MONTEREY CAR WEEK is a world class event by any standard. The Pebble Beach Concourse, the Laguna Seca Historic Races, The Quail, McCall’s Jet Center, plus all the art shows, auctions, new car intros … it’s literally more than you can do in 7 days. You have to decide which events you’ll experience, and which you’ll regrettably have to miss.
Oh, and don’t forget to bring money … LOTS of money.
My son Michael and I were fortunate to go this year as guests in attendance to a couple of vehicles we had a part in restoring, or more accurately, finishing their construction after 53 years. The whole CAR WEEK event celebrated 60 years of Shelby cars.
The star of the show at The Quail was the last car Carroll Shelby ever built, the 1967 King Cobra. Read this blog post and watch the accompanying video
(Credit: C.W.Day Productions) for a good history.
It started in the early 90’s when I picked up “tub” number 3 from the previous owner (who had forgotten he owned it) and dropped it at Shelby’s shop in Gardena to be shipped to a Shelby Authorized Museum in Dallas.
energy or money either
The whole thing was a massive scam, which spawned dozens of lawsuits from some of the heaviest hitters in the car hobby. The upside was I got to meet Lee Holman Jr. (Holman and Moody Stock Car Racing) who later helped me find the long lost and elusive Mustang Independent Rear Suspension (IRS).
As you can imagine, there are long, sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious stories associated with both the tub and the IRS projects. But that may be for another day.
Both projects were featured at a V.I.P. dinner at the Los Laureles Lodge in winery-heavy Carmel Valley, where Peter Brock was awarded THE SPIRIT of SHELBY award. Much deserved. Peter is a great talent and a great gentleman.
Pictured below L-R are Steve Johns–who gallantly completed the King Cobra project through thick and thin, spending a decade or two of time, money and effort (thanks Steve!)–yours truly, and Rich MacDonald, son of Dave MacDonald, star Shelby driver who was killed at Indy in 1964. You can Google that.
In the background is Continuation Shelby GT-350 number 98-I, graciously brought to the event by Jim Marietta. Jim, Peter Brock, myself, and several other guys built that car in Peter’s unheated Las Vegas shop a few winters ago as a test bed for the I.R.S. that Shelby tried and abandoned back in 1964. We wanted to build “The car Shelby would done back in the day … if he hadn’t been so short of time, money, and a few other ingredients.” Note the one-piece integrated bumper/facia. Great time, great friends and a great car. Road and Track magazine tested it in the hills above Monterey and declared it “One of their ten favorite cars of the decade.” Not too bad for a bunch ‘a country boys.
And if you’ve still got a minute or two, watch Down In Monterey, filmed appropiately enough in 1967.
Time flies, doesn’t it?
Until next time, thanks for listening.
Duane