Featured cars at Pebble Beach Concours 2023

[1937hd45]

Just checked to see what the 2023 Featured Cars will be at Pebble Beach. The Vanderbilt Cup Race Era cars should be a great one. 

 

Bob

[Matt Harwood]

https://pebblebeachconcours.net/cars/2023-featured-classes/

[Grimy]

A whole class of "Phony & Flashy"?

[ted sweet]

way out of price range

[edinmass]

We shall see what gets through………I bet it will be slim pickings. 
 

 

What doesn’t make the cut will be more interesting than what does!

Edited November 23, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

Ed, Once the featured cars are announced does the Pebble Beach committee send out requests or do owners of those cars apply for acceptance? Is there an entry fee for the cars?  Hope to be able to get back there this year, and advise everyone that has it on their "Bucket List" to get there. Bob 

[edinmass]

Bob……with a class like that, it was assembled a year or two ahead of time. They leave nothing to chance. Most special classes are “on a list” and as commitments accumulate they move up and become reality. They are always looking for ideas and change ups.  You can suggest classes and ideas. I have had a few that evolved into actual classes. This particular subject applies to all the top concours. Not just PB. It’s common to have one particular car that is a hold out……where the owner isn’t willing to display or ship his car……and the class never comes to fruition. If you have a killer car that has never been seen, has a fresh restoration, and your willing to premier the car……..you can get your class/spot most times.

Edited November 23, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

I've never held a copy of INSIDER but enjoy reading a few on line, may make the investment for a year. Bob

[prewarnut]

Ed and others, after one makes the class what is the bribe, I mean entry fee, to at least drive across the platform? All kidding aside is there any understanding by entrants who the judging committee will be each year; can this change?

[edinmass]

So here is the deal. Most of the time cars are in classes and you can usually tell first, seconded, and third just from the restoration and the actual car. That works 95 percent of the time. The cars usually live and die on their own merits. Then you get special classes where all the cars are invited on a special case. They tend to be a bunch of great things, but one or two usually stick out for exceptional design or exceptional history. So when in such a class, you can usually figure out the winners. Also, with “lesser cars” the owners already know they are under water when they drive on the field. “Cannon fodder” if you will. But there are the non tangible things in the background that come into play also. When I walk up to a class trying to figure out the results I ask myself three questions. 1- Who restored it and when, 2- who is the owner, 3- the car, IE: design, coach builder, colors, provenance,ect.

 

Other things to consider? Is it a fresh restoration………that carry’s a ton of weight.

First time ever on a show field. Getting rare today, but that is HUGE!

Cars that are unusual, and well hidden and not generally know to the hobby.

 

And the last thing, and most important. Your at Pebble where your fantastic world class car is driven on the filed and your feeling really good about yourself. You drive to the class, park, and see what’s going head to head with you. Instant reality check……..it’s PEBBLE and any monster car can pop up unexpectedly. Been there done that. Certain cars have what we call “eyeball” or “presence”. Just the right combination of color, trim, wheel treatments, ect. This year at Pebble we didn’t show a car, so I walked the field starting a 6 am. By 9 I had made my Best of Show choice……sat down and had coffee with the owner on a bench and congratulated him on his Best in Show win. He was flabbergasted that I would make that comment. I explained my reasons, and he was humbled and flattered…….but didn’t think he was going to win. I was correct. Doing this for 50 years gives you a feeling in your bones. 
 

One last comment. I once took a top 10 in the world car to a show for someone. The top ten number came from Road & Track comments in a story, so we aren’t talking my opinion. There were TEN split windshield custom Dietrich’s in the class…..TEN! So, how do you pick a first in a class where any of the ten cars would be Best of Show at 99 percent of the venues across the world. That class was a mistake, and they knew it as soon as the judging started. Ten people who expected to be in the running, and seven went home disappointed. So it’s easier to manage the classes ahead of time. Yes, there is free and fair competition……..but most often there are very few fresh restorations on cars today.

Edited November 23, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Sounds like showing dogs. My wife had a stunning show boxer, every time we would go to a show the handler would point out the winners well before the show would start. Even to the point that she would say, 'we are going to win today'. Took the fun out of it.

[alsancle]

Car + Owner + Restorer + Restoration - Competition = result.

[George K]

7 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Car + Owner + Restorer + Restoration - Competition = result.

All the above distilled down = $ x politics + ego = day in the sun.

[alsancle]

10 minutes ago, George K said:

All the above distilled down = $ x politics + ego = day in the sun.

Like most things in life George.   Orin needs to help me out here,  but there was a guy with a 37 Packard Coupe that won a class award either this year or last.  He was a real estate agent from San Fran and it was his first car and he and his buddies did the restoration.   I was impressed.   Well done car.

 

Here are last years class winners:   https://pebblebeachconcours.net/cars/class-winners/

 

Hard to argue with any of them,  but of course there are great cars in every class so there were other worthy cars that did not win.

[alsancle]

I found the Packard I was thinking of.  I wanted to shake this guys hand but he was always busy.    Regular guy,  home restoration with a great result.

[George K]

The exception that proves the rule. Certainly not in the multi million dollar class. Covid era win from local participant. Unusual times produce unusual results.

[63RedBrier]

Please educate me...  Can one vehicle win BOS or a class more than once?  

Edited November 23, 2022 by 63RedBrier (see edit history)

[alsancle]

32 minutes ago, 63RedBrier said:

Be educate me...  Can one vehicle win BOS or a class more than once?  

A car can only return once every 10 years. I can’t see that they would ever nominate the same car for best of shows twice. There’s enough good cars that you can find one every year. Not sure if you can win your class twice. But there are plenty of cars that have been back to Pebble two or three times.

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, George K said:

The exception that proves the rule. Certainly not in the multi million dollar class. Covid era win from local participant. Unusual times produce unusual results.

I was 50 years old before I understood what that saying meant.

