Monterey Car Week retrospective

Don't be taken in by fans of Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise; the very pinnacle of America's car culture is the Monterey Car Week, which for 2016 was held last week.

Monterey is on the coast of California, not far to the south of San Francisco. Close by are place names well known to Aussies... names like Carmel, Pebble Beach and Laguna Seca.

Every year, around this time, the community gets behind a range of events – mainly classic car auctions, concours and touring rallies – aimed at attracting the well-heeled motoring enthusiast. Properly speaking, the events ran over five days this year, from Tuesday to Sunday inclusive, rather than a full week.

Although there are events offering free entry, the week is best enjoyed by those with deep pockets. As one example, a Bentley 4½-litre Supercharged Le Mans (pictured) was sold by Bonhams at auction for a snip at $A6.1 million.

Probably the most famous event held during the weekly festival is the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, which was held last Sunday (August 21).

This year's Concours featured a number of high-end cars unveiled to the world for the first time. Among them were the Koenigsegg Agera XS, the McLaren 570GT by MSO Concept, the Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6 Coupe, the BMW 2002 Hommage, the Lamborghini Centenario roadster, and the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Volante.

An alternative concours is 'the Quail, A Motorsports Gathering', which is held at the Quail Lodge Golf Club, in the prosperous township of Carmel-by-Sea. This video focuses on the sense of occasion the event generates.

A new event in 2016 is the 'Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award', which was won by a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS. Only five other cars took part in the judging, all of them vehicles that had won high-level concours earlier in the year.

Judges for this event in 2016 included names like comedian Jay Leno, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Automotive designer Ken Okuyama was also one of the judges.

A full list of the events is at the Monterey Car Week website.