Tour d’Elegance! The Quail! Legends of the Autobahn! Concourso Italiano! Japanese Automotive Invitational! And of course, the raison d’être of Monterey Car Week—the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. With so many events curating such fine collections of rolling artwork, it is easy to become overwhelmed and inured.
Even in transit to events or just back to the hotel for dinner, one can stumble across jaw-dropping exotics, the rarest of rare birds, and the just plain weird. Here’s a sampling of the cars that the Motor Trend editors spotted anywhere but on the concours lawns during Monterey Car Week 2018.
Koenigsegg Agera XS
This is one of what has to be only a few Koenigsegg Agera XS models in the U.S. Earlier Koenigseggs were allowed in the U.S. as “show and display” cars, but the XS is the brand’s first truly street-legal model. With the engine from the One:1, it makes more than 1,300 hp and only weighs 3,075 pounds. You know, very normal car to find in a hotel parking lot.—Collin Woodard
Automobili Turismo e Sport
I found all sorts of random supercars in various parking lots this year, but this is the only one that I didn’t recognize in the slightest. No one else I asked knew what it was, either. Turns out, it’s built by a company called Automobili Turismo e Sport, costs more than $1 million, and is one of only 12 that will ever be made.—Collin Woodard
Autobianchi Bianchina Transformabile
Powered by a 17-hp 500cc engine, its essentially a transformed version of a Fiat 500, produced in association with Pirelli for a few years in the early ’60s. The Transformabile features a retracting canvas roof for alfresco fun. Note the watermelon picnic basket.—Mark Rechtin
Pontiac Aztek Camper
Here’s how to do Pebble authentically on the cheap: Acquire a like-new Pontiac Aztek with the highly coveted camping tent and set yourself up right outside the Concours d’Lemons show field where you’ll blend right in. Use a compact bike to get around the peninsula pedaling merrily past the traffic jams.—Frank Markus
TC by Maserati
While the auction houses like Gooding were hammering home Maseratis like the 1955 A6GCS/53 Spyder for north of $5 million, this little gem was available without registering for a paddle. At $9,000, the asking price was well above what you’d pay at the local charity motors lot—call it the Monterey Car Week buyers’ premium. At least it’s shiny!—Frank Markus
Fiat-Abarth 750
This was the only parking-lot car that made me stop in my tracks, grab my phone, and quickly swipe to the camera mode, since it was idling in the valet area of the Inn at Spanish Bay and abruptly took off. If you know Monterey Car Week, you know that the Inn is famous for having some of the most ridiculous rides lined up just opposite the valet stand. A couple of years ago, I spotted an Aston Martin One-77 casually double-parked out front, and this year, it was again a “taste-the-rainbow” collection of supercars, including a new 911 GT2 RS (in red) and a purple McLaren 720S alongside a dark green McLaren Senna (both Michael Fux’s, apparently). But I chose to snap this Fiat-Abarth 750, because—well, look at it. Sexy little body by Zagato, with a double-bubble roofline, on top of an independently suspended chassis powered by an inline four-cylinder engine. No idea what year or how stock this one is, but when new, these babies made about 50 hp, and rowing through the four-speed manual would get you to a top speed of 80 mph. Not bad for a sub-1,200-pound Italian exotic. A quick Google search reveals that a 1959 version sold at auction in 2011 for $93,500.—Ed Loh
Bentley Continental S1
Amidst the sea of crass, carbon-fiber Skittles that typically make up the parking lot of the Inn at Spanish Bay during Car Week rested this absolutely exquisite Bentley S1 Continental Park Ward Coupe. Very few cars can pull off purple. Porsche 911, Dino 246, certain Lamborghinis, a few Mopars, the Maserati A6G, and that’s it. This Bentley is so exquisite, so wonderful, so elegant, that it can pull off two shades of purple. Funny tidbit: Jerry Seinfield’s silver 911 was parked across the lot when I snapped these. That Porsche compared to this Bentley? Yada yada yada.—Jonny Lieberman
1993 Lamborghini Diablo
We spotted another purple specimen at the Inn at Spanish Bay: this 1993 Lamborghini Diablo SE30, built to commemorate 30 years of the Raging Bull brand. This metallic purple paint came standard on all 150 SE30s built, though it could be changed to another color upon request. Why anyone would do that is beyond me.—Jonny Lieberman
Ferrari Enzo
You can hardly go anywhere on the Monterey Peninsula during Car Week without tripping over a Ferrari or three. But finding a Ferrari Enzo left casually in a hotel parking lot is still an event, even by the dizzy standards of Pebble Beach.—Angus MacKenzie
Austin-Healey 100-6
It’s rare to see a big Healey on steel wheels, even though wire wheels were an option. This striking 100-6 2+2, spotted in downtown Carmel, looked fresh out of a thoughtfully executed full restoration—check out the paint under the fenders.—Angus MacKenzie
The post Parking Lot Stars of Monterey Car Week 2018 appeared first on Motor Trend.
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