[George K]

1 minute ago, alsancle said:

I was 50 years old before I understood what that saying meant.

Ditto for me but my revelation was how crazy I am and learning to embrace my insanity. Twenty year have passed with a much better quality of life.

[wayne sheldon]

I am really enjoying reading this thread, and the comments from people "in the know". I also appreciate the questions asked by people that aren't all that personally involved. Good stuff!

I think I would have liked to have done a bit more showing of my cars. But I never had any cars that were truly show-worthy. I was invited to show a car a few times at lesser venues. Usually in cases when the venue wanted a certain marque or class of which a car I had at the time was good enough to fill a space. I enjoyed the experience, although I always declined to have my car judged (why waste their time?)

I do think I would have enjoyed showing cars more often. Although I don't think I would have ever made it to Pebble that way. I was never one that wanted trophies or ribbons.

 

[Grimy]

9 hours ago, alsancle said:

I found the Packard I was thinking of.  I wanted to shake this guys hand but he was always busy.    Regular guy,  home restoration with a great result.

That car belongs to my close friend and neighbor Jeff M.  It is a meticulous 12+ year effort from bare bones.  He has three other Packards, but this was his first ground-up restoration.

[Buffalowed Bill]

For most of us mortals just showing on that field is enough. Cannon fodder? Well ask the thousand or more owners that didn't make the cut. My guess is that it is harder to make the cut if a car is not considered to be part of yearly presentation, or belong to a regular presenter. A car not so blessed has to amass a legion of influenceable advocates.  

[John_Mereness]

10 hours ago, alsancle said:

I found the Packard I was thinking of.  I wanted to shake this guys hand but he was always busy.    Regular guy,  home restoration with a great result.

Not much can turn around "stay around brown" and in this case it is only attractive as it has a fantastic restoration. 

[Grimy]

16 minutes ago, John_Mereness said:

Not much can turn around "stay around brown" and in this case it is only attractive as it has a fantastic restoration. 

Jeff says that's an authentic 1937 Packard Senior color whose specific name I don't recall but which includes the word gray.

[John_Mereness]

On 11/23/2022 at 7:47 PM, Grimy said:

Jeff says that's an authentic 1937 Packard Senior color whose specific name I don't recall but which includes the word gray.

Then, bad shade of Gray too.  Will say interesting and I enjoy seeing the car, but "thank god it has an incredible restoration" as that redeems this Packard - for any other car though = "good luck to you".

Edited December 4, 2022 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[Grimy]

2 minutes ago, John_Mereness said:

Then, bad shade of Gray too.  Will say interesting and I enjoy seeing the car, but "thank god it has an incredible restoration" as that redeems this Packard, but for any other car ... "good luck to you".

John, I'm partially colorblind so I'll refrain from commenting on colors other than the gold-leafed Cads and Pierces 🙂

 

I must correct my earlier remark that this was Jeff's first ground-up restoration--just before this one he did a ground-up on a Shelby Mustang.  I didn't think of that at the time because it was "modern" and therefore not in my own wheelhouse.

[1937hd45]

I like the Packard, color too. I bet it looks fantastic with the hood closed, open hoods are a 1970's thing. 

 

Bob

[Grimy]

2 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

I like the Packard, color too. I bet it looks fantastic with the hood closed, open hoods are a 1970's thing. 

 

Bob

Thanks, Bob.  Here you go...photo taken during the Saturday cleanup before the show, not a wonderful backdrop.  The relatively unusual rear-mounted spare (for a 12) really shows off the fender and runningboard curves.

[Tph479]

13 hours ago, alsancle said:

I found the Packard I was thinking of.  I wanted to shake this guys hand but he was always busy.    Regular guy,  home restoration with a great result.

This Packard was stunning in person. They were still finishing it up in the parking lot the days before the show. Very conservative and excellent choice  in color, plus the black walls really set if off. Job well done.

[1937hd45]

Thank you Grimy! I had some V12 parts at Hershey, know very little about them, must be a really heavy car. Looks really nice, so plain it doesn't have an outside rear view mirror, it had to have people stopping in their tracks. Just noticed the side vents in the hood, they differ in the photos, are they controlled automatically or by the driver? 

Edited November 24, 2022 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[Tph479]

16 hours ago, edinmass said:

So here is the deal. Most of the time cars are in classes and you can usually tell first, seconded, and third just from the restoration and the actual car. That works 95 percent of the time. The cars usually live and die on their own merits. Then you get special classes where all the cars are invited on a special case. They tend to be a bunch of great things, but one or two usually stick out for exceptional design or exceptional history. So when in such a class, you can usually figure out the winners. Also, with “lesser cars” the owners already know they are under water when they drive on the field. “Cannon fodder” if you will. But there are the non tangible things in the background that come into play also. When I walk up to a class trying to figure out the results I ask myself three questions. 1- Who restored it and when, 2- who is the owner, 3- the car, IE: design, coach builder, colors, provenance,ect.

 

Other things to consider? Is it a fresh restoration………that carry’s a ton of weight.

First time ever on a show field. Getting rare today, but that is HUGE!

Cars that are unusual, and well hidden and not generally know to the hobby.

 

And the last thing, and most important. Your at Pebble where your fantastic world class car is driven on the filed and your feeling really good about yourself. You drive to the class, park, and see what’s going head to head with you. Instant reality check……..it’s PEBBLE and any monster car can pop up unexpectedly. Been there done that. Certain cars have what we call “eyeball” or “presence”. Just the right combination of color, trim, wheel treatments, ect. This year at Pebble we didn’t show a car, so I walked the field starting a 6 am. By 9 I had made my Best of Show choice……sat down and had coffee with the owner on a bench and congratulated him on his Best in Show win. He was flabbergasted that I would make that comment. I explained my reasons, and he was humbled and flattered…….but didn’t think he was going to win. I was correct. Doing this for 50 years gives you a feeling in your bones. 
 

