'13 Motorsport Re-Union, aka Monterey Car Week

[Flieger]

Ya, I was gonna say that too. Nick Mason is from Pink Floyd. John Densmore was the drummer for the Doors.

[John Z Goriup]

I know absolutely nothing about popular music, not back then and even less nowadays....all I know is that he played for an English group at one time, and that it was not a chamber music quartet....and I took a stab. Sorry I guessed wrong.

Back to the cars, please.

JZG

[Flieger]

I know absolutely nothing about popular music, not back then and even less nowadays....all I know is that he played for an English group at one time, and that it was not a chamber music quartet....and I took a stab. Sorry I guessed wrong.

Back to the cars, please.

JZG

I am all for getting back to the cars, but the Doors are an American band.

[John Fusco]

Really great stuff John.
Thanks for sharing.

[John Z Goriup]

To continue, I finally got the images I chose from the wonderful "Cars-on-the-Avenue" Concours processed and am ready to post.

Note: Without derailing this thread, I would like to sincerely thank Randy Wells for his words of advice & help in the photography thread in the Off-Topic forum and his patient, most useful advice on better photography. I've been doing this passably well & passionately ( or so I thought ) for a long time and have managed to accumulate about 25,000 digital images on my hard-drive, but up to now have not been as acutely aware of the importance of the post processing phase of digital photography as Randy has made me by offering his selfless council and especially his emphasis on finesse, small changes, subtelty, and most importantly, getting it right in the camera, to minimize what needs to be done electronically later, to arrive at stronger, purer and truer photography via skill and a sound basis of knowledge of photography. I have slowed down, applied everything I've learned recently and look forward to continue to refine my humble offerings further as I become more comfortable with new digital tools - and it is important to bear in mind that what you see posted here has been downloaded to a CF card in the camera, then to the computer hard-drive, then manipulated with software, down-sized for posting on this forum, sent through third-party routers and it's all being watched on monitors which may or may not be optimally calibrated.........anyone's images you see here are likely to be quite removed from what the photographer saw the instant he fired the shutter, degradation is inevitable.

________________________

After the Pre-Reunion, the next event last week was the free Concours on Ocean Avenue in Carmel on Tuesday of Monterey Car Week. This jewel, conceived by Doug Friedman has been getting better every year, in the sense of higher quality cars, placement and arrangement of cars, organization and response to participants requests and complaints. In the past the first couple of hours of the morning were a nightmare, with cars idling endlessly, overheating, being directed to the wrong spots etc. etc. This year staging was a model of efficiency and went off without a hitch............so much more enjoyable when the stress of getting the car ready for show is removed.

I apologize that I simply wasn't able to get a significant number of clear shots without people in them since the crowd was even bigger than last year. I suppose I could have waited longer at each car until the magic moment arrived when there were no fat asses, big beer bellies and obnoxious kids in the way but there just were not enough hours in the day, so I cropped each shot to show the car and a minimum of extraneous clutter. It's a condition that prevailed at all venues this year.

I'm not sure if I should take the time to write captions with every photo, or just post the images and try to respond to specific questions as they arise.......if you'd like, please indicate your preference and let us know. Until I hear from you folks, I'll reserve my comments only to shots were I suspect there might be obvious confusion.

Enjoy.

JZG

PS: tomorrow, its the Pebble Tour Stop, also on Ocean, but altogether different cars and a different format.

Captions:

Photo #1 Steve Moal, the famous Oakland, CA hot-rod builder had six of his now customer-owned cars entered, which all entered en masse.
Photo #2 a rare little '53 Ferrari 500 Mondial 4-cylinder sports racer
Photo #3 Paul Camusi's Tangerine '71 911T which was previously covered in the "New star rising" thread - it took the newly introduced Bruce Anderson award for excellence.

[John Z Goriup]

.......next group

Photo #4 - there were four VW and Porsche-based coach builder bodies at the Concours which all shared one very important detail - they all were equipped with what are popularly referred to as "suicide doors " where the door is hinged at the rear edge of the door to ease stepping out of the car. Shown are two of these unique models
Photo #5 - a fortuitous line-up & a perfect opportunity to show the evolution of the 356 windshield which defined the earliest Porsche models. At the left, a split-windshield very early car, i.e. the front glass consisted of two flat safety panes divided by a metal brace; used in the Gmünd cars and through the '52 MY. For '53 and through '55 models the front glass was changed to the "bent windshield", wherein the windshield still consisted of a flat panel bent into a V shape, but no longer separated by the steel center support, rather a single piece of glass - it distorted. For '56 and later, the curved one-piece windshield was introduced.

[John Z Goriup]

......for the third set I'd like to dedicate all five shots to a single, amazingly well done and effective '58 356 sun-roof Coupe by Gary Emory - in fact I'll go so far to suggest that this is the original and ONLY real Outlaw.

Just look at the way the body modifications around the side windows were handled, and the manner in which the 550A Spyder hatch covers are integrated in the rear quarter panels to house the fire suppression system. In the rear, a Polo 4-cylinder 2540cc, 180 HP twin-plug engine is hooked to a 901 5-speed transmission, ZF limited slip differential, all supported by a 911 rear suspension system with 911 torsion bar tube and stopped by RS60 annular disc brakes. The car weighs 1900 pounds.

Many a visitor ( including yours truly ) just stood there open-mouthed in wonderment and spent a long time studying this masterpiece.

Stunning, magnificent !!

[John Z Goriup]

...........and 5 more

[John Z Goriup]

..........and another set.

Phil Bagley's Florida-based Klub Sport Racing organization really outdid themselves this year. Brought a large number of cars, including some new examples that show off the high quality of their workmanship and competence very well.

Photo #1 - Don Ahearn's new car, a '67 911 ex-factory race car, Ser.# 308107, purchased by Don in January of this year and prepared by Klub Sport. This car has been raced since new, and is one of the early "Sports Purpose" machines which were raced as Trans-Am cars in the US. It was originally equipped with Rally kit, roll bar, limited slip diff. with airport gearing in the 901 box, and a 100 liter fuel tank. You really need to hear this car run.....it will give you goosebumps.

Photo #4 - Stephen Childs' '73 911 RS Lightweight, one of 19 RH drive cars - regularly & robustly driven, just as it should be.

Photo #5 - I made up my mind to include a shot of this experiment the moment I laid eyes on it, no matter who or how many others posted images of it..........however I'll make no effort to explain it, justify it or comment on it. I'm not sure anyone can.

[John Z Goriup]

asnd yet another set of 5.

Photo #1 - the name of this beautiful color is Peru Red, but I suspect that Porsche, as they've been in the habit of doing for decades, merely took an earlier color and renamed it, in this case 356 Orange, offered for the '58 MY as an option. I think it's the same color as the 912 from Gilroy which showed up at EASY earlier this year and drew so much attention.........but, I may be wrong.

Photo #2 - Bob Smith's immaculately presented and prepared Metallic Green Targa - simply beautiful.

Photo #4 - '54 Ferrari 375 sports racer, which went on to take the Best of Show trophy.

Photo #5 - '57 One-off Ferrari 250 Coupe