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2005 Concorso Italiano
By: Drew Phillips
Photos by the author
September 02, 2005

Article Images


It's hard to imagine that Concorso Italiano is twenty years old. For the last two decades, thousands of car enthusiasts have been gathering in the Monterey peninsula every August to celebrate Italian cars, culture, and style. The event still feels young, however, due to the festive atmosphere and overwhelming presence of modern machinery. This year's show featured the 100th anniversary of Alfa Romeo, the 40th anniversary of the Lamborghini Miura, and the North American introduction of cars from Ford, SSC, and Lamborghini. Live music, an Italian run-way fashion show, and commentary by Keith Jackson of Sports Car Market and Tom duPont of duPont Registry kept everyone entertained throughout the day.

Many events throughout the week celebrated the 100th anniversary of Alfa Romeo, but none more than Concorso Italiano. Alfa owners showed up in full force with a variety of post-war models. A beautiful 1960 Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciale owned by James Dyer and Cindy Horton won the 'Best of Marque' award.

Perhaps the most beautiful car of all time, the Lamborghini Miura, also celebrated an anniversary this year. It has been forty years since Ferruccio built the sleek mid-engine car, but its timeless design catches the eye even more so than the current cars built by Lamborghini. The collection of Miuras at the show was the largest gathering in the car's history with a few dozen in attendance. It appeared as though someone spilled a bag if Miura skittles on the putting green with the wide variety of colors - there were red, yellow, orange and even a neon green example of the car. A beautiful 1967 Miura owned by Paul Honey won the award for best of marque.

Besides the Miuras, there were several other very special Lamborghini's on the lawn. The Concept S, which debuted at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show, was present alongside the limited edition Gallardo SE. The Concept S is reported to have been purchased by a Lamborghini dealership in Southern California and sold to a customer for approximately $500,000. The car has been upgraded with a running drivetrain and was even driven up on stage during the show by the car's designer. The Gallardo SE, with its two-tone paint and unique interior attracted quite a crowd as well. The SE is a limited edition model with production limited to 250 cars.

Compared to last year's strong showing of Ferraris, the herd of prancing horses seemed somewhat small this year. Not that there weren't many Ferraris; the fairways were still lined with hundreds of cars. Fenders, wheels, and hoods lined up to create beautiful patterns against the green backdrop. The smaller amount of cars allowed spectators and owners plenty of room to walk through and admire the various models. Two cars of special note included a beautiful 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France and a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C which took home the Spirit of Sebring Award.

Some other non-Italian vehicles introduced at the show included the SSC Ultimate Aero and the Ford GT Heritage Livery. SSC (Shelby Super Cars) introduced its latest high powered version of the Aero as the car that will attempt to break the top speed record for a production car. It will have quite a challenge considering the Bugatti Veyron just topped 250 mph in August. The GT Heritage Livery introduced by Ford is a new paint package for the GT that commemorates the Gulf Oil-sponsored Le Mans-winning '68 and '69 GT40's.

While some of the other marques dominated the show, it was a Maserati that took home the 'Best of Show' award. A one-off example, the 1954 Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato Spyder owned by Angelo Ferro took top honors over other 'Best of Marque' winners from Alfa Romeo, De Tomaso, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Iso, and Lancia.

Much of the success of this year's show was due to the careful planning of the organizers. While the show has been running for twenty years, it has only been at this location for the last three. Organizing all the traffic and people has been tough the last two years, and many successful changes were made this year to help things run much more smoothly. Spectators and participants alike appreciated the efforts of the organizers to continually improve the show which has become the most enjoyable, lively, and down-to-earth event during the entire Monterey weekend.