If you’ve never had the pleasure of attending it, the week-long celebration of automobiles on the Monterey Peninsula in California ought to be really high on your to-do list. Between the Quail Lodge show, the Concorso Italiano, the fabled Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, hordes of vintage racing cars at the Monterey Historics and a gaggle of high-end auctions, Monterey Week is an experience not to be missed by any car enthusiast. Expect to enjoy fabulous scenery, dine delectably, spend plenty of money (general admission for the Pebble Beach concours alone is $375) and gaze in wonder at the most perfectly restored historic automobiles on the planet.
Amidst all this grandeur, car manufacturers love to grab a bit of the spotlight to unveil new production or concept cars at Monterey. BMW is no different. In fact, the Bavarian legend has already blocked out part of the afternoon at Pebble Beach on the Thursday before the concours to roll out several new production models from BMW and its MINI property, along with a pair of yet-unrevealed concept vehicles. Thanks to BMW, we know that one of the concepts will be a reinterpretation of the 1970 BMW Garmisch, a wild design study created by Marcello Gandini, which vanished mysteriously after it was displayed for the first and only time at that year’s Geneva Motor Show. The other concept will be the BMW Vision M NEXT, a proposed hybrid sports car with a base 600hp. The bottom line here is that if you like cars, you’ve got to save up and plan for an August week in Monterey. It’s that good.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 