Latest / That Car Show / Pebble Beach Concours president Vince Finaldi

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Pebble Beach Concours president Vince Finaldi · That Car Show

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  You know, for the first time in my life, I, you know, my, my
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  credentials kind of fell right, right, exactly where they're
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  supposed to be and this. Week on that car show.
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  It's Vince Fenaldi, the new president of the Pebble Beach
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  Concorde delegance. This is the 75th year of the
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  Concorde and it's just four weeks away, so there couldn't be
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  a better time to have him on. Vince shares his unique path to
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  Pebble, talks about the cars that shaped him, what goes into
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  pulling off an event like this, and where he sees the collector
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  car world heading next. All roads lead to Pebble and
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  it's Vince Vinaldi on that car show.
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  Hey, it's that car show. And we are so glad you are here
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  because today we've got Vince Fenaldi on the show.
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  And Vince, of course, is the new president as of this past
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  January of the world's greatest celebration of the automobile,
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  the Pebble Beach Concorde Elegance.
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  And Vince is a a trial attorney who in 2022 decided to retire
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  from practicing law to open Fenaldi Incorporated, a shop
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  like those run by his father and grandfather that focuses on the
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  restoration, service and sales of the European collector cars
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  we know and love. His personal collection has
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  included Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini.
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  Needless to say, Vince is our kind of guy and we're thrilled
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  to have him join us today. Welcome to that car show, Vince.
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  Thank you for having me. Glad to have you here.
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  And I think we're both very curious about your journey to
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  being Pebble Beach Concorde president.
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  You've stepped into some very big shoes.
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  Yeah. Yeah, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm
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  excited to be here. It's been a a long car journey
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  that I've been on that started when I was just a child.
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  Yeah, what were you always? Were you always a car guy?
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  Yeah, you know, I was born into a car family.
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  So you know, my my grandfather was in the automotive industry
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  and my father and my uncles were as well.
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  They were entrepreneurs who own shops throughout Chicago area
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  and Southern California. So I kind of grew up in shops
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  and and surrounded by automobiles.
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  Yeah, yeah. Did you live in Chicago?
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  I mean, I'm a Chicago guy, so I've got to ask.
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  Yeah, yeah. That's where I was born.
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  My father and my uncles emigrated from Italy to Chicago
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  in the late 60s, OK. And so that's where I was born.
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  Cook County Hospital. Yeah.
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  South Side, OK, is where I lived until 1978.
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  OK. That's when we moved everything
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  to Southern California. Yeah, yeah.
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  Wow. And were you in the Carmel area
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  at that time? No, no, Southern California.
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  That's where my father and my uncle's shops were.
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  And so I lived there all the way up until about four and a half
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  five years ago. Five years ago, my wife and I
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  decided to relocate the whole family up to Carmel.
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  We've been coming up here for Car Week for years and years and
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  and it was, you know, an an easy decision if if you ever been up
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  in that area. Yeah, yeah.
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  Yeah, you would not have to. You wouldn't really have to
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  twist my arm to get me to move to Carmel.
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  No. Yeah, it's a great part of the
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  world. And so I'm just curious, if you
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  grew up around cars, grew up around special cars, what was
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  the first car that really caught your eye or your first car that
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  said, you know, damn, this is really something special.
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  Every single one of them, yeah. Yeah, so why do?
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  We like Tim. Yeah, yeah.
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  My, my, my dad and my uncles, they not only ran collision
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  repair shops and mechanic shops, they also imported and exported
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  cars to supplement their income and also to, to have fun cars to
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  play with. And so they specialize in
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  Italian sports cars. So at our house while growing
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  up, we always had Italian sports cars coming and going, you know,
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  Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini.
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  And so those are the cars that I kind of grew up around, in
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  addition to American muscle cars, primarily Corvettes and
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  some some German cars, some Porsches, some British cars, the
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  ones that really resonated with me with the Italian sports cars
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  that were kind of our bread and butter.
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  Yeah, that's. What were the what were the
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  British cars that you had like, like that you were exposed to?
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  Yeah, Jaguar MG mainly those, you know a lot, a lot of
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  Jaguars. Yeah, yeah.
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  Did you get dropped out at school on this stuff?
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  And I mean, is this just a part of your identity growing up
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  these cars? I don't think I ever dropped off
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  because my dad would leave for work way.
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  Before school started. And he'd and he'd come back home
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  way after school was over with, but but he'd take us for rides
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  on weekends for sure. And so we just lived in a a
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  normal suburban neighborhood in Southern California.
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  Yeah. And, you know, one day we'd
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  have, you know, Ferrari in the garage, we'd have a, you know,
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  Lamborghini Mira in the garage. They've known for a while.
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  And so, yeah, at the time, I just thought it was kind of
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  normal. You buy these cars and bring
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  them in and, you know, drive them for a while and then, you
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  know, sell them and then move on to the next one.
