Monterey Historics – Day 1 – Guest Post by Mike Graf

It’s that time of year again, were men of all ages take their pilgrimage to Monterey California for the long weekend of cars. For those of you new to the Monterey Historics, this is the place to be for all things automotive, from vintage racing to auctions, Monterey comes alive. Along with this comes hotels that charge double the normal rate, and are sold out months in advance. Restaurants change out their artwork for automobilia, and shops dust off all the car junk they didn’t sell the year before.

This year I’m joined by Dan “The Herald” Kennedy and new coming John “Bucket List” Sellers, and we set off from Orange County California. I took my 1987 911, with KargoSled loaded, and John drove his 2000 BMW 328 Convertible – Dan had the chance to ride shotgun in both cars, no throw-up bag needed. We drove up the 101 until we hit the Pacific Coast Highway, when all the fun begins. Oh, and we managed to drive next to a BMW i8 for about 15 miles, incredible car…

Now, for normal people, driving of PCH in the summer is an incredibly picturesque ride through some of the most beautiful areas of the coast you will ever see. There are vistas locations all along the route and your camera will be filled when one gets to Monterey… HOWEVER, if you are driving junky you could care less about the views, the ocean, the year the bridges were built – you just want to have the hand of God remove all other cars from the road so you can drive like a moonshine runner of the 20’s. I used every opportunity to pass cars, including using the other lane to provide a clear path, as Dan said “the double yellow lines are just a suggestion, right?” Had a great run and managed to not kill anyone…

We had lunch near Big Sur, watched some whales in a 3-way, and kept motoring on into Carmel and Monterey. The evening was spent walking the streets and taking in all of the cars ready to be auctioned off over the next few days, followed by dinner and drinks to celebrate being boys. Friday we are headed to a Porsche and BMW event, so look for my post tomorrow.