One last comment. I once took a top 10 in the world car to a show for someone. The top ten number came from Road & Track comments in a story, so we aren’t talking my opinion. There were TEN split windshield custom Dietrich’s in the class…..TEN! So, how do you pick a first in a class where any of the ten cars would be Best of Show at 99 percent of the venues across the world. That class was a mistake, and they knew it as soon as the judging started. Ten people who expected to be in the running, and seven went home disappointed. So it’s easier to manage the classes ahead of time. Yes, there is free and fair competition……..but most often there are very few fresh restorations on cars today.

It still is possible to work on a barn find car for a few years with you buddies in the garage in your spare time, talking about and solving all of the world’s problems as you tinker, apply to pebble for the heck of it thinking they are going to throw your application in the garbage, since you have never been there before (not even as a spectator) and you know the odds are stacked against you to even get accepted. But you are thinking that if you do get accepted you get 4 free tickets, and a fantastic parking spot on the lawn. Did I say Free, like capital F free?  Then all of a sudden you get an letter in the mail saying you are in. You are in like flynn unless Covid calls the show off for a second year. And then you start to think, oh crap, I have to finish this car now and am going to be laughed off the field… maybe they need my car as the fluffer to make the other cars look better…. The system is rigged! But I’ll go along with the program.
 

The letter arrived in late winter, giving us many more months to finish. For those of you who don’t understand the term winter - that is where frozen water falls from the sky in white crystalized form. This white crystalized version of frozen water is called snow. Snow accumulates on the ground, preventing us from driving our antique cars on the road thus allowing us to work on old cars, or at least talk about working on the old cars as the cars and projects gather dust. There is no need to explain dust on old car projects since everyone of you knows what I am talking about. Capeesh? From the time the letter arrives is to the show I recall was like 6 or 7 months. No problem the car will be finished in no time, correct? 

So we finish the car the Saturday before the show, and when I mean finish it, I mean finish it, not wiping it with a baby diaper finish it, you know like still working on it, putting the driveshaft in, adjusting the brakes etc, and taking it for its maiden voyage for the first time driving it up and down the block a few times late in the afternoon and then throw it in the old trailer, ( which by itself is old enough to be considered AACA eligible, if they had a trailer class)

 

We leave on Sunday and drive about 2,250 miles heading west to pebble.  We arrived on Wednesday after being sidelined for a few hours because we threw a wheel bearing outside of Sacramento. Besides that the trip was uneventful, well besides being bounced around on some horrible California highways. What’s with that? They don’t have snow ( which I gave my snow lesson earlier) and salt out here, what’s with all of those potholes?? They pay enough in taxes that they should have smooth roads…

 

Oh, I just remembered how we missed our turn into pebble beach and Siri had us driving through downtown Carmel with the truck and trailer on those tight streets and we were trying not to sideswipe all of the exotic cars. There were also some exotic people sporting some fresh restorations if you know what I mean, you know, some people sporting new NOS parts.  The pedestrians probably thought Sanford and Son rolled into town and the locals were probably thinking that they should put up the For Sale signs in front of their houses as we tried to navigate back to where we needed to be.

 

We finally arrived in the parking lot after being on the road for 3 1/2 days, open the trailer and see how dusty the car is from the road trip and start to laugh because you realized how you wasted your time cleaning it really good the night before you left on the journey. So you take the car on its first real ride around the parking lot and the local streets, test driving and doing figure eights and driving like a Shriner in a 4th of July parade and decide what the heck, the car seems to be running well and I know every component was rebuilt- It starts, it stops, it’s running good and since we signed up for the 75 mile tour, we say let’s go for it. We came 2,250 miles, what’s 75 more in a 101 year old car…So you wake up early the next morning,  get in line and are thinking to yourself “where did all of these incredible cars come from” because they were all not in the lot yesterday. So you pull away and within the first 15 minutes you see cars pulling over with various problems. Then you are driving up and down mountains with a car with rear wheel brakes only, and you start to think and second guess yourself “did I put every last bolt and cotter pin back on the car, because there were some laying on the table next to the car when I finished it up” and other thoughts like that. This  nonsense is going through your mind as you are driving down a mountain road in bumper to bumper tour traffic and we are coming up to a stop sign. Did I mention that the car in front of us is a disappearing top SJ Murphy convertible coupe, and you are thinking, well if the brakes go out I guess Haggerty is buying them a new rear bumper.  
 

After you get to the coffee stop, you figure the rest of the ride is going to be easy since looking at the directions you see it’s pretty much going down to Big Sur and coming back on open roads. Well since we are at the back of the pack everything is fine until we get stuck in traffic coming up the hill on the pacific coast highway going back to pebble. The car really started to act up and wanting to stall and I started pumping the heck out of the mechanical fuel pump on the dash board thinking I am vapor locking and trying to get the fuel pressure up to blow any bubbles out of the system. Luckily the light turns green and the traffic starts to move and as we come up to the traffic light it starts to turn red, and my dad is like “f it” blow though it, we are in an old car we have the right away. Last thing you want is to tie up traffic, creating grid lock on a hill in a broken down antique car looking like a bunch of knuckle heads. After driving Chicago style though the red light, the  car started running good again and we entered the Griswold European vacation roundabout road back into pebble. From there it’s  all downhill and we had gravity and momentum on our side. As we pull into the lot the car dies and I kid you not we literally roll up to the trailer. First thing that comes to my mind is I broke it, I don’t know to what extent I broke it, and we will have to work our hinds off to get on the field on Sunday.  As I get out of the car and start to stretch,  I start to think about the red over priced gas station purchased gallon gas can collection 2,250 miles away from us from my dad’s habit of running out of gas, and was thinking it can’t be out of gas, we only went 75 miles….can this car really be that much of a gas hog and drinking that much gas?? No it really can’t…. Can it?  Low and behold I tap the bottom of the gas tank and it sounded like a empty drum. I was pretty much out of gas and that’s why it’s seemed like it was vapor locking on the hill. The car was pretty much running on pressurized fumes. Simple fix, put some more gas in it. That was genius level thinking on my behalf.  Real cars like drinking gas…..right? 