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  But, you know, I should have known something was a little odd
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  when we'd we'd, you know, get in the car and, you know, hit the
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  garage door, open and open up the garage door.
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  And, you know, pretty soon there would be a gang of kids outside
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  looking. Sometimes they're their fathers
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  wondering what's going on. And I just thought everyone's
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  house is like that, but apparently they weren't.
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  Yeah, no. Turns out that is not the case.
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  Turns out it's not the case, you know.
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  But we just had our buddy Ryan Sapka on I don't know if you
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  know Ryan at all, but he's a big Ferrari guy.
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  And we talked a bit about how these cars not just can change
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  your life, but really have the power to change the lives of of
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  others just out and about. I, I remember so vividly the
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  first time I saw my first Lamborghini Countach, right?
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  And I had my dad chase it in our Chrysler minivan, right.
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  It's too Lane and it just he's got an F40 right when he takes
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  that out. I mean, that has the power to
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  change the trajectory I think of a young person's life, right?
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  Their interests, their, their, their hobbies for the rest of
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  their lives. And so man, I can't imagine
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  having that rotating cast of, of, of cars through the house.
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  I mean, it just must have been wonderful, you know?
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  Well, it was wonderful, but it was also torture, if you will,
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  because, you know, I'd, I'd come home, I'm, you know, 5-6 years
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  old. Yeah.
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  There'd be this wonderful sports car and, you know, and I get
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  inside of it and play with it and pretend like I'm driving it
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  and just fall in love with the car.
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  And then the next day, I'd come home from school and the car is
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  gone. And I'm like, whoa, what's going
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  on here? You know, this one is mine.
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  Yeah. Enough to make your head.
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  And that and yeah. And then, and then, you know,
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  next week, another one would show up and I'd forget all about
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  it and I'd fall in love with that one.
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  And then, you know, same thing would happen again.
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  Or, you know, wash, rinse, repeat.
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  So, right. You know, now that I'm older, I,
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  you know, I, I'm not the type of person that buys a car and keeps
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  it forever. You know, I, I like to buy cars
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  and fix them and work on them and play with them and drive
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  them and use them. And then, you know, after I've
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  had my time with them, I usually move them on and I'm on to the
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  next one. Yeah.
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  Because, you know, primarily that's, that's what happened
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  throughout my entire life. I, I was, I I just got used to
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  that process from, from a young age.
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  Yeah. Yeah, that was the example that.
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  Was that? Yeah.
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  You know, when we were kids, you know, these weren't.
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  I don't want to call them. You know, I don't want to say
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  that they're commodity cars now, right.
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  But, you know, there were a lot fewer Ferrari dealerships,
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  right? When we were growing up.
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  They were just that much more special.
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  You just, you just didn't see them like you do now, right.
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  Yeah. Well.
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  There, there, there were very few dealerships and that's one
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  of the reasons why my father and my uncles would supplement their
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  income by importing cars it. Was something that was easy.
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  For them to do, because they were from Italy, they knew you
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  know where to find the cars, they knew how to bring them in
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  here and there weren't a lot of dealers here, so it was a good
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  way to make money and. It must have been Continental
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  right up in Hinsdale when you were a a kid was the big dealer
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  in the Chicago area. You know, I know Joe Marchetti
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  was a big dealer in in Chicago and and so, yeah, but I was, you
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  know, very young. I was born in 74 or so.
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  By the time we moved in 78, I sure, right.
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  I wasn't going to many dealerships and hanging out
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  trying to buy cars there. Right, right.
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  Right. I was probably trying to stay
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  warm. Right.
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  Exactly. That's that's right.
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  That's right. That's so funny.
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  This is the 75th year of of the Concorde.
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  What do you think has kept Pebble really the benchmark
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  event that it that it has been all these years and continues to
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  be? Well, one of them it's, it's the
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  oldest concourse in the US. It started in 1950 along with
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  the road races in Pebble Beach. And it's, and it's been an event
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  ever since. So you know what number one is
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  the longevity of the event. Number 2 is that it's always
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  been able to innovate to stay, stay ahead of the crowd.
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  That which is very important to keeping your event fresh,
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  relevant and something that people want to go to.
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  And #3 and it's always kind of remained a, a pinnacle event in
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  terms of its standards. It's always had very rigorous
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  and strict judging standards, very strict standards about
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  which cars are accepted and which ones are not.
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  And Pebble has always known what it is.
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  It's not like, you know, some shows that are, you know,
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  especially newer shows, which, you know, granted it's for a
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  reason, but you know, they're trying to figure out what they
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  are they going to be a high end, they're going to be a low end,
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  or they can just accept everything.
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  You know, they need to monetize it.
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  So they kind of, you know, want to accept everything to get
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  going. But, you know, we've been, you
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  know, running the show so long that we have a, we have the
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  luxury of not not having to do that.
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  Yeah, yeah, I talk a lot with folks about authenticity and how
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  that's just what everyone wants these days, right.
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  And and that, you know, that's that's Pebble, right?
