a 60 deg. V6, not 90. It was the first production V6- and managed to avoid the need for a balance shaft due to deVirgilio’s design talents; something forgotten in most industry V6s since(most saddled with balance shafts), including my wife’s Dodge Caravan.
As an answer to your question, regarding naming a man behind a major Concours, the MAN is Bill Warner, and we are all in debt to his Amelia award winning Concours every Spring. Among a long list of awards for the Concours, Bill was recently the recipient of the Bulgari Award, for preserving America’s automotive heritage. I can’t think of a better choice.
No question the Quail is the class of the Monterey Weekend, and Gordon has the same vision as Bill. Both events show the wide spectrum of what makes the automobile so special to so many.
And yes, a 75 series custom woody Caddy is a sight to behold. Thanks for the picture and the story behind the car. And after all, the heritage of Cadillac is French, so it belongs on VT!
I believe all Aurelia B series engines were 60 degree V6’s, not 90 degree. Acknowledged as the first production V6 engines. DeVirgilio was obsessed with keeping a narrow engine, so even the valves were placed inline with the cylinder axis for that purpose. That carried over to the extreme with the later Fulvia V4’s with +/- 12 degree V’s plus a single DOHC head covering the narrow V. Incredible engineering and packaging.
Do you and your readers know that a fake fiberglass replica Cobra was displayed at The Quail one year?? I think it was 2012 or 2013 and it was unplanned and probably unknown to the organizers! For 20 years I’ve owned and driven a 41 year old British built fiberglass Pilgrim Cobra replica. RHD, no sidepipes, stripes or other ‘boy racer’ parts it looks like an unrestored relic and due to the silver underpainting where the color coat has chipped and worn away most people believe it is aluminum. Anyway, one year a friend and I are driving down Carmel Hwy when we spot Ferrari 250 GTO chassis 4757GT on the road in front of us and we follow – all the way to the entrance of The Quail. The Ferrari pulls up and is waved through.
On an impulse I follow in my authentic looking but beat-up thoroughly fake car with a thousand miles of road grime and dead bugs plastered all over and we’re ushered in as well!
What a great day I and my friend had, I just wish I’d taken photos!