Alex Brant August 14, 2026
Every August, the Monterey Peninsula becomes the center of the automotive world. For Monterey Car Week, collectors, manufacturers, racers, and enthusiasts arrive from around the globe with everything from Brass Era automobiles and prewar Bugattis to Ferrari F40s and the latest hypercars. The events stretch from Pebble Beach and Carmel to Carmel Valley, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
For those of us who live here, however, part of the fun happens outside the official events. You never quite know what will pull up next to you at a stoplight in Carmel or come around the corner on Carmel Valley Road. And if you are considering buying a home on the Monterey Peninsula and happen to love cars, Car Week provides a pretty good introduction to three very different places to live: Pebble Beach, Carmel, and Carmel Valley.
Car Week officially runs August 7 through August 16, with the biggest events concentrated during the final four days.
Thursday, August 13: Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance at 7:00 AM — one of my favorite events of the week because the cars actually get driven, with Concours entrants leaving Pebble Beach for a driving tour of the Monterey Peninsula and coast, and one of the best opportunities to see significant Concours automobiles without buying a Sunday ticket. Also that day: Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at 7:00 AM at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca; Mecum Monterey Auction at 8:00 AM, with approximately 600 collector cars and 100 motorcycles expected to cross the block during Mecum's three-day Monterey auction; Ferrari Owners Club Concours Carmel at 9:00 AM; Legends of the Autobahn at 9:00 AM in Pacific Grove; Concours Village and Pebble Beach RetroAuto at 9:00 AM; and RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction.
Friday, August 14: Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at 7:00 AM; Porsche Werks Reunion at 7:00 AM; Mecum Monterey Auction at 8:00 AM, the second day of the sale; The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering at 9:00 AM at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, one of Car Week's most exclusive events, combining exceptional automobiles, new-car debuts, and hospitality; Pacific Grove Rotary Concours Auto Rally at 10:00 AM, a more accessible community-oriented event; Pebble Beach Classic Car Forum at 11:00 AM; and RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction.
Saturday, August 15: Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at 7:00 AM; Peninsula Cars & Coffee at 7:00 AM in Seaside; Mecum Monterey Auction at 8:00 AM, the final day of the sale; Concours d'Lemons at 8:00 AM, the humorous antidote to Pebble Beach, celebrating strange, unsuccessful, and sometimes downright terrible cars; Concorso Italiano at 10:00 AM, one of the world's largest celebrations of Italian automobiles, with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, and other Italian marques; Exotics on Broadway at 11:00 AM in Seaside, a huge gathering of modern exotic and supercars and one of the week's more accessible events; Ferrari Event at The Barnyard at 4:00 PM in Carmel; and RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction, with Saturday night traditionally when some of the biggest cars of auction week cross the block.
Sunday, August 16: The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance begins early Sunday morning on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. The Concours began in 1950, making 2026 its 75th edition. Interestingly, what is now arguably the most prestigious collector-car competition in the world began as a companion event to the Pebble Beach Road Races. The racing was the main attraction. The Concours was essentially the elegant side event. That relationship eventually reversed. Today, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is widely regarded as one of the most important events in the collector-car world.
This isn't simply a car show and it isn't a race. The automobiles are judged on historical accuracy, technical merit, provenance, restoration, and elegance. Many have undergone years of research and restoration before appearing at Pebble Beach. Winning a class at Pebble Beach can become a major part of an automobile's history. Winning Best of Show puts a car into a very small and important group.
The 2025 Best of Show was an extraordinary 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo, owned by Penny and Lee Anderson Sr. The aero-inspired automobile was originally commissioned by André Dubonnet and competed in both the Targa Florio and Coppa Florio. It beat a field of 229 automobiles at Pebble Beach, including 55 international entries representing 22 countries. The 2026 Concours takes place Sunday, August 16 and marks the event's 75th edition.
The Concours is only part of the story. During Car Week, Monterey also becomes one of the most important collector-car marketplaces in the world. RM Sotheby's, Gooding Christie's, Bonhams, Mecum, and Broad Arrow collectively bring hundreds of millions of dollars worth of automobiles to the Peninsula. And 2025 was extraordinary. Approximately $432.8 million in automobiles changed hands during Monterey's major auctions, with 818 of 1,078 lots selling.