 

My friend was in for car week, and since we were shacking up in his vacation rental he was at the parking lot waiting for us to arrive.  Luckily he ran, and when I mean ran, he got into his rental car that did have gas in it and drove to the gas station to get some more gas to bring it back to us. I thanked him many times for that one. Unfortunately, since he borrowed a gas can, we were not able to buy an over priced red souvenir gas from Carmel to add to our growing gas can collection back home. Dang, now I have to go back to California to get a red souvenir gas can to complete our wall of gas cans from every state that we have ran out of gas in. The gas can collection is quite impressive, mostly from midwestern states. A lot of the cans predate that junky nozzle design so they are true collector pieces. Don’t you all hate those new style nozzles?  By the way the gas can collection is Smithsonian quality. It probably covers 30 years of gas can design and technology. 
 

My friend asked if I could take his wife, daughter and boyfriend  for a quick ride around the parking lot. Not wanting to impress all of the entrants with my figure eight Shriner driving in the parking lot again, I was telling them that it will not be fun to go for a ride in the parking lot (just to clarify -doing figure eights, those are always fun to do in a parking lot, especially in the snow) let’s drive the 17 mile scenic drive instead. What the heck, we are in California on vacation let’s drive this thing, I have been looking at it for 7 years! You two, hop in the rumble seat! And off we went for another ride.
 

I spent the next two days hanging out in the parking lot detailing the car, looking over every possible inch to make sure everything is bolted together and cotter pinned, which is was, and just drinking beer and taking it all in as a newbie. Then all of a sudden Sunday morning is here, it’s showtime at the Apollo, at least I can say we restored a car, got accepted to the show, the car ran perfect besides the running out of gas issue, I got to drive the pacific coast highway in the car,  drive the 17 mile scenic road, I met some real true car enthusiasts and I got into pebble beach for Free! What is better than that? Judging starts and I am clueless on what to expect. The judges who were as pleasant and nice as can be, asked me all sort of inquiring questions and asked to see pictures of the car before, during and after of the restoration. I was like I really don’t have any after pictures, I just finished it last week! They were laughing at that response.

 

So after judging i walked around the field checking the incredible iron, taking it all in. When I say incredible iron, I mean it, every car is beyond nice and the quality is top notch. We’re talking fine, really fine machines. I head back to the car to hang out. I ended up answering a lot of questions from spectators who seemed to like the car. Like I stated earlier a lot of true car people were there and taking pictures and asking knowledgeable questions, which I was more than happy to answer.

 

After a while, as the show progresses, the class leader comes over and tells me to stay near the car and that I might have to move it. I really didn’t know what he meant by that. I start thinking to myself move it where, behind the dumpster? Then he comes back and tells me that I’m one of the 3 picked. I’m thinking to my self sweet! I am going to get a third place award, that’s fantastic. You pull up to the  line and the 3 cars that were picked from the class are parked 3 across and the guy, explains how it’s works. The guy has a headset on, clip board, you know the whole deal, he looks the part, so I’m just calling him The Guy. To me he is the original Big Guy. He was very friendly, and very complementary to the 3 of us in our class. By the way, All of the judges, volunteers and staff were class acts all the way around. They really went out of their way to treat everyone kindly.  
 

So how it works for award is- 3rd goes first, then 2nd and finally 1st drives across the ramp to get the awards , but you don’t know who has what until you are called.  I’m thinking ok, I’m driving across the ramp first to get my 3rd place. The announcer calls the first name and it’s not me, did he misspeak? Maybe I don’t understand Pebbleease… Then I am all excited thinking this is more sweet I’m getting a second!! Not too shabby. Then…. Then …it’s down to two cars, and before they announce the second place winner, The Big Guy who was explaining to us how the judging works is already pointing at the other car to go across the ramp. We were sitting in the car and it didn’t register right away, and we were like holy blank, ( to keep this pg I am using the word blank in place of a four letter word that is short for the saying, Ship High in Transit) we are getting first! 1st in class at Pebble for a first time entrant!! I was thinking wasn’t this supposed to be rigged? How did we get first??. Maybe I’m not a fluffer after all!  
 

They then park you in the winner’s circle where all of the 1st place class winners get parked. From the winner circle  they then pick best in show.  So that’s how that works. Some of the class judges did come up to me and congratulate me which I thought was really cool of them to do and that continued the class act of the show which I spoke of earlier.  Very nice, very professional. Top notch all the way around.

My Pebble Beach experience is beyond words as a exhibitor.  My pebble experience in 2021 was completely unexpected. From start to finish- As a nobody from nowhere in this hobby I found out that  just messing around in the garage and hanging out with my friends and tinkering with a car led to the memory of a lifetime. Again I would like to thank all of my friends again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

[edinmass]

Great post above. I have had a similar experience many times. Not running out of fuel is a big lesson. Came close also. Getting stuck on the hill is a common issue. I won’t give away all my Pebble secrets….and there are a bunch of them for the tour. To say the pucker factor is high is an understatement. Having done the tour enough times……..we bring a blue tooth radio speaker and jam tunes the entire way……….Rolling Stones is the most popular band. Sammy Hagar’s “I can’t drive 55” blasting down to Big Sir in a J through the fog……..priceless. The dusty lot…….proof positive you have had a car on the field. Comments of all the ass kicking cars…….true. Think you have something special? Think your gonna kick some ass? Nope……..the billionaire next to you with a crushing car that makes your 100 point machine look like a junk yard relic will be parked next to you………winning your class is great. Starting your car up for the bull pen…….which is having your car nominated for best of show………….absolutely fantastic. We missed best of show by one dam vote………talk about close. It still was a life long memory. The best way to describe taking a car to Pebble is it’s like your dating a supermodel who is schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, and OCD. You literally never know what’s happening in front of all your friends. It’s the most fun you can have having an anxiety attack. The strange part is after a few years you actually get used to it. I figure every week spent at Pebble in competition takes six months off your life from stress.