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  I mean that that's the one, right.
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  And you can't fake the funk as I think as you're kind of getting
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  that and and and it's just. Yeah, you know, I've been
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  around, you know, repair, collision repair, restoration,
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  you name it, of cars since I was born.
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  So I've been, you know, in paint shops I've seen cars just
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  completely demolished and rebuilt.
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  I've, I've lived through all the stuff that was going on in the,
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  in the late 70s and 80s when they were shopping, you know,
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  Ferrari, Daytona's and convertibles.
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  And I know the shop where that was going on.
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  It was down the street from one of my dad's shops.
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  And, and I've seen that the progression of the collector,
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  whatever you call it, the hobby, the, the business, the.
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  Sort of the whole. Realms Well, I've seen how it's
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  changed. Before it, these were just kind
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  of cars and kind of items you owned and used.
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  And, you know, you know, there was one point in time where they
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  were kind of throwaway, you know, especially race cars in
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  the 60s. Yeah, right.
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  And but but now the way people look at them, the way they buy
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  them, the way they use them, the way they invest them in them is,
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  is more akin to fine art. You know, there's a lot of fine
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  art principles that have been applied to the collector car
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  market, right? Yeah.
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  And so, yeah, that's, that's something you really have to
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  take into account if you're anywhere in the business or if
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  you're you're buying cars. It's just, it's a, it's a
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  different world now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Can we talk about those generational shifts a little
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  bit? I mean, you mentioned the
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  Daytona, right? And how look, how that's
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  shifted, you know, over the last 20 years or whatever.
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  What are you seeing? What, what are, you know, what
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  are young, I hate the term young people, but people younger than
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  us, right? Like what what what, what are
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  you seeing in in in there? Well, I mean to, to, to finish
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  the point of the authenticity, I think people are, are are really
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  recognizing and valuing authenticity partially because
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  of the way these cars are being valued.
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  Yeah. And the idea that they're only
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  original once. Yep.
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  What I'm seeing is, is, is that shift, shift towards more
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  original, more complete cars with, with, with unbroken
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  provenance that you can, you can trace all the way down from day
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  one. People are, you know, they're a
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  lot more informed buyers and users of cars nowadays and they
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  were 10-15 years ago. We've got much better records.
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  We've got the Internet that we can use.
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  So I've seen that as a change. And another change is something
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  that's been happening since the beginning of the car, which is
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  younger collectors come in and they want to buy and use the
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  cars that, you know, we're on their posters on their wall when
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  they were young and they couldn't afford them.
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  So we're we're seeing that generational shift now.
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  It's happening right in front of our eyes pretty much, you know,
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  we could say it started in January with the with the mecum
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  auction and you know, that the huge auctions for some of these,
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  these Halo supercars that happened at the beginning of
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  this year and the numbers keep repeating.
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  They're they're continuing. So that's something that I think
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  caught probably, you know, you, Lindsay and Ryan by by, you
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  know, off guard caught me off guard.
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  I wish I had a time machine. I can go back to October.
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  Maybe pick up a couple things. That and yeah, yeah, but but
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  that's nothing new. I mean it, it happened when you
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  know, people transfer, you know, you know, went from the the
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  brass terror to the cars, the to the you know, the the pre war
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  and then the post war and you know, it's it's always been
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  happening. These generational shifts in the
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  cars. Yeah.
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  It's just a matter of pinpointing.
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  Like you said before, it happens so you can, you know, advantage
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  yourself if you want. And, and, and which ones it's
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  going to happen too. You know, it doesn't happen to
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  all the cars. You know, there's a certain ones
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  that are the annoyed ones that, that, that, that, that rise, you
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  know, and sometimes the one, the ones that do that really kind of
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  take you off guard. There's a couple that that
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  caught me off guard. You know, I was going to say,
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  which were the ones that were most surprising to you this
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  year, like starting, you know? The Enzo.
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  The the Enzo is pretty surprising.
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  Yeah. You know, it's, yeah.
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  That that, that's one that that that caught me off guard.
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  You know, the F50I can understand a lot more.
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  Yeah. It's a it's a manual 12
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  cylinder. It's naturally aspirated F
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  Formula One technology. I I get that one, the 288 GTOI
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  get that one as well. The the, the, the Enzo caught me
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  off guard a little bit, yeah. So what about that?
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  Were you like, oh, I didn't see that coming?
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  Just that it's newer, yeah. It's F1 trans car.
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  And it was kind of lingering for years and years and years and
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  all of a sudden it's just a hot car.
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  It's here, yeah. Yeah.
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  So. Yeah.
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  Also, I still think of that as like a new car or newer car and
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  it's not. Me too, me too.
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  For a minute. I remember, I remember seeing
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  him in the showroom in what, 2005 or whatever.
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  Wow. Yeah.
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  And then also the Carrera GT kind of called off guard a
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  little bit as well. That car, you know, was, was
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  lingering at A at a much lower number for years and years.
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  And, you know, there were definite reasons for it.
