SFBA - Front Page

Legends of the Dust Bowl?   By Joel Camarda

August 14, 2021

There was already some apprehension concerning the venue for the approaching 2021 event, namely downtown Carmel Valley Village, a significant departure from the previous site, the Nicklaus Golf Course, next to Laguna Seca Raceway.  With one week to go, it appears the good people of Carmel Valley Village decided that they did not want their lovely little community invaded by potentially hundreds of vehicles of the Panza Division. No detriment to those good people. The “Panzas” could have occupied all the available local parking, although maybe beneficial to local restaurants.   Panza crews do get hungry.  Please note, I have no official information.  This is just my personal conjecture.

Let’s give some credit to the Legends organizers in finding a viable venue at the last minute, the Monterey County Fairgrounds.  Let’s subtract some credit for getting in this jam at all.  Follow the guidance of the 75 year old grand daddy of concours, Pebble Beach, A GOLF COURSE.   I have attended many Concorso Italiano events over the years, including one year on an airport runway. Concorso has stabilized on a golf course.

All that said, I believe the event was a qualified success, but I am going to nag about the detriments, because it has been much better.  A lot may be attributed to post pandemic hangover.  I do not know how Concorso, Historics, or Pebble Beach fared this year.  If you attended any of those events, please send your reports to David, the newsletter editor.

The strength, of course, is the cars, and there was a very good collection, but not as good as past events.  Post pandemic hangover?  The competition viewing area was crowded, less space than previous events.

The biggest detriment was the “display parking”, which costs an extra $75.  On a golf course, there is adequate room to set out a blanket on the grass next to the car, some beach chairs, enjoy a picnic lunch, a bottle of champagne.  At the Monterey Fairgrounds, the display parking was a dirt lot, i.e. the “dust bowl.”   If you parked here all day, if you could get in, you had to come back every hour to dust off the car.  I spent all of Friday, waxing and detailing the 335i (sorry MBers, I did not bring the SLK350, driving down from Sonoma).  The display parking was also too small vs. the tickets sold.  I met one couple that drove their 2004 SL55 AMG from upstate New York and could not get into the display area, despite arriving at 8:30 am (not a direct drive from NY).

Well, how was the lunch? At $35 a pop, it was delicious (luckily we decided against a picnic), a broiled half chicken per person with vegetables, more than one could eat.   No glass of wine, however, and the adult beverage bar outside had a very long line.