Edited November 24, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

But I want to know what car  Tph479 took to Pebble Beach! Two wheel brakes, rumble seat? Gotta be something I would go crazy about!

Wonderful writeup by the way!

[alsancle]

13 hours ago, Grimy said:

That car belongs to my close friend and neighbor Jeff M.  It is a meticulous 12+ year effort from bare bones.  He has three other Packards, but this was his first ground-up restoration.

 

George,  thanks.  I was so impressed with the presentation of this car that I went back 3 times to try and introduce myself to Jeff.   First time in the photo I posted you can see the judges were keeping him busy.   When you are standing with your car at Pebble you tend to be occupied.

[edinmass]

Here is a good photo. A exceptionally nice Murphy Roadster on the field in 2022. A world class car by anyones definition. The BOS car is next to it. This 100 point Murphy didn’t even place in the class. That’s what we call deep water. The car is owned by good friends. I hadn’t been seen in like 25 years, so it was reasonably fresh with lots of current upgrades so it presented as a “new restoration”. And you get a thank you for bring your car. That is how Pebble works. Notice the judges. Ten minutes after this photo, I helped out a friend with his 29 Packard no start on the field. He had shut off his vacuum tank and forgot. Nerves cost him a trophy. You must be on top of your game, or you lose…….
 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[Tph479]

6 hours ago, Tph479 said:

It still is possible to work on a barn find car for a few years with you buddies in the garage in your spare time, talking about and solving all of the world’s problems as you tinker, apply to pebble for the heck of it thinking they are going to throw your application in the garbage, since you have never been there before (not even as a spectator) and you know the odds are stacked against you to even get accepted. But you are thinking that if you do get accepted you get 4 free tickets, and a fantastic parking spot on the lawn. Did I say Free, like capital F free?  Then all of a sudden you get an letter in the mail saying you are in. You are in like flynn unless Covid calls the show off for a second year. And then you start to think, oh crap, I have to finish this car now and am going to be laughed off the field… maybe they need my car as the fluffer to make the other cars look better…. The system is rigged! But I’ll go along with the program.
 

The letter arrived in late winter, giving us many more months to finish. For those of you who don’t understand the term winter - that is where frozen water falls from the sky in white crystalized form. This white crystalized version of frozen water is called snow. Snow accumulates on the ground, preventing us from driving our antique cars on the road thus allowing us to work on old cars, or at least talk about working on the old cars as the cars and projects gather dust. There is no need to explain dust on old car projects since everyone of you knows what I am talking about. Capeesh? From the time the letter arrives is to the show I recall was like 6 or 7 months. No problem the car will be finished in no time, correct? 

So we finish the car the Saturday before the show, and when I mean finish it, I mean finish it, not wiping it with a baby diaper finish it, you know like still working on it, putting the driveshaft in, adjusting the brakes etc, and taking it for its maiden voyage for the first time driving it up and down the block a few times late in the afternoon and then throw it in the old trailer, ( which by itself is old enough to be considered AACA eligible, if they had a trailer class)

 

We leave on Sunday and drive about 2,250 miles heading west to pebble.  We arrived on Wednesday after being sidelined for a few hours because we threw a wheel bearing outside of Sacramento. Besides that the trip was uneventful, well besides being bounced around on some horrible California highways. What’s with that? They don’t have snow ( which I gave my snow lesson earlier) and salt out here, what’s with all of those potholes?? They pay enough in taxes that they should have smooth roads…

 

Oh, I just remembered how we missed our turn into pebble beach and Siri had us driving through downtown Carmel with the truck and trailer on those tight streets and we were trying not to sideswipe all of the exotic cars. There were also some exotic people sporting some fresh restorations if you know what I mean, you know, some people sporting new NOS parts.  The pedestrians probably thought Sanford and Son rolled into town and the locals were probably thinking that they should put up the For Sale signs in front of their houses as we tried to navigate back to where we needed to be.

 

We finally arrived in the parking lot after being on the road for 3 1/2 days, open the trailer and see how dusty the car is from the road trip and start to laugh because you realized how you wasted your time cleaning it really good the night before you left on the journey. So you take the car on its first real ride around the parking lot and the local streets, test driving and doing figure eights and driving like a Shriner in a 4th of July parade and decide what the heck, the car seems to be running well and I know every component was rebuilt- It starts, it stops, it’s running good and since we signed up for the 75 mile tour, we say let’s go for it. We came 2,250 miles, what’s 75 more in a 101 year old car…So you wake up early the next morning,  get in line and are thinking to yourself “where did all of these incredible cars come from” because they were all not in the lot yesterday. So you pull away and within the first 15 minutes you see cars pulling over with various problems. Then you are driving up and down mountains with a car with rear wheel brakes only, and you start to think and second guess yourself “did I put every last bolt and cotter pin back on the car, because there were some laying on the table next to the car when I finished it up” and other thoughts like that. This  nonsense is going through your mind as you are driving down a mountain road in bumper to bumper tour traffic and we are coming up to a stop sign. Did I mention that the car in front of us is a disappearing top SJ Murphy convertible coupe, and you are thinking, well if the brakes go out I guess Haggerty is buying them a new rear bumper.  
 

