Much of automotive-obsessed America may soon find themselves looking out the window, deciding when to pull their cars into the garage for the winter as autumn's evening chill slowly settles in. Not so here in Southern California, where warm weather will continue forever and the calendar of car meets and gatherings only looks set to continue ramping up after more than a year of pandemic-related cancellations and closures.
Los Angeles may seem like an automotive mecca from the outside—and rest assured, it most certainly is—but the infectious enthusiasm spreads far beyond LA proper. Amazing roads spiderwebbing all across Southern California allow for everyone to get out and enjoy some good motoring, vintage car meets, and excellent coffee. Case in point arrived once more this past Sunday in the form of the annual Montecito Motor Classic, which drew thousands of spectators and hundreds of cars to the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club where, fittingly for such a swanky soiree, there was even a big hat competition.
Making A Good First Impression
Of course, the big hat contest is officially called The Silverhorn Fashion Hat Competition and six winners selected out of the crowd's undeniably ostentatious collection of caps (the Montecito Motor Classic website calls it "magnificent millinery") received recognition. But the cars assembled for the event also stood out for their sheer breadth and variety.
After parking on the polo fields, I first ambled over to a svelte BMW 8 Series sedan in a matte metallic finish that helps to reduce the big four-door's perception of heft, especially given that it sat directly next to a gorgeous Citroen, a pristine Volvo P1800, and a comparatively tiny BMW 2002 Touring—the latter of which looked to have received an S14 swap complete with a carbon-fiber intake manifold.
A Fleet Of Ferraris
Of course, no automotive event within 500 miles of Los Angeles can be considered complete without at least a few Ferraris lined up. And the Montecito Motor Classic was no different, with a dozen or more prancing ponies parked on the very lawns where real ponies occasionally practice polo. Though the club may officially sit in the town of Carpinteria, despite having Santa Barbara in the name, the demographics of the neighborhoods directly nearby certainly skew towards obscene wealth, especially with each step closer to Montecito. A few of the more high-profile homeowners in the region include Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, Rob Lowe, Ariana Grande, and the recent additions of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
American Classics And Muscle, Too
Other than the imported Italians and aforementioned royalty, plenty of American classics on display ran the gamut from pristine muscle cars like the 1964 Pontiac GTO above with an engine bay clean enough to eat off (though the owner would undoubtedly need to give it a quick wipedown afterward) to a Checker Marathon station wagon that arrived towing an original Airstream trailer. Carroll Shelby's personal Rolls-Royce even showed up!
Perhaps the biggest surprise to me, given all the supercars that typically attend Cars and Coffee meetups further south along the coast of West LA, was a complete lack of Ford GT40s, either old or new. But maybe I just skimmed over those by-now-common pieces of unobtainium among the glut of rare cars that I'd never even heard of, much less seen before.
Fun Foreign Exotics, Old And New
I drove up to Santa Barbara in a Lotus Evora GT loaner, as a means of testing the GT-ness of such a lightweight, nimble sports car. I rate the Evora as pretty poor at comfortably gobbling up highway miles, even if it can gobble up those miles quite quickly, due to the exact same taught suspension, short wheelbase, and wide tires that make it such an effective canyon carver. As much fun as a few forays up Las Flores and Piuma might have been, all they did was pique my curiosity about the Lotus Exige S 260 Final Edition parked at Montecito. Sure, the supercharged four-banged mounted amidship might crank out significantly fewer horses than the Evora's 416, but it also weighs about a half-ton less.
Only an Exige could make a neighboring Acura NSX or Porsche 911 look large, but I figure if an Evora makes sacrifices towards comfort and visibility, why not go whole hog and get a legit track toy? (Apparently, I'm still a strong believer in one car for one purpose.) The question of just how much less comfort an Exige offers remains a sticking point, however, even if the tiny thing did leave the factory with air conditioning.
Far Beyond Exotic
On the entire other end of the automotive spectrum, two radical off-roaders built out of rear-engined German cars also drew big crowds at Montecito. The famous Baja 911 built by TJ Russell and the subject of a recent The Smoking Tire video featuring Matt Farah doing plenty of dirty donuts and jumps definitely continues to impress—I last spotted it partially parked in a sandtrap at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering this past August at Monterey. Around then, the car's dedicated Instagram page announced that the wild creation was for sale at an ask of $550,000 but it appears Russell has not quite found a willing buyer yet. The Bug, meanwhile, looks like a full Baja-prepped dune monster and probably boasts even more suspension travel, if not quite the panache of the Porsche project.
Tube-Frame Trophy Truck
Parked next to the Baja 911 and Bug, a work in progress based loosely on a Ford Raptor sat with doors open and front end entirely revealed. The plan for this project includes air conditioning, massive King remote-reservoir shocks, the ubiquitous BFGoodrich knobbies, and a fully custom tube-frame chassis. The whole build will eventually cost in the arena of $500,000 to $700,000 and somehow, some way, the goal is to keep this trophy truck street legal.
War Relics On Display
In addition to the exotic Europeans, impeccable American classics, and hardcore off-roading builds, an entire lineup of military machinery allowed kids to run around and climb all over them. From Jeeps all the way to a helicopter on a trailer, the camo and olive drab stood apart from the rest of the vehicles on display. Sitting atop a massive ex-military truck (too big to fit in the frame above) a videographer flew an enormous drone capturing footage of the entire gathering—and the truck was for sale for $30,000 including a revamped interior with new seats and even hand-locking front hubs.
A Quintessential Car Gathering
One of the more popular cars that I hung around for a bit was the LaFerrari above, which the owner claimed is the first LaFerrari ever built. Of course, it comes in Rosso Corsa with black wheels, insectoid mirrors hinting at the hardcore hybrid drivetrain beneath the angular skin. That powerplant produces an absurd 949 combined horsepower in a rear-drive-only hypercar that still looks as aggressive as it did back in 2013.
All in all, the Montecito Motor Classic felt like a quintessential automotive gathering with something for the whole fam. Entrance for the general public is free, though owners who want to officially display their cars do shell out, to the tune of over $113,000 raised the previous year to support the Santa Barbara Police Activities League and Santa Barbara Police Foundation. While park-and-show events like this tend to attract a certain crowd, the attendees I spotted ran the gamut almost as widely as the selection of cars—a bit of competition did fit into the mix and a winner's circle included everything from a Ferrari to hot-rodded Corvair, a Delage, and even a double-bubble Alfa Romeo. And as the world reopens and sponsors begin to recognize this fun festival just north of Los Angeles, I fully expect to see even more and better cars, not to mention a bigger crowd, on the polo grounds next year.
Sources: montecitomotorclassic.com, sbpolo.com, loveproperty.com, instagram.com, sbpal.org, and santabarbarapolicefoundation.com.