Monterey - A week of good livin'

I've been on the Monterey Peninsula since Wednesday. What a life! Wednesday night was a reception hosted by Inifinit - a great night, with some beautiful cars and people.

Yesterday was running around getting all my credentials for the many events I'll be attending. At first there didn't seem to be as many people around, a worrisome sign. We went to all the shows - Pebble, Concorso, La Dolce Vita, and drove by Quail, hit the major auctions - Bonhams, Gooding, Russo & Steele, Mecum, and RM. There just didn't seem to be the buzz of previous years.

All the auctions had tons of cars. Bonhams and Gooding each had a great collection of fantastic, historic cars. RM had their usual top notch array of cars from just about every decade. Russo & Steele and Mecum had a good selection of muscle cars, hot rods, more modern race cars, and '50s & '60s street cars.

Early evening we headed downtown Monterey, first to the Russo pre-event fund raiser, then to RM for the "woodie" auction. The buzz was back. Russo had a good crowd and some great looking cars. The auction room was full to capacity at RM for the Nick Alexander woodie auction - and they were buying! It seemed like nothing went for less than about $75,000, and there was at least one woodie that brought over $200,000!

Off today to La Dolce Vita and Concorso Italiano - dueling Italian car shows. Both are at great locations and the day promises to be warm. I'll be pacing myself because it's back to the auctions tonight for a peek.

There's a big wildfire up the coast a few miles and it is apparent here. Ashes float from the sky coating all the beautiful cars and there's a smokey smell in the air. I should have brought a surgical mask.