The guy who is the head honcho of this entire operation has a glitzzier title than the President of the United States. He is The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie GBS, LL.D. (Hon), DSc (Hon), Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur de l’Ordre de Leopold II, Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

 

   After years of trying, we finally got credentialed into the creme de la creme event at The Quail Lodge during Monterey Auto Week (Thank you Courtney. You’re so great!). Now in its 11th year, The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering is an exclusive, limited, juried, absolutely magnificent tribute to Monterey’s world renowned Auto Week in August and is dedicated to the stars of the motoring world. Cars accepted to the Gathering may not be shown at any other event during Monterey Automobile Week prior to the Gathering. Since the Gathering is on the Friday before Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, they may be exhibited at the Concours. The entry fee is expensive and tickets are allocated by a lottery system. They sell out faster than free back stage passes to the Lollapalooza. Guests, me included, wandered the grounds sampling the finest in drink (non-alcoholic for me) and gourmet food that can be obtained on  California’s  Monterey Peninsular.

 

The Bonhams people had their auction tent set up at The Quail, sort of at the western side of the property so one could attend the auction without getting caught up in the festivities. A shuttle ran between the two areas. By the way, Bonhams just sold a Mercedes Benz W196, ex-Juan Manuel Fangio car for a cool 29-million bucks! A record for a set of wheels. I couldn’t keep track of all the personalities in attendance as I was much too busy looking and photographing so much eye candy.Vehicles compete for the prestigious Louis Vuitton Cup with entries limited to winners from other concours around the United States.

 

This was one unbelievable event! It’s f***in’ high class shit! The night before, I cleaned my Rolex and on the day of the event, I wore a clean T-shirt  and clean socks. This was many times the size of the May event that I’ve covered at The Quail for years. Motorcycles, food, race cars, show cars, expensive cars, just look at the photographs.