2022 Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance Photo Gallery | Driving desires

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — One of the great things about Monterey Car Week is the way the entire peninsula turns into a rolling car show. There are plenty of shows, but seeing obscure and priceless classics in motion with some of California’s most beautiful roads as a backdrop is all part of the glamour. At the cornerstone Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event, multi-million dollar cars whose restorations are only possible with Bruce Wayne money are invited to compete for Best in Show.

If you can’t buy a ticket to the show you can still see all the entrants, for free, during the Tour d’Elegance. That’s because all cars in the show must be drivable, even if they sit in a temperature controlled museum the other 51 weeks of the year. With police escort, the cars snake along the coastal Route 1 the Thursday before the event, and all you have to do is find a good viewing spot.

The Concours celebrates several centennials this year, such as the 100th anniversary of Lincoln, as represented by a Continental Mark II and Zephyr. A Ford GT40 MkII that won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans was one of the cars honoring the enduro’s 100th birthday. Of note, while the Concours values authenticity, this year there was a focus on Ford hot rods, with emphasis on period correctness. 

All the cars are worth a gander, though. Where else are you going to see prewar marques most people have never heard of driving in line with Mille Migilia-era race cars? This year, a Mercedes-Benz C-111 concept led the pack, which consisted of a pack of Packards, some real doozie Duesenbergs, and a $70 million Ferrari 250 GTO — all on public roads.