Car Care

Every year in mid-August, the Monterey Peninsula becomes the epicenter of automotive enthusiasm. Come along for the ride.

Reporting and photos by Rich Ceppos, K.C. Colwell, Drew Dorian, Ezra Dyer, Joe Lorio, Caleb Miller, Tony Quiroga, Elana Scherr, and Dave VanderWerp

You’ll never see more street-parked supercars, history-making race cars, and exquisite classic cars than during Monterey Car Week. It’s the year’s best car spotting, with I’ve-never-seen-one-of-those-before finds seemingly around every corner.

The week is so jam-packed with overlapping events that it’s impossible to see them all, but we’re fortunate to have a group of editors heading to California for the festivities, and we’ll share as much as we can with you here. Check back often as we bring you all the updates. —Joe Lorio

I built a Meyers Manx dune buggy with an identical body to this one (mine was gold metalflake) when I was in college. But it sure wasn’t powered by a three-cylinder radial aircraft engine from Australia like this one. Mine had a plain old Beetle flat-four hung out back. My total budget for the entire car was $2500 ($17,000 in today’s dollars). The same basic kit starts at $15,000 today. And then you still have to supply your own shortened Beetle floorpan, an engine, and all the necessary extras. I wonder what all that would cost you today?—Rich Ceppos

This wild machine is the Half11 from Oil Stain Labs. While it sits on a Porsche 911 tub, everything else is custom, including the LS V-8 stashed behind the cockpit. Porsche diehards, is this sacrilegious? –Caleb Miller

Despite just being unveiled today, this Porsche 911 Speedster is actually from the 993 generation of the 1990s. It’s the product of Porsche’s Sonderwunsch customization department and was commissioned by an Italian designer. It’s only the fourth 993 Speedster ever built. –Caleb Miller

As a Buyer’s Guide editor, i’m always thinking about practicality, and there’s not a lot of that here at The Quail. But this Koenigsegg Gemera is a four-seat supercar with a trunk that can hold four carry-on suitcases. –Drew Dorian

Jack be nimble: detail on a Reinbolt and Christie–bodied 1937 MG SA, part of the 100 Years of MG display at The Quail.

And a Lancia, a Maserati, and a Citroën show that classics aren’t totally shut out in the crush of new exotics at The Quail. —Joe Lorio

Karma Automotive, which emerged from the collapse of the original Fisker Karma, showed the Ivara, a slick crossover design study.

And the E-Legend EL1 is here, an electric homage to the Audi Quattro with a squat, assertive stance. We rode in a prototype of the 804-hp coupe in 2023.

Meanwhile, Cadillac just unveiled the Opulent Velocity concept, which looks forward to what the brand’s V-series might look like in an electric future. The low-slung fastback features dramatic butterfly doors and is capable of Level 4 autonomous driving. —Caleb Miller

1937 Delahaye Type 145, sold new in New Jersey, about to be enveloped in the smoke from an Aston DB5. —Joe Lorio

11 a.m.: I just got to drive the what-might-have-been four-rotor Wankel Mercedes C-111 experimental concept car that debuted in 1969. Once you’re inside—watch your head closing those heavy gullwing doors—it’s surprisingly comfortable. And it rips: the Wankel makes about 350 horsepower and sounds unlike anything this side of a Mazda Le Mans car. The dogleg five-speed is easy to shift, and you push a button on top to access first or reverse. Ultimately, Benz loved the rotary’s performance but not its reliability, and that might even be the case now—there was a slight delay in the proceedings while someone went out to fetch more motor oil. –Ezra Dyer