I thought I would collect my thoughts on the events of the last week beginning with Sunday the 14th. The East Coast coupers arrived and we met for dinner at Javier’s on the Newport Coast including Tod B, Wayne K, Chris O, Chris A, Doug D and Peter C with a visit from Shane. But first we had the official debut of OCCoupe’s (Mike’s) Nachtblau coupe at Paul Cain’s home when we raised the garage door to music and champagne.
On Monday the east coast gang departed for Monterey and unfortunately Hwy 1 was closed due to the fire near Big Sur but they had a nice drive until Wayne’s alternator went out almost within sight of their destination. My son Collin left with me on Tuesday in the coupe with Paul and Mike Pelly in his Tii followed by Ivo Christov from the Netherlands driving Mike’s 3.3Li and Doug Park in his e39 M5. Collin and I arrived in Salinas with a new alternator brush for Wayne around 6:30 and had time to enjoy a beer or two and met Mike B. You have already seen pics of the boys’ adventures at the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel that day.
Thanks to the generosity of Gordon McCall we had ten coupes (and three others including Gordon’s) and one Tii at the Monterey Jet Center for his Motorworks Revival event on Wednesday evening. Lots of celebrities were in attendance and many stunning cars as well but free drinks and food were the order of the evening.
On Thursday I had help from Sven L and Gary C as well as Kevin Ladd, owner of the #59 CSL which was displayed at the track, at the golf course marking the parking spots for judged and display cars the following day. That evening we gathered in Pacific Grove for a coupe owners’ get together at a home rented by Tim Wyman and Don Lawrence and had at least 80 attendees! I met many members of this Forum, some for the first time, including Bwana (Jeff), Benji, Doug M, Mike from B.C., Richard W and old timers Chuck Moss, Kurt D, Shawn H, Dave D, John P, Ping T, Carl Nelson, Peter and Erik Sliskovich, Jon I, Gavin A, Vince M, David M, Lonny and LouAnn Shirk and of course Andrew. I am sure I left many others out so my apologies in advance.
The Legends event on Friday was amazing with a record turnout of BMWs including 55 or more coupes and over 75 2002s. We never would have gotten everyone parked if I didn’t have my helpers, Gary, Wayne, Doug, Stan, Chris O and more importantly Collin and my wife Shawn who parked cars from 6:15 until 11:00, well after judging had started. Judging started at 9:30 and lasted until noon or so, I had to judge 16 2002s and there were some incredible cars. Then it was time for awards and our son Collin came through again, he organized seven categories of cars on fairway 2 all by himself and got them into the awards lineup just in time. Did I mention he is only 16?
Winning first place in the Concours Coupe category was our own Mike Burger, second was Bob Brumfeld in another Nachtblau/white coupe with Sven taking third. Chris Kohler who posts here occasionally won first in Clean with his e28 Alpina B7 Turbo. As reported earlier Chris A beat 16 other BMWs to take first place at The Quail with his CSL.
Saturday found us at Laguna Seca for the Festorics and we arrived at 6:00 in darkness and fog but started parking cars in the parade lap area (thanks again to Collin and Shawn who never complained even though Collin was freezing). Everyone enjoyed the two parade laps where we were able to get up to 50 mph at times in a group of 110 cars of every vintage, color and model that we could accommodate. Drivers included Lonny, Tod, Paul, Doug, Gavin, Wayne K, Wayne W, Tim and I along with Shane in his Golf Bavaria. Don and Stan got rides as well and I was able to show my wife and son what turn 8, the Corkscrew, is all about and they were thrilled. In the pits we saw Mario, Carl, Steve Walker and their cars along with Pete Gleason’s beautiful machines. Somewhere I ran into Bo I think too. We finished with dinner at Larry Walker’s home in Pacific Grove with 80 guests, all BMW fanatics.
Sunday began at 4:30 when we left PG to drive into Pebble for the Concours at which many of us volunteer. I actually got to lead the first entrant onto the field at 6:15 in my golf cart and saw quite a few of our members during the day including Scott C. The one downer was Jay Leno who was fairly rude when asked to stand back so award winners could drive up to the staging lanes for awards. We didn’t finish until 7 or so, a very long day so Monday became the rest day. Tuesday was O’fest judges meeting, cocktail party and dinner.
The finale was the O’fest Concours Wednesday morning at Folktale Winery, 45 cars and many more display cars. Again, Mike brought home First Place in Concours Modified and Gary Collins was third. Concours Original was Chris Kohler, Vintage Super Clean went to Mike Pelly and his Tii, David M was first in 80s Clean and Vince was first (I think?) in Vintage Clean with his coupe. Then it was time to drive home arriving in HB around 9PM.
I know this was way too long but I wanted to thank those who helped out immensely and to recognize all those whom I met, many for the first time, and to recognize the award winners. I am sure I left many out but this event is not going to be equaled in our lifetime and I know everyone had just as much fun as I did. I am also glad it is finally over! Oh, and Collin told me he wants to drive up in his 2002 next year, I have a car guy, who knew? Anyone up for the Vintage next May?
