Simply put, Monterey Car Week 2013 in California, is the biggest and best collective event in the world if you want to see the globe's most exclusive classic cars gathered in one region for seven days straight.
Headlined by the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance - now in its 63rd year and held on a Sunday in mid-August - fans arrive from all over the world to mull over the finest specimens of classic automotive exotica at Pebble and the many satellite events that have sprung up around it over the years.
Among those events are three big auctions, and at Monterey in 2013 the world record price for a classic car sold at auction was broken by a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spyder which sold at RM Auctions for $27.5m, while down the road a 1997 McLaren F1 roadster made $8.5m at a Gooding & Co event.
But despite that drama, the main event is still early on the Sunday morning, when hundreds of classic cars drive down the gentle slopes of Pebble Beach golf course at the sea's edge on the southern edge of the Monterey Peninsula, and await to be judged in various categories, as well as aiming for the coveted 'Best in Show' prize.
Alongside the classics, over the years there have been a small number of new cars and concepts revealed too, usually one-offs or limited runs, in keeping with the event's exclusive nature, and some even global exclusives too. This year that list included Aston Martin, Lamborghini, BMW and Spyker while Bentley even launched a new handbag collection here, in the hope of winning some well-heeled female customers. Here are Wallpaper* online's potted highlights...
The clean interior of the 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Coupe
With so many cars to look at in the Pebble Beach grounds alone, we honed in on the more unusual brands and design details at Monterey Car Week. This elegant mascot on the nose of a 1929 8A Floyd-Derham Convertible Sedan made by long-since defunct historic Italian marque Isotta Fraschini was an early delight
Alfa Romeo's design department has a long history of perfectly proportioned car bodies with equally well-executed car graphics. The 1921 Alfa Romeo G1 Race Car is a case in point
Its circular Alfa logo is particularly pleasing to the eye
It's a general rule that convertibles should have extra-strong interiors as they're on show to the outside world when their top drops. The designers behind the 1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet clearly had the same thinking, with this dashboard that manages to be both glitzy and classy at the same time
The 1960 Alfa Romeo Superflow IV Pinin Farina Coupe was another outstanding vehicle with its Jetsons-style sliding glass roof courtesy of Italian coach-building royalty Pininfarina
With Ferraris everywhere you turn at Pebble Beach it's hard to get excited by yet another, but this smoothly-bumperless, 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta did catch our eye, accessorised as it was, by some fetching wedge-heeled shoes hanging out of the door
Another incredible classic concept at this year's Pebble Beach was the 1957 BMW 507 Loewy Pichon et Parat Coupe. Turning the conventionally handsome 507 design on its head, acclaimed industrial designer Raymond Loewy added some great surface detail, new modern headlights and an awesome raised cylindrical section to the bonnet...
...out of which sprouts BMW's famous propeller logo
Away from Pebble Beach, slightly inland at another golf course, Quail is an arguably more exclusive event - tickets are an eye-watering $400 for the day and limited to 3000 visitors. Cars are fewer and rarer too. Here motor sport big guns like Michael Schumacher and ex-Ferrari F1 boss Jean Todt mill about without fuss
Quail is the sort of place you find more than one Bugatti at a time, like this rare Le Mans-winning Bugatti 57G 'Tank' racing car up front of a similarly painted modern-day Veyron Grand Sport
Quail isn't just about classic cars either. This 2010 Tavax 2011V motorbike looks to have taken a fair slice of influence from artist HR Giger (most famously behind the film sets for Aliens II)
Indeed, Quail isn't just about classics at all. BMW chose the event to unveil its M4 Coupe Concept, to directly allude to the successor to its old M3 performance car, due to be replaced in 2014
Bentley even used the Monterey Car Week to launch the British luxury brand's first handbag collection at 'The Home of Bentley' - an adapted house near Pebble Beach featuring bespoke Bentley furniture that played host to the global unveil
Aiming to get more well-heeled women interested in the brand - in China 32% of Bentley owners are already women - the high-end Italian-made bags, which feature obligatory quilted innards and other neat details, are limited to only 160 pieces worldwide, and start at £3500 upwards
Back down to earth, Wallpaper* also sampled some burned rubber at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at the famous Laguna Seca racetrack where old racing cars make a comeback for the day. Aside from catching the burble of the numerous classics trundling past just yards away as they prepare to race - like this quality US muscle car 1969 Ford Mustang Boss - it's also a venue where you can see the cars in the paddocks afterwards and chat to their owners and drivers (not like modern F1, in other words)
This rare 1955 Shannon Crosley, with its aero body and graphically minimal paint job, was a real treat...
... as was watching this superb 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Coupe race...
... not to mention these classic Porsches
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