After you get to the coffee stop, you figure the rest of the ride is going to be easy since looking at the directions you see it’s pretty much going down to Big Sur and coming back on open roads. Well since we are at the back of the pack everything is fine until we get stuck in traffic coming up the hill on the pacific coast highway going back to pebble. The car really started to act up and wanting to stall and I started pumping the heck out of the mechanical fuel pump on the dash board thinking I am vapor locking and trying to get the fuel pressure up to blow any bubbles out of the system. Luckily the light turns green and the traffic starts to move and as we come up to the traffic light it starts to turn red, and my dad is like “f it” blow though it, we are in an old car we have the right away. Last thing you want is to tie up traffic, creating grid lock on a hill in a broken down antique car looking like a bunch of knuckle heads. After driving Chicago style though the red light, the  car started running good again and we entered the Griswold European vacation roundabout road back into pebble. From there it’s  all downhill and we had gravity and momentum on our side. As we pull into the lot the car dies and I kid you not we literally roll up to the trailer. First thing that comes to my mind is I broke it, I don’t know to what extent I broke it, and we will have to work our hinds off to get on the field on Sunday.  As I get out of the car and start to stretch,  I start to think about the red over priced gas station purchased gallon gas can collection 2,250 miles away from us from my dad’s habit of running out of gas, and was thinking it can’t be out of gas, we only went 75 miles….can this car really be that much of a gas hog and drinking that much gas?? No it really can’t…. Can it?  Low and behold I tap the bottom of the gas tank and it sounded like a empty drum. I was pretty much out of gas and that’s why it’s seemed like it was vapor locking on the hill. The car was pretty much running on pressurized fumes. Simple fix, put some more gas in it. That was genius level thinking on my behalf.  Real cars like drinking gas…..right? 

 

My friend was in for car week, and since we were shacking up in his vacation rental he was at the parking lot waiting for us to arrive.  Luckily he ran, and when I mean ran, he got into his rental car that did have gas in it and drove to the gas station to get some more gas to bring it back to us. I thanked him many times for that one. Unfortunately, since he borrowed a gas can, we were not able to buy an over priced red souvenir gas from Carmel to add to our growing gas can collection back home. Dang, now I have to go back to California to get a red souvenir gas can to complete our wall of gas cans from every state that we have ran out of gas in. The gas can collection is quite impressive, mostly from midwestern states. A lot of the cans predate that junky nozzle design so they are true collector pieces. Don’t you all hate those new style nozzles?  By the way the gas can collection is Smithsonian quality. It probably covers 30 years of gas can design and technology. 
 

My friend asked if I could take his wife, daughter and boyfriend  for a quick ride around the parking lot. Not wanting to impress all of the entrants with my figure eight Shriner driving in the parking lot again, I was telling them that it will not be fun to go for a ride in the parking lot (just to clarify -doing figure eights, those are always fun to do in a parking lot, especially in the snow) let’s drive the 17 mile scenic drive instead. What the heck, we are in California on vacation let’s drive this thing, I have been looking at it for 7 years! You two, hop in the rumble seat! And off we went for another ride.
 

I spent the next two days hanging out in the parking lot detailing the car, looking over every possible inch to make sure everything is bolted together and cotter pinned, which is was, and just drinking beer and taking it all in as a newbie. Then all of a sudden Sunday morning is here, it’s showtime at the Apollo, at least I can say we restored a car, got accepted to the show, the car ran perfect besides the running out of gas issue, I got to drive the pacific coast highway in the car,  drive the 17 mile scenic road, I met some real true car enthusiasts and I got into pebble beach for Free! What is better than that? Judging starts and I am clueless on what to expect. The judges who were as pleasant and nice as can be, asked me all sort of inquiring questions and asked to see pictures of the car before, during and after of the restoration. I was like I really don’t have any after pictures, I just finished it last week! They were laughing at that response.

 

So after judging i walked around the field checking the incredible iron, taking it all in. When I say incredible iron, I mean it, every car is beyond nice and the quality is top notch. We’re talking fine, really fine machines. I head back to the car to hang out. I ended up answering a lot of questions from spectators who seemed to like the car. Like I stated earlier a lot of true car people were there and taking pictures and asking knowledgeable questions, which I was more than happy to answer.

 

After a while, as the show progresses, the class leader comes over and tells me to stay near the car and that I might have to move it. I really didn’t know what he meant by that. I start thinking to myself move it where, behind the dumpster? Then he comes back and tells me that I’m one of the 3 picked. I’m thinking to my self sweet! I am going to get a third place award, that’s fantastic. You pull up to the  line and the 3 cars that were picked from the class are parked 3 across and the guy, explains how it’s works. The guy has a headset on, clip board, you know the whole deal, he looks the part, so I’m just calling him The Guy. To me he is the original Big Guy. He was very friendly, and very complementary to the 3 of us in our class. By the way, All of the judges, volunteers and staff were class acts all the way around. They really went out of their way to treat everyone kindly.  
 

So how it works for award is- 3rd goes first, then 2nd and finally 1st drives across the ramp to get the awards , but you don’t know who has what until you are called.  I’m thinking ok, I’m driving across the ramp first to get my 3rd place. The announcer calls the first name and it’s not me, did he misspeak? Maybe I don’t understand Pebbleease… Then I am all excited thinking this is more sweet I’m getting a second!! Not too shabby. Then…. Then …it’s down to two cars, and before they announce the second place winner, The Big Guy who was explaining to us how the judging works is already pointing at the other car to go across the ramp. We were sitting in the car and it didn’t register right away, and we were like holy blank, ( to keep this pg I am using the word blank in place of a four letter word that is short for the saying, Ship High in Transit) we are getting first! 1st in class at Pebble for a first time entrant!! I was thinking wasn’t this supposed to be rigged? How did we get first??. Maybe I’m not a fluffer after all!  
 

They then park you in the winner’s circle where all of the 1st place class winners get parked. From the winner circle  they then pick best in show.  So that’s how that works. Some of the class judges did come up to me and congratulate me which I thought was really cool of them to do and that continued the class act of the show which I spoke of earlier.  Very nice, very professional. Top notch all the way around.

