The first events of Monterey Car week kicked off this past weekend, returning after last year's pandemic hiatus with an impressive lineup for all the automotive enthusiasts flocking to coastal California hoping to witness everything from vintage racing at Laguna Seca to the swankiest Concours d'Elegance displays, long-awaited industry reveals, and car club meetups. For those who don't want to shell out the money or who may still feel hesitant to join the throngs of gearheads in person, the Petersen Automotive Museum also plans to revive a second year of Virtual Car Week, albeit in a slightly reduced format compared to last year's week-long livestream.
Spread out in three-hour blocks over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (August 12, 13, and 14), this year's YouTube series includes collection tours, celebrations of notable makes and marques, documentary films, discussions with automotive luminaries, and even a virtual concours d'elegance.
Of course, plenty of Petersen staff will also attend Monterey in person, a fact I learned when I spoke with the Petersen's Business Operations Manager Lincoln Ramirez ahead of this year's festivities.
The Road To Pebble Beach
In fact, Ramirez pulled over on the side of the road in his 2019 Audi S4 for our chat, taking a break from the museum's official The Road To Pebble Beach rally. But we first met back in March, when he felt bold enough to bring that S4 up to the Rancho Santa Margarita airstrip near Atascadero, California, for a series of drag races that included some of the Petersen's most iconic cars (plus a Tesla Model S). Ramirez himself joined the Petersen after a previous job organizing marketing events for an automotive dealership group, then worked on last year's inaugural Virtual Car Week before helping to organize this summer's slightly smaller version.
This Year's Virtual Car Week
"This year is a little dialed back," Ramirez explained, "To kind of put the emphasis back on the physical car week. But we still wanted to share something that kind of encompassed that enthusiasm to a broader audience."
Each three-hour block will begin at 11 am PST on the Petersen's YouTube channel, with Thursday's docket highlights including a tour of the Pima Air Museum, a celebration of DeLorean Motor Company, and a tour of the Audrain Auto Museum hosted by CEO Donald Osborne.
Friday starts with a conversation titled "Future of Collecting" streaming live from the Bonhams auction tent at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, with input from the likes of Philip Sarofim, McKeel Hagerty, Miles Collier, and John Shirley. The rest of Friday's lineup includes a look at the Lyon Air Museum, a tour YouTuber Manny Khoshbin's collection, a journey through the history of the Bugatti EB110, and a garage tour with Anne Brockington Lee.
Saturday promises a mini-doc on Bob Petersen (yes, that Petersen), a few more tours, and appearances from automotive personalities like Doug DeMuro, the Donut Media crew, and ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham.
Expecting that plenty of other car-focused content will cram in between the main events, I asked Ramirez how the Petersen's team managed to whittle down the lineup to only three days of three-hour sessions.
“In terms of selecting the marques and cars, like DMC," he responded, "They’re celebrating 30 years of the DeLorean and we thought it was a good opportunity, seeing as how we not only house a gold-plated DeLorean but we also have the movie-used Back to the Future time machine, so it was just a nice tie-in."
Getting Influencers Involved
Of course, getting YouTube stars in on the mix should help to attract clicks, but Ramirez explained that everyone who will show up for Virtual Car Week long since proved their commitment to both the enthusiast automotive industry and the Petersen, in particular.
"The Donut Media team has done different activations and filming at the museum," he said, "We’ve supplied cars to support some of their content. And they’re just a good group of people all around. What they’re doing for automotive enthusiasm on the younger generation side is simply amazing. Doug [DeMuro] is in the same vein. He reached out looking for some space to film a car, then it turned into, 'If you need a car, we’d be more than happy to collaborate,' And over the years just getting closer and closer, just a good supporter of the museum, so he was more than happy to submit his digital car submission."
When I attended the Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance earlier this summer, multiple members of the relatively homogenous attendees asked me how to get younger generations involved for next year's event, so I posited to Ramirez that given the kind of crowd I expect to see at Monterey, perhaps the Petersen's Virtual Car Week can continue to target millennials and Gen Z more than a park-and-show gathering with points-based judging.
"I think we do a good job of being inclusive to all age demographics," Ramirez told me. "There is a big part of the museum that I think people aren’t familiar with and that is really our roots and how the museum came to be. So, yes we have a car collection, but we also take the cars out and drive them, we take them out to Concours, we ourselves attend car shows."
The Future Of Collecting With Bonhams Auctions
Of course, before attending any Cars and Coffee meet or automotive event these days, prepare yourself to discuss the incredible boom within the collectible and enthusiast markets during the pandemic. The fact that the boom looks set to continue that upward trend only contributes to the Future of Collecting livestream's relevance (even if it weren't preceding the Bonhams auction, which will include everything from a Ferrari F40 to a Ford GT40 MkIV and a 1928 Mercedes-Benz 26/120/180-S-Type Supercharged Sports Tourer).
"We’re constantly looking at what is the next car, constantly looking at our current collection and seeing what is still relevant," Ramirez explained. "A big piece of the conversation, I’m sure, is who is the next generation of collectors and what will they be collecting. You’ll see even the major collectors are shifting their attention to that next generation, because that is kind of the stigma, that the major collectors right now are all collecting the same thing, so what’s next? I think they’re very much aware of what’s next and sometimes they can set the precedent."
A Virtual Concours In Place Of In-Person Judging
The Petersen Concours, meanwhile, will not include points-based judging like at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Instead, Ramirez told me, "It is an extension of our Global Cars and Coffee show that we started at the very beginning of the pandemic, in which people would submit videos of their cars and we would make a compilation of those videos for that specific month and we would showcase those cars on our YouTube channel. So this is a little different in that we were seeking out specific cars, but in the same regard, it’s a virtual car show through video."
Real World Fun With The Petersen
Allowing anyone from anywhere to join in on the fun adds to the attractiveness of a Virtual Car Week streaming series, though nothing can match real-world car meets and cruises—as Ramirez readily understood given his position on the side of the road while we spoke.
“I am looking at a 991 GT3, a Viper in Sublime Green, a 2006 Ford GT, a Turbo S, an Alfa Romeo 8C, an M Roadster, and a fully built Land Cruiser FJ," he laughed. "We are spending two and a half days actually getting to Pebble Beach, where we have activations throughout. The participants of the rally also get to attend our Future of Design dinner and then, of course, the Future of Collecting breakfast at the Bonhams auction."
The Petersen also plans to show five cars from Metallica rockstar James Hetfield's collection at The Quail, plus a Cisitalia at the official Pebble Beach Concours in celebration of the Pininfarina theme.
Speaking with Ramirez left me all the more excited to drive north for my first Monterey experience, where I'll miss the official Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance but will get a chance to watch vintage racers lap Laguna Seca, million-dollar auction action at Mecum and The Quail, and check out the Porsche Werks Reunion. The trip will undoubtedly blend work and pleasure, though if I were staying home, the Petersen's Virtual Car Week might take up some of my time instead.
Sources: petersen.org, youtube.com, peninsula.com, bonhams.com, and pebblebeachconcours.net.