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  I think the the the suspension upgrades and the upgrades tires
• 15:11
  really improve the drivability and the safety of that which
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  which helped quite a bit with the, you know, the value.
• 15:20
  Yeah, yeah, cuz I think and Vince, I think you were in
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  California when this happened, but there was a very famous
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  crash in California between a Ferrari and a Carrara GT at a
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  track in Fontana, which is actually not there anymore.
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  And I think at least for the people you know semi locally,
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  that definitely cast a pall over those cars too, unfortunately,
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  like fairly or unfairly. I grew up, I grew up really
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  close to that track and I know where it was.
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  I remember the crash. And, you know, that's not the
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  only one. There's several various, you
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  know, high profile, you know, incidents with that car.
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  It's, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it
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  could be a twitchy car drive. You really have to know what
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  you're doing. It's a high performance, you
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  know, car. And that's.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  Well, and I think like you said, the all the upgrades that they
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  did recently, I think everybody, I think there were a lot of
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  people that maybe took a second look, which could help explain
• 16:15
  sort of the surprising value, but it made a big difference.
• 16:19
  Mm hmm. Yeah.
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  And I think that car has something, it has an intangible
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  and that's, it's got a legend that comes with it, right.
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  Maybe it's less deserved now with, you know, as you, as you
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  alluded to the tires and the suspension upgrades and all
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  that. But I mean that that is you
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  can't, you can't put a price on that.
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  And it's, it's, it's just, there's something about that
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  car. That car has gravity.
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  It just has, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's it.
• 16:43
  I guess what's interesting is like, so you see the Carrera GT
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  and then the 918 Carrera GT is the one that's really moving,
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  you know? Yeah, yeah.
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  Which, you know, the 918 is kind of the upgraded version, but
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  it's not really the same kind of traction.
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  You see the same thing with the with the the Ford GT, you know,
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  that the 2005 one and then and then the next one, the next
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  one's, you know, it was a much higher, you know, price point,
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  but it's not getting the same traction.
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  So I guess that's kind of what would caught me off guard a
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  little bit with the with the Enzo, is that, you know, I
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  expected that kind of to be the same.
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  Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
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  I know. Like you said, Ryan, I think
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  about those as new. I remember seeing one of those
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  on the street and describing it to people and it was around 2005
• 17:26
  and them saying like you definitely that's not what you
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  saw. And I'm like, no, these are
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  these were the features of this car.
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  And they're like, well, that's what that was.
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  And it feels like it was a couple years ago.
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  Yeah, totally, totally, totally. You mentioned too, you know,
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  that young people drive the cars more and I, I, it's something
• 17:45
  that I've seen, you know, I think rallies like, you know,
• 17:48
  the Colorado Grand and the Kalmila and all these other, I
• 17:50
  mean, they're more popular than ever.
• 17:52
  We're seeing a lot of younger people and they're driving cars
• 17:55
  that maybe wouldn't have been driven right.
• 17:58
  Yeah, You seen the? Same thing.
• 17:59
  Yeah, I'm kind of seeing that yet.
• 18:02
  No, I mean, I'm noticing more of a shift from the formal Concord,
• 18:10
  the formal button up concord towards people wanting to have a
• 18:14
  little bit more fun and being a little more, more loose and
• 18:17
  relaxed and, and have like a lifestyle event.
• 18:20
  We're, we're noticing that with our event and our event is
• 18:22
  slowly, you know, been getting more relaxed and more, you know,
• 18:27
  informal and, and, and, and, and kind of leaning into the
• 18:30
  lifestyle thing. So I, I see more of that
• 18:32
  happening, you know, the younger generation wanting to use their
• 18:35
  cars and finding events or cars that they can, you know,
• 18:40
  actually use. But you know, another another
• 18:43
  disturbing, you know, thing that I see is a lot of cars just
• 18:46
  getting stockpiled and and everyone looking at at mile
• 18:50
  mileage and. Yeah.
• 18:52
  And that and I, and I've experienced it myself with a few
• 18:55
  cars. I've bought that, you know,
• 18:58
  newer super cars that are low mileage cars and, and I never
• 19:03
  knew what mileage anxiety was until I, I owned 1, you know,
• 19:07
  and, and, and you drive it around and you just, you just
• 19:10
  see the odometer and it's just in the back of your head.
• 19:12
  It's a weird thing. I, I, I think it's unfortunate
• 19:15
  because these cars were meant to be driven and to be used.
• 19:19
  And, and I actually am a big proponent of using cars because
• 19:23
  I know that, you know, a car, you know, a 20 year old car with
• 19:26
  five miles versus a 20 year old car, say 2025 hundred miles.
• 19:31
  I'd, I'd take the 2500 mile car any day of the week because I
• 19:35
  know that it's probably going to have not going to have many
• 19:38
  issues, you know, but it's not pristine.
