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Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue



Mid-August’s Car Week, for years be-dazzling California’s Monterey Peninsula, has added a brilliant new Monday-Tuesday event to the schedule. It joins such acclaimed affairs as Gordon McCall’s Motorworks Revival at the Monterey Jet Center on Wednesday; Thursday’s Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance; The Quail and Concorso Italiano on Friday, plus the weekend’s Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca Raceway. Not to mention, of course, the cherished monarch of the showcar kingdom, Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The week’s newest must-do, smartly named Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue by husband-&-wife Atlanta-based founder/organisers Doug and Genie Freedman, premiered last year on the village streets of this oceanside jewel of American Pacific coast resorts. Unlike the somewhat pricey events mentioned above, this latest vehicle-centric fête in upmarket Carmel is admission-free, and permits spectators to amble among the finest of collectable cars and motorcycles while lapping up bountiful art galleries, chic shops and cool boutiques, plus luscious dinning options – from Kobe beef burgers to moulees aux piments to ossobuco alla Milanese.



The inaugural Concours in 2007 was deemed the week’s new requisite kick-off, based on the skilled judging of 150 foreign and domestic cars and motorcycles. In addition, the Freedmans’ ancillary Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours in the Windows inspired village merchants to creatively bedeck shop-fronts with car-theme décor. Like the entrant vehicles shown on the streets of Carmel, these commercial windows, too, were picked for top honours and cash awards, escalating the venue’s overall euphoria.



This year, no fewer than 81 Carmel stores will participate in both days of the event. Last year’s First Prize went to The Club on Ocean Avenue, with runners-up Starchild on Ocean, and Surf n Sand on Junipero. In the real car realm, Lawrence Bowman’s thundering 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, one of only five built, won Best of Show.

Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue

Unlike 2007’s introductory single day, pictured here in its informal aura, this year’s 20 juried Concours classes, again set in the heart of Carmel, will cover two full days. Monday August 11th is exclusively for Porsches and Ferraris through 1973, with Tuesday August 12th featuring Multi Marques produced from 1946 through 1971. It’s a street-fair festival of luxury automobiles, muscle cars, hot rods and sporting machines from America, Great Britain and European countries, seldom seen during this week on the Monterey Peninsula. The event charitably supports The Carmel Foundation in its work to provide services to the area’s seniors.

For more about the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue and its companion invitational, the Ocean Avenue Motor Club gala in Carmel on Thursday evening, August 14th, see www.motorclubevents.com.

Text: William Edgar
Photos: William Edgar – all strictly copyright. For further information please visit www.edgar-motorsport.com


Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue


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