The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance weekend kicked into high gear Thursday as more than 150 of the finest cars spanning the last century participated in the 2008 Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. These automobiles, ranging from turn-of-the-century antiques to Lamborghinis from the 1970s, will line the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Designed to showcase the roadworthiness of Pebble Beach competitors, the tour began at the Pebble Beach complex with the cars departing the polo fields and motoring past the front door of the The Lodge at Pebble Beach before taking to winding roads in the hills east of Monterey. The Pacific Ocean provided the backdrop as the cars then headed south through the fog on the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur before returning to Carmel-by-the-Sea.

The stretch along the coast to Big Sur is one of the most beautiful highways in the world, and it gives tour participants a chance to run their cars out a bit, making it a popular leg of the drive. As with last year, much of the coastal road was thick with fog, so the views were not as spectacular as in years past.

A new addition for 2008 was a special Veteran car route, featuring antique cars built before 1916, to encourage owners of these rare automotive treasures to take to the road as well.

“We want to give every car at the Concours the opportunity to do what cars were meant to do — to prove themselves as roadworthy,” said Sandra Kasky Button, Pebble Beach Concours Chairman.

The Veteran car group started in the Del Monte Forest, then cruised along Carmel Bay on Scenic Road to the Carmel Mission, founded in 1717 at the mouth of the Carmel River. There the cars were displayed in the historic courtyard.

 

As the noon hour approached, the streets in downtown Carmel were closed and the cars from the Veteran car group joined the rest of the tour in a display in the center of town on Ocean Avenue, open for all residents and enthusiasts to enjoy.

Prominent in the tour were historic examples from Lancia, Lamborghini and General Motors, the featured marques of the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours. Also featured is the Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California, one of the most revered Ferrari models, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Monterey Motoring Weekend

The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance begins four solid days of automotive events throughout the Monterey Peninsula, culminating with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The Tour d'Elegance also serves another important purpose: It proves the cars are more than just works of art — they were built to be driven and are still driving today.

Eleven years ago J. Heumann, then chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours, had grown tired of critiques by the English motoring press that referred to the cars at Pebble Beach as "trailer queens," a disparaging term used to describe a vehicle that is perfectly restored, carefully moved from the trailer to the display, and quickly returned to the trailer — and rarely, if ever, driven on the open road.

As a driving enthusiast, Heumann wanted to see cars that compete on the lawn at Pebble Beach on the basis of beauty and authenticity prove their mettle in a driving event — thus the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance was born.

“The tour has actually changed the way some participants think about their cars, because they know in order to compete, their car needs to be a driving car on a day like today, all the way down to Big Sur and back,” Button said. “It has changed the makeup of the Pebble Beach Concours, and of course we have a lot of preserved cars now; it’s not all about over-restoration. It has really evolved the show and made Pebble just that much better.”

In case of a tie between two cars within a class during the Concours judging, the vehicle that participated in the Tour will be declared the winner. Therefore, although not mandatory, Tour participation could make the difference between going home an award winner or a runner-up.