The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is unequivocally North America’s definitive celebration of the world’s finest automobiles. An invitation to display a vehicle at this annual spectacle of elegance and rarity is highly coveted among restorers and car owners alike from around the world. Don’t believe us? August 20, 2023, marked the concours’ 72nd occasion in which the Pebble Beach Golf Links’ famed 18th fairway again became a stage for just 216 cars presented by owners from 18 different nations and 30 of the 50 U.S. states.
Pebble, as it’s collectively known among collector car enthusiasts, is renowned for organizing special classes honoring marques, coachbuilders, and types of compelling automobiles, and 2023 was no different. Special classes memorialized Lamborghini’s 60th Anniversary, Spanish sports car builder Pegaso, McLaren’s 60th Anniversary, American Dream Cars of the 1950s, Porsche’s 75th Anniversary, Vanderbilt Cup Era Race Cars, and the centennial of coachbuilder Figoni divided into two classes spanning the years 1923-’37 and 1938-’48. They complemented another 19 classes that included Packard, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Duesenberg, and more.
Attendees who were in Monterey on Thursday, August 17, were able to witness a majority of the concours show cars partake in the 25th running of the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. This prelude not only offers 70 miles of spectacular coastal views to Big Sur and back on public roads but serves as a deciding factor in the event of a tie between participating and nonparticipating cars.
When judging concluded, a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, presented by Jim Patterson of the Patterson Collection in Louisville, Kentucky, took Best of Show honors from a field that included
