What has happened to CI that disappointed me most was that in the past it has been a venue where owners could get together to discuss their cars, the restoration process and the experience of ownership. By changing CI to a larger venue and bringing in every car club they could find online to participate in a corral they made the event much larger and as a result less intimate, making the types of conversations owners look for far more difficult.
A large part of what went wrong was taking the judging away from FCA which in the past ensured that a large number of owners with their cars organized the event ensuring that the parking of cars, judging and ambience of the event was done by people who were enthusiasts. This year's CI was a done to maximize human traffic and revenue. As a result they played to a larger audience and forgot their Italian automotive enthusiasts that were the core of the event. As a result we had the plethora of car clubs, non-automotive booths and lack of organization of Ferrari parking and judging.
I for one would not pay next year to display my car and I suspect that many fellow owners feel the same way. As a result CI risks losing the core client, the displaying owners, that are critical for the event to succeed.
Next year will be interesting however because the Monterey weekend will be followed up by FCA 2004, so something will have to change in the way the weekend works...