Drive Tastefully: Monterey Was The Best Way To Savor California Roads And Kickoff Car Week

California’s coastal range is a labyrinth of road trip permutations featuring seemingly never ending canyon carving, tempting sweepers, and epic views. Pairing that with Monterey Car Week, a mind-boggling opportunity to see mystical cars; be it at a car show, street parked, idling in traffic, or at speed racing Laguna Seca, made it the perfect place to point to on a map and say, ‘yeah, let’s drive there.’ 

Kicking off in Malibu, we quickly cut inland through the Santa Ynez Mountains with a stop in the lovely and rustic Los Olivos. During our coffee, gas, and lunch stops we got to hear some of the stories of fellow drivers.  Now, Petrolicious Rallies always benefit from a broad range of automotive tastes and enthusiasts with inspiring stories who are chomping at the bit to drive their cars and since we are here, we owe a big thank you to Luna Bondesan, our Event Director without whom all of these incredible Rallies wouldn’t be possible. Among the incredible group, here were just a few participants that we felt symbolized the spirit of our Monterey adventure.

37 Years Later, Father and Son Return to Monterey

David Kelly spent his childhood visiting Monterey Car Week alongside his father Bob, and between the yearly pilgrimage and his fathers passion for Porsches the love for cars was quickly shared. Now the Ruby Red 1963 356 T-6B you’re looking at here was purchased by Bob in 1977 from his colleague and friend at North American Aviation which served dutifully as his daily driver until 1981 and pillar for David’s Porsche passion.

The engine blew. Life happened. The car sat dormant until 2017. Still an heirloom, David and Bob finally said enough was enough. Once the engine was out to make room for an upgraded 2.1 motor from John Willhoit, the hot rod scope creep began and the car was completely gone through, not only by father and son but by the entire family. ⁣

“When I saw the post for #DriveTastefullyMonterey on Petrolicious, I said ‘come on Dad, this is what we have the car for now. Let’s go do this.” This trip to Monterey was the first time they’ve been in 40 years, and they’ve done the drive in the family treasure they revived together.⁣ We we’re smitten to share this moment with Kellys and their reborn 356.

Couples Who Rally Together…

Veterans of Drive Tastefully: Paso Robles, Allan and Candace Lin are no stranger to Petrolicious Rallies. “We try to do 4-5 rallies every year together. Candace has always been a great copilot, is a fantastic navigator, and always keeps me going in the right direction.” Allan tells us about sharing his passion for driving with his wife.⁣⁣

The passion for Alfas started while he lived in Italy for a year and more specifically for vintage Alfas after seeing the Petrolicious film on Manuel Minassian (also a participant of Drive Tastefully: Monterey) and his Berlina.⁣ “I saw him driving his Alfa like crazy, and realized that’s what an Alfa is about. That’s what got me into it.”⁣⁣

Now with a 2.0L upgrade, sticky track tires, Alfaholics wheels and some suspension work their ‘67 Giulia Sprint GT is a serious canyon carver.⁣⁣ When asked, why Alfa? Allan explains,⁣⁣ “I actually wanted to bring this car on the Drive Tastefully: Paso Robles rally as well, but we blew the engine about a month before, so I really wanted to take it up to Monterey after all the work was done.”⁣⁣

Others in the convoy represented a diverse, eclectic, and colorful mix of machinery. The GT class was well outfitted, with two BMW 850s, including one finished in the spectacular Dakar Yellow with its driver joining us us all the way from Germany. Contrasting the more modern GTs, was a stunning 1966 Aston Martin DB6, at the hands of a lovely couple who held pace and hauled ass.

A thorough range of Porsches came along as well, from a lovely and early 356 Speedster up to a newer spec 991. A sinister black/black 930 Turbo gave the cars behind a full show of from its flamethrower exhaust during its brief pauses between blip shifts making for some epic views going from canyon to canyon.

The stitching of mountain and coastal roads gave each car its time to shine. The Alfas, including Afshin’s Giulietta Sprint Zagato, ate up the tight technical corners with an emphasis on momentum driving and keeping the power at the top of the range, while the 1968 Camaro Convertible was right at home cruising PCH over the Bixby Bridge. With contemporary power, the modern classics like BMW Z8 and Ferrari 488 GTB had ample stretches to open up and exercise the full might of their power band.

Our pals at Chopard came along as the official timing partner and brought Porsche-photographer Bart Kuykens to capture his moments in his signature B&W style. Their 427-equipped Superformance Cobra made for an interesting camera car to say the least.

Here’s are a few snaps Bart shared with us!

Piloti outfitted all Drive Tastefully: Monterey participants with some of their latest driving shoes including the Pistone X, James Hunt collection, and the all-new Vitoria designed for women.

Great roads and great friends make for great drives. Just over a period of a 2-day drive it’s gratifying how quickly a bond develops between folks heading in the same direction, more evidence to support our thesis that the journey is equally important as the destination. As always, it’s a pleasure to meet fellow Petrolisti on these rallies and share the drive.

Drive often. Drive together. Drive Tastefully.

Interested in joining us on our next rally? We’re touring the lakes of Italy in a group of 20 cars on Drive Tastefully: Lago Maggiore. More details and application here.