My Pebble Beach experience is beyond words as a exhibitor.  My pebble experience in 2021 was completely unexpected. From start to finish- As a nobody from nowhere in this hobby I found out that  just messing around in the garage and hanging out with my friends and tinkering with a car led to the memory of a lifetime. Again I would like to thank all of my friends again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

1920 Packard 3-35 Twin six

Edited November 24, 2022 by Tph479 (see edit history)

[Tph479]

1 hour ago, edinmass said:

Here is a good photo. A exceptionally nice Murphy Roadster on the field in 2022. A world class car by anyones definition. The BOS car is next to it. This 100 point Murphy didn’t even place in the class. That’s what we call deep water. The car is owned by good friends. I hadn’t been seen in like 25 years, so it was reasonably fresh with lots of current upgrades so it presented as a “new restoration”. And you get a thank you for bring your car. That is how Pebble works. Notice the judges. Ten minutes after this photo, I helped out a friend with his 29 Packard no start on the field. He had shut off his vacuum tank and forgot. Nerves cost him a trophy. You must be on top of your game, or you lose…….
 

 

 

 

Craig is a nice guy. His dad was also a gentleman with great taste in cars.

[Grimy]

6 hours ago, Tph479 said:

It still is possible to work on a barn find car for a few years with you buddies in the garage in your spare time, talking about and solving all of the world’s problems as you tinker, apply to pebble for the heck of it thinking they are going to throw your application in the garbage, since you have never been there before (not even as a spectator) and you know the odds are stacked against you to even get accepted. But you are thinking that if you do get accepted you get 4 free tickets, and a fantastic parking spot on the lawn. Did I say Free, like capital F free?  Then all of a sudden you get an letter in the mail saying you are in. You are in like flynn unless Covid calls the show off for a second year. And then you start to think, oh crap, I have to finish this car now and am going to be laughed off the field… maybe they need my car as the fluffer to make the other cars look better…. The system is rigged! But I’ll go along with the program.
 

The letter arrived in late winter, giving us many more months to finish. For those of you who don’t understand the term winter - that is where frozen water falls from the sky in white crystalized form. This white crystalized version of frozen water is called snow. Snow accumulates on the ground, preventing us from driving our antique cars on the road thus allowing us to work on old cars, or at least talk about working on the old cars as the cars and projects gather dust. There is no need to explain dust on old car projects since everyone of you knows what I am talking about. Capeesh? From the time the letter arrives is to the show I recall was like 6 or 7 months. No problem the car will be finished in no time, correct? 

So we finish the car the Saturday before the show, and when I mean finish it, I mean finish it, not wiping it with a baby diaper finish it, you know like still working on it, putting the driveshaft in, adjusting the brakes etc, and taking it for its maiden voyage for the first time driving it up and down the block a few times late in the afternoon and then throw it in the old trailer, ( which by itself is old enough to be considered AACA eligible, if they had a trailer class)

 

We leave on Sunday and drive about 2,250 miles heading west to pebble.  We arrived on Wednesday after being sidelined for a few hours because we threw a wheel bearing outside of Sacramento. Besides that the trip was uneventful, well besides being bounced around on some horrible California highways. What’s with that? They don’t have snow ( which I gave my snow lesson earlier) and salt out here, what’s with all of those potholes?? They pay enough in taxes that they should have smooth roads…

 

Oh, I just remembered how we missed our turn into pebble beach and Siri had us driving through downtown Carmel with the truck and trailer on those tight streets and we were trying not to sideswipe all of the exotic cars. There were also some exotic people sporting some fresh restorations if you know what I mean, you know, some people sporting new NOS parts.  The pedestrians probably thought Sanford and Son rolled into town and the locals were probably thinking that they should put up the For Sale signs in front of their houses as we tried to navigate back to where we needed to be.

 

We finally arrived in the parking lot after being on the road for 3 1/2 days, open the trailer and see how dusty the car is from the road trip and start to laugh because you realized how you wasted your time cleaning it really good the night before you left on the journey. So you take the car on its first real ride around the parking lot and the local streets, test driving and doing figure eights and driving like a Shriner in a 4th of July parade and decide what the heck, the car seems to be running well and I know every component was rebuilt- It starts, it stops, it’s running good and since we signed up for the 75 mile tour, we say let’s go for it. We came 2,250 miles, what’s 75 more in a 101 year old car…So you wake up early the next morning,  get in line and are thinking to yourself “where did all of these incredible cars come from” because they were all not in the lot yesterday. So you pull away and within the first 15 minutes you see cars pulling over with various problems. Then you are driving up and down mountains with a car with rear wheel brakes only, and you start to think and second guess yourself “did I put every last bolt and cotter pin back on the car, because there were some laying on the table next to the car when I finished it up” and other thoughts like that. This  nonsense is going through your mind as you are driving down a mountain road in bumper to bumper tour traffic and we are coming up to a stop sign. Did I mention that the car in front of us is a disappearing top SJ Murphy convertible coupe, and you are thinking, well if the brakes go out I guess Haggerty is buying them a new rear bumper.  
 

After you get to the coffee stop, you figure the rest of the ride is going to be easy since looking at the directions you see it’s pretty much going down to Big Sur and coming back on open roads. Well since we are at the back of the pack everything is fine until we get stuck in traffic coming up the hill on the pacific coast highway going back to pebble. The car really started to act up and wanting to stall and I started pumping the heck out of the mechanical fuel pump on the dash board thinking I am vapor locking and trying to get the fuel pressure up to blow any bubbles out of the system. Luckily the light turns green and the traffic starts to move and as we come up to the traffic light it starts to turn red, and my dad is like “f it” blow though it, we are in an old car we have the right away. Last thing you want is to tie up traffic, creating grid lock on a hill in a broken down antique car looking like a bunch of knuckle heads. After driving Chicago style though the red light, the  car started running good again and we entered the Griswold European vacation roundabout road back into pebble. From there it’s  all downhill and we had gravity and momentum on our side. As we pull into the lot the car dies and I kid you not we literally roll up to the trailer. First thing that comes to my mind is I broke it, I don’t know to what extent I broke it, and we will have to work our hinds off to get on the field on Sunday.  As I get out of the car and start to stretch,  I start to think about the red over priced gas station purchased gallon gas can collection 2,250 miles away from us from my dad’s habit of running out of gas, and was thinking it can’t be out of gas, we only went 75 miles….can this car really be that much of a gas hog and drinking that much gas?? No it really can’t…. Can it?  Low and behold I tap the bottom of the gas tank and it sounded like a empty drum. I was pretty much out of gas and that’s why it’s seemed like it was vapor locking on the hill. The car was pretty much running on pressurized fumes. Simple fix, put some more gas in it. That was genius level thinking on my behalf.  Real cars like drinking gas…..right? 

