2022 Pebble Beach and Monterey Car Week Live Blog

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and all the festivities around Monterey, California, during Car Week transform the peninsula into an open-air car museum. Nearly every event—and there are many—is packed with one-of-a-kind cars you may never see again or that you’ve only seen in books. This weekend, our editors will share the most interesting, wild, and beautiful cars, and we invite you to join us through the weekend. So put on your salmon-colored pants or seersucker suit and join us in looking at some amazing cars.
— Car and Driver

Elana Scherr

Wednesday, August 17

As one of the California-based team, I once again rejected air travel in favor of driving up California’s Highway 1 in a classic Mercedes SL, thanks to the Mercedes Benz Classic Center. My ride was a 1980 380SL, red as the sunburn you’d get from dropping the top. Fresh from the shop, the SL was tuned and tightened so that not only the complex climate controls worked, but even the clock did. This impresses me, as my entire fleet of old cars each ticks off a different hour, mostly dependent on the last time the battery died.Wait, 1980? Didn’t we only get the 380SL in 1981? Yes! You’re so smart.

Elana Scherr

This was the first 380SL in America, formerly based in Michigan and used to develop the U.S.-only emissions equipment (a weak claim to fame, I realize, considering we were cheated of the European spec horsepower in the 3.8L but infamy is fame). Even with only 155 horses, the little ‘vert gamely kept up with the modern SLs in our caravan. (It helped that they were slowed down by Highway 1 traffic and driven by enthusiastic sightseeing Germans.) Our fleet of new and old made it into Monterey with no mechanical failures, and no sunburns. —Elana Scherr