• 19:41
  It's not right off the showroom floor, But that's, that's fine
• 19:43
  for me. A lot of collectors are not, are
• 19:45
  not like that though. Nowadays, they, they, they want
• 19:47
  the the Five mile car, they want the pristine car and the rapper
• 19:51
  and, and those cars come with a lot of potential pitfalls, you
• 19:55
  know? Yeah.
• 19:56
  Yeah, well, it's a totally different experience, I think.
• 20:00
  And you hit the nail on the head, like, and that's what we
• 20:02
  talk about here too. I mean, you're definitely, you
• 20:04
  know, among friends, we always say we'd love to see people that
• 20:08
  drive their cars. We'd love to see the cars being
• 20:10
  driven. For me especially, you know,
• 20:12
  when you see a car that's really special and it's been put away
• 20:14
  and you know it's not going to be driven.
• 20:16
  It's sort of, you know, it pains me for sure.
• 20:19
  And yeah, it's like that's that's one of our great joys is
• 20:22
  getting out and driving the cars.
• 20:24
  So, you know, we like to, yeah, agree.
• 20:27
  Like it's better. For the car.
• 20:29
  Exactly like they were designed to do one thing.
• 20:32
  So we like to see when people are.
• 20:35
  Letting all the, the the, you know, the different components
• 20:37
  heat up and you know, burn off that condensation.
• 20:41
  It gets on all the parts, it gets in the electronics, it gets
• 20:44
  in the engine, it gets in the exhaust.
• 20:46
  And so, you know, going through the heat cycles using the cars
• 20:49
  is a good thing, you know, you know, getting, getting
• 20:52
  everything, you know, in the internals oiled up.
• 20:54
  And I'm, I'm a big proponent of, of, of using your cars, but I'm
• 20:59
  also a huge fan of preservation cars.
• 21:01
  You know, I kind of grew up in the, in the business where we're
• 21:05
  fixing cars and, you know, repairing them and making them
• 21:08
  better. And it's kind of one of the the
• 21:12
  weird anomalies of the world that, you know, if you talk to
• 21:16
  all the big restores out there and you're asking what, what
• 21:20
  cars they want, They all, they all love preservation cars.
• 21:23
  You know, they all love cars that have kind of been cared for
• 21:26
  through their entire life, even if they're not perfect.
• 21:29
  Yeah. Because they're, you know,
• 21:30
  they're only original ones. Yeah.
• 21:32
  Yeah, I do have a question about those.
• 21:34
  Seems like every year, whether it's on the grand or auctions or
• 21:37
  wherever it is, where do these barn find cars keep coming from?
• 21:41
  Like, I would have thought my barn.
• 21:44
  We're going to run out of barns at a certain point.
• 21:47
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just I'm always amazed that
• 21:49
  the it's just there seems to be this continuous stream of these
• 21:51
  cars, which is wonderful. But you know, that's, that's a
• 21:55
  that's a phenomenon that that that started way back in like
• 21:58
  the 80s, I think. I think Tom Shaughnessy was with
• 22:00
  the first barn find guy that said let me just pull it out.
• 22:03
  And, you know, he was pulling cars out for for years, you
• 22:06
  know, and I think he's one of the first people that just put
• 22:10
  it in the auction just as is and they thought he was nuts, but it
• 22:13
  worked out really well. So I don't know where the front
• 22:16
  in all these cars, but they all, you know, they always seem to
• 22:19
  keep popping up and and it never makes sense to me why someone
• 22:22
  would squirrel away a wonderful car with, you know, 50 miles on
• 22:26
  it and not use it. That's, that's it.
• 22:28
  And apparently it's still happening.
• 22:30
  I live in a neighborhood here in Denver where there is a legend
• 22:33
  of a Carrera GT that's in someone's garage off the alley
• 22:37
  that's got boxes stacked on it. So whenever I'm out of my bike
• 22:40
  or walking the dog, I make a point of going down the alley
• 22:42
  because I, I guess people get into these situations.
• 22:45
  Spouse passes away or something. You know, to, to them, it's a
• 22:48
  Boxster, right? They might not know any better.
• 22:50
  And so I guess they're still making barn fines, at least a
• 22:53
  few of them. And I.
• 22:54
  Mean I, you know, now you're making me feel old because I you
• 22:56
  know, I can't believe that a career geeky can qualify for.
• 23:00
  To be right and. Haven't seen it yet.
• 23:03
  Has it been around long enough to get dusty?
• 23:05
  No, it's, it's, it's it's crazy. Yeah, you're talking.
• 23:08
  About the ends of just being new.
• 23:10
  Yeah, Yeah, You know, the career GT is another one.
• 23:13
  You know, Lindsay and I, we've talked about this with a couple
• 23:15
  of recent guests where they have come up so much in such a short
• 23:18
  period of time that we know owners that have really thought
• 23:21
  twice about continuing to drive them as they've as they have
• 23:24
  been, which is a shame. You know, another friend with a
• 23:26
  GT3 four leader, right, an RS4 leader 997.
