GUEST POST: How Pebble Beach Treats Japanese Cars
Times are changing... slowly.
HAPPY RACE DAY! especially to Ross and Maddox at the Restricted Performance podcast. Recently they had me on to discuss automotive media, our new books on the horizon and more. Listen to it here: Apple | Spotify.
In today’s email: 👇
The post-Autoblog era: Its loss feels like a turning point.
On the lawn at Car Week: When will JDM get its due?
James May on The Smoking Tire: A collab worth watching.
MEDIA ROUNDUP
One of the main topics during my Restricted Performance appearance was my piece on the Autoblog layoffs a few weeks back. Since then, The Autopian’s Matt Hardigree also published an excellent piece on the site’s heyday and what its loss means.
But I remain surprised that this isn’t garnering more attention. Sure, the buyers, Arena Group, haven’t commented publicly yet. But it isn’t difficult to get details with a couple of phone calls. We’re supposed to be journalists, after all.
Anyway, change in automotive media is worthy of attention. On the podcast I intended to highlight Avants and Road Rat for their innovative models, leaning into glossy print with high-quality writing. I also like the grainy punk-zine Style Bandits, and the innovative deep dives from Pit and Paddock. Maybe the future is original, on-the-ground car culture coverage and not daily industry churn. Hey, why not?
Speaking of the podcast, I mentioned several young journalists/creators that I think are currently doing outstanding work. You can find them here:
GUEST POST: Godzilla on the Lawn
by Forest Casey [Ed. note: Car Week in Monterey is behind us, and we’re grateful to Forest for providing this disptach from the scene. Follow him, and enjoy!]
PICTURE THIS: Years from now, you score a ticket to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Past the entrance, along the the 18th fairway, you see the typical prestigious pre-war Packards and Duesenbergs, Benzes and Hispano-Suizas. But in the far corner, you see something extraordinary—a class comprised only of cars built in Japan.
It’s easy to imagine a concours-level class of JDM cars:
The gold 1967 Toyota 2000GT gifted to ‘60s supermodel Twiggy.
The one-of-one 1978 Dome Zero prototype.
The Peter Brock-designed 1967 Hino Samurai GT.
Perhaps a new creation from the mind of Ferrari Enzo designer Ken Okuyama, who has already shown twice, or an obscure entry from Myron Vernis and Mark Brinker’s A Quiet Greatness. Rounding out the class, two examples of the crowd-pleasing Nissan GT-R: one modified; and one stock.
Until that inevitable day, aficionados of Japanese engineering have to make do with the Japanese Automotive Invitational, held up the hill from the country club in the slightly less-prestigious Concours Village. Presented by Infiniti and curated by MotorTrend, the show was a much-needed break from the rest of the festivities, which are overwhelmingly European in focus.
Visitors could admire a Mitsubishi Pajero Evo beside a Toyota Celica All-Trac, or compare a Lexus LFA to a Honda NSX Type-R and an Autozam AZ-1—all wearing the Japanese racing color of white, parked on a bed of red wood chips.
“This is the level of fervent interest that we are missing in pre-war cars.”
In the center of the display sat not one but two R34 Nissan GT-R coupes, facing off against one another. Deviating from the nearly monochromatic array of JDM Cars, a Mine’s-spec GT-R stood out in Bayside Blue. With its engine exposed, another Mine’s-spec GT-R in Pearl White sat opposite. In such a carefully curated world, it was impossible to miss the license plates on many of the cars in the show, bearing the logo of California-based importer Toprank. Unlike those in the official concours field, these cars could be easily acquired.
Towards the giant tents hosting the Gooding and Company auction, a lone R33 GT-R parked alongside a row of Toyota Supras. It still attracted onlookers. Though it might not have been the lawn at Pebble, at least one Godzilla sat on a lawn at Pebble Beach Country Club. Elsewhere, in the streets of Carmel and alongside the stretch of 17 Mile Drive, the owners of these cars were actually using them to drive, a foreign concept to many of the official concours entrants.
An eager fan base of enthusiasts and car spotters followed them on social media, noting on Instagram that a GT-R group or a pair of Bugatti hypercars were parked at a particular turnout, and then dropping everything to pursue and photograph them. One young duo decided to forego an anniversary dinner to chase cars for a few more hours. This is the level of fervent interest that we are missing in pre-war cars.
If there is any organization hesitant to change, it is the Pebble Beach Concours. What started as a show for new cars (the second, third, and fourth Best-in-Show winners were all contemporary Jaguars) quickly became a pre-war showcase.
This year the big news was that, for the first time, a Preservation-class car took home the top prize. The 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports owned by Fritz Burkard of Aug, Switzerland—a racer with immediately visible historic value—beat out a post-war Talbot-Lago and pre-war Packard Phaeton to win.
On the show field, the main draw was an entire class of wedge-shaped concept cars, from the recently restored Aston Martin Bulldog to the Rem D. Koolhaas-designed Low Res Car. In a field of history, these cars stood for modernity.
Two were Japanese in origin, the 1984 Honda XP-H by Pininfarina (pictured below) and the aforementioned entry by Ken Okuyama, a 2017 Code Zero based on a Lamborghini Aventador. Sadly, one participant, the 1979 Ford Probe I Concept by Ghia burned to ashes shortly after the concours. But the best news was that the best-in-class wedge, the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero by Bertone, was a contender for Best-In-Show, an enormous honor.
Slow to change, at least the organizers are steering in the right direction. And who knows, maybe our collective fantasy will come true before the end of the decade, and we will finally witness Godzilla on the lawn.
And Finally…
Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire Podcast, which featured yours truly and We Deserve This author Victoria Scott not too long ago, recently had James May in studio.
May is always entertaining, and undoubtedly the most thoughtful, normal human of the three original hosts of the former global sensation Top Gear. His unique takes and fantastic storytelling are on full display here. Hope you enjoy.
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