Monterey Parking Lots Are A Sight To Behold

Story by Stewart Perry and photography by Ross Perry

Between the plethora of modern luxury and supercars—and what seems like every rental car in the United States—there are many interesting and sometimes unusual automobiles being driven between the eclectic events at Monterey Peninsula. As the events themselves often attract the world’s most incredible machines, racers, collectors, and personalities, it’s only fitting that the parking lot would provide an incredible amount of eye candy.

Here and there, classics were scattered like confetti, which produced a number of interesting observations, for instance, how many a supercar was dwarfed by a nearby truck in the parking lot.

What stood out? A Jaguar E Type Series 1 resting among the trees, and a 1915 T Model Ford driven from Dearborn, MI took pride of place on Thursday. Then, to satisfy air-cooled curiosities, we saw a bright orange Baja-modified Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, a patina’d 23 window VW Kombi, and a sky high rally Porsche 911 were also providing transport for their custodians.

Other highlights include an amazingly-restored Toyota 55-series Land Cruiser and a Sunbeam Tiger with a factory hardtop sat atop the hill at Mazda Raceway Leguna Seca, and where bizarre ’90s Honda EZ90 “Cub” pit bikes were ridden around.

Not even the mechanics looked out of place: support was given to racers by a very rare Carrozzeria Colli coachbuilt Alfa Romeo Giulia Super panel wagon, while another team had a beautiful blue Plymouth Barracuda at its disposal.

For the biggest event of the weekend, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, you’d expect the parking lot to house some gems, and you’d be right: a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” (as-seen in The Quail show on Friday) and a fuel injected C2 Chevrolet Corvette were among other classics scattered around. That particular lot also led to our jaws dropping at the sight of a one-of-just-387-made Ferrari 365 GT4 BBs and a one-of-one ICON Derelict 1952 Chrysler DeSoto station wagon with a gold tooth in its grill. Patiently waiting for its owners return? A suitably British Aston Martin shop truck the humble Austin A30 Van.

Whether it was at Laguna Seca or in a shopping plaza, classic cars were, as you’d expect, everywhere in Monterey. Even better is that the parking lots prove some owners use their cherished classics as “just” cars. That said, let’s hope these vehicles got home without suffering any door dings!