• 23:30
  You know, it's just there's a point where, you know, unless
• 23:33
  you're really, really wealthy, it becomes a lot of a lot of
• 23:36
  money and it's, and then it stops being fun.
• 23:39
  And it's, yeah, it's just, it's kind of a kind of a shame, but.
• 23:42
  Yeah, it's not just that, it's also, I mean, there's more
• 23:47
  stress, you know, involved when you're driving a car that's
• 23:50
  really, really high value #1 because the value itself and you
• 23:53
  can't just, you know, completely disconnect yourself from it.
• 23:56
  But also as the the value of these cars go up, people know
• 24:01
  about it. And so you get more attention
• 24:03
  when you're out, right? Yeah.
• 24:05
  It's much less likely than you could just leave the car in a
• 24:08
  parking lot somewhere and go grab a cup of coffee, right?
• 24:11
  Because people want to go and see it and touch it and lean on
• 24:14
  it and, you know, do a bunch of the things that, you know, car
• 24:16
  people know you shouldn't be doing.
• 24:18
  That's right. Yeah.
• 24:19
  It definitely changes your experience of the car.
• 24:22
  And like, so one thing I'm curious about, and you said you
• 24:25
  ran into this when you had cars that were lower mileage.
• 24:28
  Did you ultimately decide that that wasn't for you and get
• 24:33
  something else? Did you just decide you were
• 24:35
  going to drive them? Like how?
• 24:37
  How did that work out for you? Yeah, I just, I just didn't, you
• 24:41
  know, I, I didn't, I, I had one car.
• 24:43
  It was a so Lamborghini Murcia Lago LP 640 and it was a manual
• 24:49
  manual trans car. You know, they only made twenty
• 24:51
  of them. So the last of the manual trans
• 24:53
  cars. Oh wow, Ithaca green, Ithaca
• 24:55
  green, wow, green cuchinturas and interior and eight 8000
• 25:00
  miles. So this was this is Ed Bullion's
• 25:03
  old, old car. Oh.
• 25:04
  Sure, that's. Awesome.
• 25:05
  Just a just a great car. I bought it and I was using it
• 25:10
  and then you know what, once you go from 8 to 10,000 miles and
• 25:14
  over 10A, big big thing, big, big, big change happens with the
• 25:19
  price and the collectability for some of these.
• 25:21
  People right? There's a bit of a hit.
• 25:22
  You're in 8000 miles, you're in a sweet spot.
• 25:25
  And I kind of find found myself not using the car as much and it
• 25:28
  was kind of sitting there and, and that's not why I like to own
• 25:32
  and buy cars. I'm not, I don't like to just,
• 25:35
  you know, have it there and, and look at it.
• 25:37
  I want one that I can use. And so I got an offer and it was
• 25:41
  a lot and I paid for it and it was like a year I had owned it.
• 25:45
  And I figured like, I get to drive the car for a year for
• 25:48
  free and I get a lot more money. So I'm making a deal.
• 25:50
  So I sold it and now the car is worth probably 6-6 times what
• 25:56
  what I what I sold it for. And this is only, this is only
• 25:59
  five years ago, you know, six years ago.
• 26:00
  Yeah, it's not that long. So, you know, that's one of the
• 26:03
  ones that got away. It's, you know, but, but to do
• 26:07
  it all over again, I would because I, I enjoy using my cars
• 26:10
  and, you know, I took the money and I rolled it into another one
• 26:13
  and I had fun with it and, you know, so on and so forth.
• 26:15
  So it's kind of my, my mantra. You use the cars you know, have
• 26:20
  fun with them. Or to have lived and lost, then
• 26:22
  never to have loved at all? Is that loved and lost then
• 26:25
  never to have loved? At all.
• 26:26
  Yeah, I think for me, if you're gonna, I mean, I guess I'm
• 26:30
  getting too philosophical here, but you know, we're not going to
• 26:33
  use the car if you're not going to use the car.
• 26:35
  If it's just going to be in your garage and it's going to be for
• 26:38
  for viewing purposes only, then why not just, you know, have
• 26:42
  have one on a piece of paper, right.
• 26:44
  You know, or or on a computer screen, it's not that much
• 26:48
  different. Right.
• 26:49
  Yeah, because you're looking at it as you know, and like Jay
• 26:52
  Leno talks about this in a, it's kind of a combination of what
• 26:55
  we've talked about where he said they're works of art that can
• 26:57
  drive if you want them to. And like, I think one of the
• 27:00
  things, one of the things we love about Jay is that he
• 27:02
  actually does drive them. But you're right, like if you're
• 27:05
  buying it and parking it, it's really a sculpture at that
• 27:07
  point. Well, and, and also some of the
• 27:09
  most, you know, wonderful things about a car is when you use them
• 27:15
  and you see how they work and you see how they, how they
• 27:18
  manage different environments and different weather.