A few sales illustrate just how important Monterey has become. At RM Sotheby's, a one-of-one 2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3 Tailor Made sold for $26 million, becoming the most valuable new automobile ever sold at auction. The car was a special additional example produced beyond the original 599-car production run and its proceeds benefited the Ferrari Foundation. Just behind it, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Competizione sold through Gooding Christie's for $25.305 million, establishing a world auction record for a Ferrari 250 GT California Spider and becoming the most valuable automobile Gooding Christie's had ever sold. RM Sotheby's also sold a 1993 Ferrari F40 LM/GTC for approximately $11 million; a 1995 Ferrari F50 brought approximately $9.245 million; Gooding Christie's sold a 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione Series III for $8.145 million, establishing another model auction record; and at Broad Arrow's Monterey Jet Center auction, a 2005 Maserati MC12 Stradale sold for $5.2025 million, setting an auction record for the model and becoming the most valuable modern Maserati sold at auction. Broad Arrow alone generated approximately $57.4 million in sales during its 2025 Monterey auction. Gooding Christie's generated more than $128 million. RM Sotheby's generated more than $165 million.
That concentration of cars, collectors, and money helps explain why Monterey Car Week matters far beyond the Monterey Peninsula. For one week, this is arguably the center of the collector-car world.
There is another reason Car Week fits the Monterey Peninsula so well. This is a genuinely great place to drive. Highway 1 needs little introduction, but locals have plenty of other options. Carmel Valley Road winds east from Carmel through vineyards, ranches, and the Santa Lucia Mountains. Laureles Grade climbs dramatically from Carmel Valley toward Highway 68 and Laguna Seca. 17-Mile Drive winds through Del Monte Forest past some of the most famous coastal scenery in California. And south of Carmel, Highway 1 heads toward Carmel Highlands and Big Sur. If cars are an important part of your life, where you buy a home on the Monterey Peninsula can make a significant difference.
Pebble Beach: the collector's choice. For the serious collector, Pebble Beach is the natural place to start. You're living at the epicenter of the Concours, surrounded by Del Monte Forest, 17-Mile Drive, and some of the most recognizable scenery in California. Pebble Beach also offers something that can be difficult to find closer to downtown Carmel: larger estate properties. Depending on the property, that can mean multiple garages, substantial motor courts, and more room for a collection. For buyers looking for privacy, prestige, golf, ocean views, and proximity to the center of Monterey Car Week, Pebble Beach is difficult to beat.
Carmel: cars meet the village. Carmel-by-the-Sea offers a completely different lifestyle. You can walk to restaurants, galleries, shops, and Carmel Beach, then be on Highway 1 or entering Pebble Beach within minutes. During Car Week, downtown Carmel practically becomes an unofficial automobile show of its own. The tradeoff for collectors is space. Carmel's small lots and historic homes mean large garages are relatively uncommon. Many properties were built long before anyone imagined today's SUVs, let alone four or five collector cars. If garage space matters, it needs to be part of the property search from the beginning. But find the right house with the right garage and Carmel offers a lifestyle that's difficult to duplicate anywhere.
Carmel Valley: more room for the collection. For a serious car enthusiast, Carmel Valley may be the sleeper choice. As you move east into the Valley, lots generally get larger and acreage becomes much more common. That opens possibilities that can be difficult to find closer to the coast: three and four-car garages, detached workshops, barns, substantial driveways, and properties where there may be room to create purpose-built storage. If your dream property includes six cars, a lift, and a workshop, I'd probably start looking in Carmel Valley before Carmel-by-the-Sea. You also happen to be surrounded by great driving roads. Head west and you're minutes from Carmel and Highway 1. Head east and Carmel Valley Road stretches into the Santa Lucia Mountains. Take Laureles Grade north and you're practically at Laguna Seca. The Valley is also generally warmer and sunnier than the immediate coast. For someone who wants land, privacy, cars, and the Monterey Peninsula lifestyle, Carmel Valley can be very difficult to beat.
One thing Car Week makes particularly obvious is that real estate isn't simply about bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. It's about lifestyle. For one buyer, that means walking into town for dinner in Carmel. For another, it's an ocean-view estate behind the gates of Pebble Beach. And for someone who loves cars, it might mean finding enough garage space for the collection, a workshop, and a great road waiting just outside the driveway. Alex Brant works throughout Carmel, Pebble Beach, Carmel Valley, Carmel Highlands, and Big Sur, helping buyers find properties that fit not only what they're looking for in a house but how they actually want to live on the Monterey Peninsula. If you're visiting for Car Week and wondering what it would be like to own a home here, he'd be happy to show you.
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