 

My friend was in for car week, and since we were shacking up in his vacation rental he was at the parking lot waiting for us to arrive.  Luckily he ran, and when I mean ran, he got into his rental car that did have gas in it and drove to the gas station to get some more gas to bring it back to us. I thanked him many times for that one. Unfortunately, since he borrowed a gas can, we were not able to buy an over priced red souvenir gas from Carmel to add to our growing gas can collection back home. Dang, now I have to go back to California to get a red souvenir gas can to complete our wall of gas cans from every state that we have ran out of gas in. The gas can collection is quite impressive, mostly from midwestern states. A lot of the cans predate that junky nozzle design so they are true collector pieces. Don’t you all hate those new style nozzles?  By the way the gas can collection is Smithsonian quality. It probably covers 30 years of gas can design and technology. 
 

My friend asked if I could take his wife, daughter and boyfriend  for a quick ride around the parking lot. Not wanting to impress all of the entrants with my figure eight Shriner driving in the parking lot again, I was telling them that it will not be fun to go for a ride in the parking lot (just to clarify -doing figure eights, those are always fun to do in a parking lot, especially in the snow) let’s drive the 17 mile scenic drive instead. What the heck, we are in California on vacation let’s drive this thing, I have been looking at it for 7 years! You two, hop in the rumble seat! And off we went for another ride.
 

I spent the next two days hanging out in the parking lot detailing the car, looking over every possible inch to make sure everything is bolted together and cotter pinned, which is was, and just drinking beer and taking it all in as a newbie. Then all of a sudden Sunday morning is here, it’s showtime at the Apollo, at least I can say we restored a car, got accepted to the show, the car ran perfect besides the running out of gas issue, I got to drive the pacific coast highway in the car,  drive the 17 mile scenic road, I met some real true car enthusiasts and I got into pebble beach for Free! What is better than that? Judging starts and I am clueless on what to expect. The judges who were as pleasant and nice as can be, asked me all sort of inquiring questions and asked to see pictures of the car before, during and after of the restoration. I was like I really don’t have any after pictures, I just finished it last week! They were laughing at that response.

 

So after judging i walked around the field checking the incredible iron, taking it all in. When I say incredible iron, I mean it, every car is beyond nice and the quality is top notch. We’re talking fine, really fine machines. I head back to the car to hang out. I ended up answering a lot of questions from spectators who seemed to like the car. Like I stated earlier a lot of true car people were there and taking pictures and asking knowledgeable questions, which I was more than happy to answer.

 

After a while, as the show progresses, the class leader comes over and tells me to stay near the car and that I might have to move it. I really didn’t know what he meant by that. I start thinking to myself move it where, behind the dumpster? Then he comes back and tells me that I’m one of the 3 picked. I’m thinking to my self sweet! I am going to get a third place award, that’s fantastic. You pull up to the  line and the 3 cars that were picked from the class are parked 3 across and the guy, explains how it’s works. The guy has a headset on, clip board, you know the whole deal, he looks the part, so I’m just calling him The Guy. To me he is the original Big Guy. He was very friendly, and very complementary to the 3 of us in our class. By the way, All of the judges, volunteers and staff were class acts all the way around. They really went out of their way to treat everyone kindly.  
 

So how it works for award is- 3rd goes first, then 2nd and finally 1st drives across the ramp to get the awards , but you don’t know who has what until you are called.  I’m thinking ok, I’m driving across the ramp first to get my 3rd place. The announcer calls the first name and it’s not me, did he misspeak? Maybe I don’t understand Pebbleease… Then I am all excited thinking this is more sweet I’m getting a second!! Not too shabby. Then…. Then …it’s down to two cars, and before they announce the second place winner, The Big Guy who was explaining to us how the judging works is already pointing at the other car to go across the ramp. We were sitting in the car and it didn’t register right away, and we were like holy blank, ( to keep this pg I am using the word blank in place of a four letter word that is short for the saying, Ship High in Transit) we are getting first! 1st in class at Pebble for a first time entrant!! I was thinking wasn’t this supposed to be rigged? How did we get first??. Maybe I’m not a fluffer after all!  
 

They then park you in the winner’s circle where all of the 1st place class winners get parked. From the winner circle  they then pick best in show.  So that’s how that works. Some of the class judges did come up to me and congratulate me which I thought was really cool of them to do and that continued the class act of the show which I spoke of earlier.  Very nice, very professional. Top notch all the way around.

My Pebble Beach experience is beyond words as a exhibitor.  My pebble experience in 2021 was completely unexpected. From start to finish- As a nobody from nowhere in this hobby I found out that  just messing around in the garage and hanging out with my friends and tinkering with a car led to the memory of a lifetime. Again I would like to thank all of my friends again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

@Tph479 thank you for this masterpiece!  beautifully and entertainingly written!  And congrats on your win and your magnificent restoration!

[Grimy]

2 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

George,  thanks.  I was so impressed with the presentation of this car that I went back 3 times to try and introduce myself to Jeff.   First time in the photo I posted you can see the judges were keeping him busy.   When you are standing with your car at Pebble you tend to be occupied.

AJ, I'll introduce you next year.  Or if you accompany Fast Eddie through the Bay Area enroute to Pebble, you can see Jeff's whole fleet.