Every year I try to do something different on my way to Monterey. This year I had dinner with an old friend and stayed in San Francisco. Since I try to stay on east coast time, I was up before dawn so I headed down the coast on Hwy 1.

The plan was to meet a friend of mine to review some cars up for auction and the first stop was RM Auctions in downtown Monterey.

After that, it was over to the Monterey Airport to pick up credentials for the Broad Arrow Auctions.

Broad Arrow has made the space at the airport really work for them as an auction space and a party venue for what used to be called the McCall’s Jet Center party which happens Wednesday Evening.

Thursday Morning was up early again to see the start of the Pebble Beach Tour D’elegance. A 7 am arrival still wasn’t early enough to catch the cars lining up for the front of the pack of cars on the tour.

Viewing the show cars on the tour is free, so the public gets to not only see the Pebble Beach Show cars, but also to hear them run and drive.

All the usual suspects were milling around the cars, and I met up with some old friends. I’ve been doing this stuff for over 25 years, and I met these four guys when we were all starting out our journey with cars over 2 decades ago. From left to right, Tom K began his collecting with vintage Ferraris and shocked us all when he started collecting (unkown it us) Japanese cars. Andy R, is in the Collector Car Insurance Business, but writes, talks, and is considered an expert (just ask him!). Matt O, is also in Auto Insurance too, but it several levels above Andy working for the juggernaut Hagerty! Next to Matt is Tim M, a detailer to the stars. I’m lucky he had time to stop for a photo with us plebes, as he’s usually advising some billionaire collector how to keep his car clean.

It’s funny how we all started out as young punks in this business and it seems like over night, we’ve become the Elder Statesmen! Time flies, but I am honored to know all of these guys!

With old friends, I am always excited to meet new ones. Richard Owen has a great YouTube Channel that followed his career working on a family business restoring Jaguars, but his passion also lies with Vintage Ferraris. I’ve been watching his content and made it a point to meet Richard and shake his hand in person. Going to Monterey for Car week can be expensive, crowded, and too busy, but where else in the world can you meet all these people affiliated with the cars I love?

Once the tour got underway, I headed over the the Gooding Christie’s Auction tent to look at more cars.

I always want to take a closer look at the 250GTEs for sale so I can get a handle on my 330 America’s value in the market. This looked like a nice car, and had most of the details correct. It’s hard to know how well the engine was done, or if the mechanicals were working properly, but It looked nice.

Parker Hall was looking too, and he agreed with my assessment. The auction result was $357,000 which in hindsight I thought was a pretty good price. Restoring a Vintage Ferrari is not for the faint of heart, or the light of wallet, so finding a car and having it restored usually doesn’t make sense. The price paid for this car would have easily exceeded the cost of restoration, so even if it needed a few things to correct, I think the buyer did OK. Where does that put. the market? I’m not sure. I worry that these early 60s Ferraris are starting to lose their desirability. Just like very few people my age found much interest in pre-war cars, I wonder if guys in their 30s and 40s today find interest in 60s Ferraris. The saving grace is Ferraris are rare, and it only takes a small percentage of 30 and 40 year olds to show interest, and all the available inventory of Vintage Ferraris is gone. The same might not be said for a 1965 Ford Fairlane, or Cutlass four door.