Momma Mia...Mecca, Part 4

It never fails, after a late night Thursday of Monterey Car Week, I have to pull myself out of bed for Fridays action. There are numerous Concours to attend. This year the Germans even got into the act with the "Legends of the Autobahn." However, the two biggest shows are the "Quail" and the "Concorso Italiano." Being a race junky, I aways head to Laguna for the racing...but blog followers, John Goriup and Rick Kreiskott were at "Concorso" to catch the action. Check out some of these cars.

This is a Pegaso captured via camera by John Goriup. John tells us that Pegaso has a similar history as Lamborghini. A wealthy Barcelona industrialist, circa early '50s, who manufactured agricultural and construction equipment, didn't appreciate being ignored by Enzo when he wanted to buy a Ferrari, and so decided to build his own Spanish Ferrari as it were. Trouble is, not being nearly as clever and grounded in motor-racing as the Commendatore was, he neglected to build speed & endurance racing reliability into his cars. He never sold enough of them to raise the budget required to go racing in earnest and prove himself in competition, and quietly folded in 1958 after building and selling less than 100 cars altogether.

What an engine compartment with red to set off the wrinkle black paint on the cam covers and engine turned metal. So...Italian! Another great image via John Goriup.

Rick Kreiskott got this shot of the F 40 cars...was there ever an F 40 that wasn't red?

Alfas were there in every shape and size you could think of. Image via Rick Kreiskott

Rick also got this cool shot of a Bizzarrini 5300 GT. Bizzarrini worked with Iso Rivolta at the Italian Iso Company starting in 1962. He then formed his own company in 1965 to build his 2+2 coupes. The racing version of the 5300GT received the Corso name and the road cars were badged Strada. Production of the 5300GT lasted well into 1968 with a total of 115 examples produced. There was no replacement model so Bizzarrini was forced to close his doors in 1972. I think there is one of these that usually runs at the Coronado Vintage races.

Maybe next year I'll head to some of the shows.

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