• 27:21
  That's, that's kind of, you know, for me, the beauty of, of,
• 27:24
  of owning these cars. You know, I love to, you know,
• 27:27
  when I was young, I used to love to kind of pack a lunch and I'd
• 27:29
  put it in my bike and I'd go, you know, my buddies and I would
• 27:32
  go, you know, ride in the mountain somewhere.
• 27:34
  And then we'd have our lunches and we'd come back.
• 27:36
  And then we got older and we do the same thing with our go karts
• 27:39
  and we got older. We do the same thing with our
• 27:41
  cars. And you look at all all the
• 27:44
  people at these car shows now, you know, especially the, the,
• 27:46
  the older men, they're doing the same thing.
• 27:48
  They pack your little lunches and they go for the drives.
• 27:50
  And, you know, I do the same thing with my wife.
• 27:54
  So yeah, yeah, we're just, we're just nothing more than, you
• 27:57
  know, older. Kids.
• 27:58
  No, that's. Really.
• 27:59
  That's that's the toys have a few more wheels, Yeah.
• 28:03
  And they're a little more expensive, you know?
• 28:05
  Yeah, kind of the joy, that's the joy of owning these cars.
• 28:08
  And I, I, I think that once we stop using the cars, that's when
• 28:13
  this this whole, you know, the hobby that we enjoy kind of goes
• 28:17
  away. Yeah, Yeah, I agree.
• 28:18
  It's so funny you you mentioned that you know, when you're a
• 28:20
  kid, you think you're going to reach someday in your life where
• 28:22
  you're yeah, I'm a grown up now and that never happens, right.
• 28:25
  You're just sort of a continuation of who you were
• 28:26
  when you were a kid. You know, the cars and stuff.
• 28:29
  You just two point have more expensive.
• 28:30
  Maturing when I was about four years old, you know you're.
• 28:34
  Like a little. Bit older, a lot less hair.
• 28:37
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I. Think we all.
• 28:39
  Instead we have those moments where you go, wait, who put me
• 28:41
  in charge? I'm the only adult.
• 28:43
  It's like. Yes.
• 28:45
  Adults, yes. Yeah, yeah.
• 28:48
  It's no, it's great. Well, and that's I, I've had a
• 28:52
  lot of press cars lately. And so we've been making a point
• 28:54
  to do like a day trip with each one just to really experience
• 28:57
  it. And I think you described it
• 28:59
  really well. It's, it's the cars become part
• 29:02
  of an adventure or it's an excuse for an adventure.
• 29:05
  And like you, you're, you're tapping into some of the joy
• 29:08
  that we experienced as kids, which we don't have as many
• 29:12
  opportunities as adults, but that's the cars are sort of an
• 29:16
  opportunity to find that again, which is pretty wonderful.
• 29:20
  Yeah, I, I've got a friend, you know, when I moved up here to
• 29:22
  Carmel, we've got these, there's these car condos complexes.
• 29:26
  Oh yeah. So I bought, bought a car condo
• 29:29
  and he had the one right across from me.
• 29:30
  We met right away, became friends.
• 29:32
  He was into, you know, Alfa Romeos and things like that.
• 29:35
  And I had a couple Porsches and, you know, I always have a few
• 29:37
  Porsches and I had a couple in my garage.
• 29:39
  And he's like, well, you got all these Porsche and you know, I'm
• 29:41
  like, well, have you ever driven one?
• 29:43
  No, but you know, these, these Porsche guys are all the same
• 29:46
  and they're all into them and, you know, they're all and which
• 29:48
  he's not wrong. He's not wrong.
• 29:49
  And and so I said you, you should, you know, so I let him
• 29:53
  drive mine a little bit. He's not these are kind of cool.
• 29:54
  You know, maybe I'll get one. And, you know, so finally, you
• 29:57
  know, a couple years in to the friendship, he, he bought a
• 30:00
  Porsche, right? And, and I told him I said,
• 30:02
  watch out because if you buy one, I guarantee you, you know,
• 30:09
  Vince Stradamus is going to say, you're going to buy another.
• 30:11
  You know, you're going to buy another.
• 30:12
  You're not just going to buy one.
• 30:13
  He's like, Oh, you're crazy. You know, I barely even would
• 30:15
  buy one and this and that. And, you know, so now he's, he's
• 30:19
  got 2 and he's working on his third and, and, and, and, and,
• 30:22
  but, but getting back to the point, the reason why is because
• 30:25
  they, they just work so well. Those cars are so well
• 30:29
  engineered. They do everything well.
• 30:31
  And, but you don't know it until you spend time with them and
• 30:33
  drive them. You know, before he was like,
• 30:35
  oh, this dude Porsche guys, what the heck is your thing?
• 30:37
  And, you know, then he got to drink a little of the Kool-aid,
• 30:39
  and now he's got a Kool-aid dispenser at his house.
• 30:43
  On the second thought, I'd like to revise my answer.
• 30:46
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 30:47
  It's a sweet, sweet nectar, Vince, as you know it is.
