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The Concorso Italiano is about a month away. Concorso Italiano Web Site

It is part of the west coast's big annual classic car multi-event gathering.

The Concorso is billed as the largest Italian car show in the world. It is also the one event each year in which the De Tomaso exhibitors are directly hosted by Pantera International (i.e. Debbie and I). We always look forward to meeting new people, and getting reacquainted with old friends too.

There is more information available at this link: PI Website Concorso Italiano Page

Our trophies are due this week, once they arrive I'll post a picture of them. We've got a cool gift for each exhibitor this year ... a bright LED flashlight (of substantial size) with the De Tomaso logo etched on it.

The exhibitors at the Concorso are representatives for De Tomaso owners world wide, we always need to make a good showing for the marque, and bring our exhibitor numbers up because the more exhibitors we have the more respect we get from the event organizers. And of course the more exhibitors we have, the more the world continues to take notice of our marque.

More than anything else Debbie and I want to facilitate De Tomaso owners hanging-out with each other, making a showing for the marque, and having a good time. We sincerely hope you'll consider joining us at the Concorso this year, if not as an exhibitor, at least as a spectator. However, the passengers of exhibitors get in free, therefore it is cheaper for two people to drive in as exhibitors than for them to enter on foot as two spectators. So bring two lawn chairs, one for yourself plus a second for a passenger, and bring some money for food and drink, and enjoy yourself at this awesome event. The founding concept of the Concorso is that your car does not have to be a show car to enter.

The Concorso is more than just a car show, it is a festival. Among the events held each August in Monterey this festival has the most to offer in terms of sights and activities, there's significantly more to do than "just" walking around looking at cars or sitting next to your car in a lawn chair. The Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course is a large attractive golf course, having large rolling fairways lined with groves of large trees. The blue water of the Monterey Bay is visible in the back ground. The venue is cooled by an ocean breeze. On the day of the event the fairways are lined with "pavilions", those white tents with pointed roofs so common at festivals. The sound of Italian music echoes across the fairways and the aroma of Italian food lingers in the air. There is food to sample, wine to taste, a fashion show, live music, interviews of Italian auto industry luminaries, vendors, and much more. Significant others will not be bored or disappointed.

The entire week's events are held in the beautiful environs of Monterey and Carmel California, and California's scenic central coast. There are several car shows, auctions, the Pebble Beach Concourse, and the Laguna Seca Historic Races (which have been renamed the "Rolex Motorsports Reunion"). There is lots to see and lots to do. The many other happenings during this weekend are a guarantee you won't be bored for something to do ... and you'll go home with fond memories and no regrets.

Hotel rates go up during this week, and the rooms in the vicinity of Monterey, Carmel, Marina, and Seaside book-up quickly. However the further from the event you look, you'll find room vacancy and pricing become less and less of an issue. Salinas, Castroville and Watsonville are common choices for those attending the Monterey events, but the motels there do book-up. Moss Landing is usually overlooked, but some lodging is available there. Debbie and I prefer the coastal cities a bit further north such as Aptos, Capitola, Soquel, and Santa Cruz. Rooms should always be available (at standard prices too) in the cities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill ... the event is about an hour's drive from there.

The most scenic and winding route between Highway 1 and Highway 101 north of Monterey meanders between Gilroy and Watsonville on Highway 152. This route, known as Hecker Pass, takes you over the Santa Cruz Mountains and through a grove of redwood trees. I enjoy this section of road, but it is not the route to take when you're in a hurry.
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon:
We also have planned to drive the highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Fransisco , is there any chance that we can drive a part of this coast route?

Thanks
Simon


Simon,

HWY 1 is open from LA as far as Gorda and then closed due to the Mill Creek mudslide, although you can take a detour and get back on, it is then closed at Pfeiffer bridge that collapsed and I don't believe there is a detour option for that portion. This realistically means you can probably only go up the coast from LA as far as San Simeon before heading inland.

I'm not terribly familiar with the minor roads in CA and what options might be open to you.

Julian
State Route 1

IS CLOSED FROM 4.6 MI NORTH OF RAGGED POINT TO GORDA (MONTEREY CO)
RAGGED POINT IS 15 MINUTES NORTH OF POINT PIEDRAS BLANCAS
- DUE TO MUDSLIDE REMOVAL - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
- MOTORISTS CAN ACCESS SR 1 FROM GORDA TO PFEIFFER CANYON BRIDGE /IN BIG SUR/ BY USING NACIMIENTO-FERGUSON RD

IS CLOSED FROM THE PFEIFFER CANYON BRIDGE TO BIG SUR STATION (MONTEREY CO)
- DUE TO BRIDGE REPLACEMENT - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

1-WAY CONTROLLED TRAFFIC FROM 0.6 MI NORTH OF LIMEKILN CREEK BRIDGE
TO 1.7 MI SOUTH OF LUCIA /AT PAUL'S SLIDE/ (MONTEREY CO) 24 HRS A DAY - 7 DAYS A WEEK - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION

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I appreciate the sentiments of Mark, Dennis and Kjeld.

Seventeen is a very low number, we would love to see that number closer to thirty (or forty) ... so if I may coerce other members living in California or Nevada to show up, please consider yourselves coerced.

The passengers of exhibitors get in free. In other words it is cheaper for an exhibitor with a passenger to enter the Concorso than for two spectators to enter on foot. So bring two lawn chairs, one for yourself plus a second for a passenger, and bring some money for food and drink, and enjoy yourself at this awesome event. The founding concept of the Concorso was that your car does not have to be a show car to enter.

More than anything else Debbie and I want to facilitate De Tomaso owners hanging-out with each other, making a showing for the marque, and having a good time. Got room for an ice chest (Don!)? Your corral host likes a cold Budweiser (or a St.Pauli Girl, or a Corona). Folks with ice chests are welcome to hide their trunk tubs behind our pavilion. Join Debbie, Dale and I, the Spratling family, Sheldon, and other perennials and lets just have a good time.
Having now made a commitment to Mark for him to ride shotgun in Monterey and today also having purchased a Concorso Italiano ticket, I thought I'd better check I have a car to take! It's been well over 9 months since the GT5 has seen the light of day, in fact I can't actually recall when I drove it last, not since I started the new job last October, so in all honesty probably Monterey last year!

I dug my way through all the crap that had accumulated in that space between the front of it and the garage door, moving a scooter (pit bike) that didn't want to start, with thoughts of “so this is the way the evening is going to go” already crossing my mind… I ducked and shimmied myself between the car and lift careful not to bump my head, which I have done so many times I've lost count and I’m sure I have a permanent dimple to prove it (some might say brain damage). I disconnected the trickle charger, pulled the cover and even more awkwardly squeezed into the car with the driver’s door partially open, feet first into the foot well. Once in it felt much like it does pulling on my helmet at the race track; snug and reassuring with a sense of anticipation and trace of nervousness. It took a little time to prime the carb via the mechanical pump, but eventually she sputtered into life, quickly filling the garage with those ever recognizable fumes of overly rich partially burnt gas mixed with accumulated cobwebs/dust being burnt off of hot surfaces.

Carefully I edged her out of the garage and just sat and savored the moment while she got warm enough to idle, albeit somewhat rough, much like an old man the morning after a night of debauchery. I ran inside to find the registration tag and insurance card to replace those that had long since expired. Finally laid my hands on the tag, right along with the new plates, WTF why do I need mandatory replacement plates on my cars every 7 years? That’s the craziest money grabbing stint ever heard of; but wait, Nevada has transitioned back to stamped plates that the prisoners crank out rather than the decal style (which they introduced to save money at the prisons). They do look so much better, so I shouldn’t complain for $7 a pair and I get a garage wall ornament of the old plates to boot. I digress, and my car is idling in the driveway, waiting like the caged Panther it is to be released into its predatory hunting grounds, ready to pounce on unsuspecting coffee can rice burners that have a notion that a 70’s car can’t be fast and cool.

But this is no ordinary 70’s styling (albeit with a touch of 80's flare); I can feel the heads turning, eyes staring as soon as I round the corner from my neighborhood onto the main street. A guy in a big RAM truck rolls coal from his diesel pulling away from the first light in an effort to impress me. I cut through that crap in an instant and leave him wondering. The lights are against me as we pull up to the next one and he’s rolling down his window excited like a kid at Christmas, I honestly at one point thought he may be going to propose he was so enamored.

The other side I have a Jeep SR8, the Pantera is physically rocking as the idle is set a little low, I feather the throttle and it’s enough to make him think twice, maybe he had seen what happened to the RAM, sheepishly he pulls away (ewe that was a bad pun).

It’s a similar story at each light, I’m wondering if some whizz kid out there has an app that changes lights to red just to get another glimpse of this beauty. I look in the rear view mirror and over the vibrating air cleaner I see the Lexus behind me has a Mom driving and son in the passenger seat both with their noses stuck to the windshield, tongues hanging out and eyes squinting trying to read the script on the rear of the car. I don’t know if they got it, but if that kid wasn’t the one with the traffic light app I’m damn sure he’s on Google now and we are about to have one more convert to the fold.

I pull into the small mall and there’s a flurry of activity, smart phones come out faster than I can answer the questions. Its amazing kids nowadays can draw a smartphone, take a photo and upload it to Facebook quicker than a cowboy could get his finger on the trigger of a six shooter. But I’m not here to showboat; this is a grocery run, well sort of, more the precooked variety, aka fast food. I’m in line and a guy starts showing me photos of his buddies GT40, yes I have one of those too! We continue the car related chat out into the parking lot and part ways new friends, who said gasoline cars are a dying breed, there’s nothing to get excited about an electric motor! (Ooh another more subtle pun). I linger as the final few get there photo shot from just the right angle, after all who wants to be tagged in a less than perfect photo on FB!

I head home via the Freeway to be able to open her up a little, but the downside is it’s over all too soon, before I know it I'm home and eating dinner. Man that Panda Express tasted good….not because it’s a quality meal simply because of the pleasure it brought me to be out in the Pantera again, why did I wait so long dammit!

Who the f*^k said fast food isn’t good for you!
quote:
Originally posted by sjdennis:

That's great George! I actually tried to have the eclipse re-scheduled but the guy who controls that was not having it Mad


Well Mike & Lori Drew are attending the Monterey festivities including Laguna Seca Sunday and still planning to make the eclipse in Oregon on Monday!
quote:

Well Mike & Lori Drew are attending the Monterey festivities including Laguna Seca Sunday and still planning to make the eclipse in Oregon on Monday!


Yes Joules, they told me they were going to try that. Those over achievers!!
I may try to come down on the 17th to get a little Monterey car flavor before we head out to Wyoming on the 18th. Smiler

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