• 30:49
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Irresistible to everybody here,
• 30:53
  yeah. They're they're, but they're
• 30:55
  pricey for a reason, You know, I mean, I've always done well with
• 30:59
  Porsche. I know exactly what I can buy it
• 31:02
  for. I know exactly what I can sell
• 31:03
  it for. I know how long it'll take to
• 31:05
  sell the car if I want to sell it.
• 31:08
  And you know, what I say is that especially if you're into
• 31:12
  Italian sports cars, you're in for a little bit of hand
• 31:20
  wringing and headaches. It's just the nature of them,
• 31:22
  especially if they're older cars because they're finicky.
• 31:26
  They're they're beautiful, wonderful cars, but they're
• 31:28
  also, you know, a little bit of a pain in the neck sometimes.
• 31:31
  And so, you know, most people I know who have them, they always
• 31:35
  have a Porsche tucked in the back of the garage somewhere
• 31:38
  just in case. That's right.
• 31:39
  Because that's the car, that's all.
• 31:41
  It's just like the, the, it's like the golden retriever.
• 31:45
  No matter what time of the day it is, no matter what the
• 31:48
  weather is, it's always ready to go and go for a walk and.
• 31:51
  Happy to see. You always happy to go starts
• 31:53
  right away. And yeah, so everyone needs a
• 31:56
  golden retriever. Yeah.
• 31:57
  What do you call the security blanket?
• 31:59
  Porsche? Yeah.
• 32:00
  Yeah, yeah, I yeah. No one's ever compared Porsche
• 32:04
  to a golden retriever, and it's funny because I love it.
• 32:07
  Golden retriever mix too, so I guess I'm not much of A risk
• 32:09
  taker. Yeah.
• 32:10
  Let's read it out on Porsche for a minute if we could.
• 32:12
  What are you into? Like what?
• 32:13
  What do you take out on the weekends?
• 32:14
  What? What's your good?
• 32:16
  I started with 356 is, you know, I, I think they're just a
• 32:19
  classic car. I, I think they're, they're,
• 32:21
  they're wonderful for what they are.
• 32:23
  I, I'm a big proponent of it's more fun to go fast in a slow
• 32:28
  car than slow in a fast car. Yeah, so you know that the first
• 32:33
  Porsches I owned were 356's. I really love the the 56A coupe
• 32:38
  because I love the beehive lights and it's kind of the most
• 32:41
  upgraded 1 you can have with still having the beehives.
• 32:44
  Speedsters I'm a big fan of I've owned a few of them and then
• 32:49
  getting into newer ones. So for 9 elevens I'm a huge fan
• 32:53
  of the 74 to 76 euro Carreras. OK, the the MFI engine.
• 33:00
  Yeah, yeah. I've owned about 10 of those.
• 33:03
  So what do you love about those? Basically, I well, it's a 73 Rs.
• 33:07
  It's the same car that's. Right.
• 33:09
  It's got the exact same engine, it's got the exact same trans,
• 33:13
  the exact same suspension, it's got the upgraded G body, which
• 33:17
  is a little stiffer, and the interior is a little bit more
• 33:21
  plush. No Chrome bumpers, exact same
• 33:24
  weight, and it's about half the price and they go, it's
• 33:27
  basically a race car rated to go right out-of-the-box.
• 33:29
  You know they come in awesome colors.
• 33:31
  You know all the colors of the rainbow.
• 33:33
  So good. And and so you could do we go up
• 33:36
  to Napa with them, You know, we drive in the rain.
• 33:41
  There's just wonderful cars. They they do everything well.
• 33:43
  So that's those those cars I really like.
• 33:46
  That is the answer of someone who knows.
• 33:49
  Yeah. Exactly.
• 33:51
  Great. Cars, Yeah, yeah.
• 33:53
  Should we bring this back to the Concord?
• 33:56
  Because what's that? Yeah.
• 33:58
  What are? We getting well so you.
• 34:00
  Mentioned a work. Oh, it's a little work, OK.
• 34:03
  It's a little event in August. You'd love it.
• 34:05
  You should check it out when you have time.
• 34:06
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
• 34:08
  You mentioned. That's just been a few days,
• 34:10
  right? It can't be here.
• 34:11
  I need to go get to work. What am I doing here with you
• 34:13
  guys? Huh?
• 34:13
  How does it? Sneak up like it does every
• 34:15
  year. I can't imagine how it sneaks up
• 34:16
  for you, but it's even for the rest of us, it just seems.
• 34:19
  Like it does. You know, The funny thing about
• 34:21
  car week is that every single year, my friends and I, we look
• 34:24
  forward to it and we're excited about it.
• 34:26
  And you know, we've been doing it for years.
• 34:27
  But then once like Thursday rolls around and you're in car
• 34:31
  week, we start saying, uh oh, you know, Monday's coming, you
• 34:35
  know, depressing Monday and you're like, oh God, you're a
• 34:38
  little hungover and like, oh God, we've just got that post
• 34:41
  car week depression. And yes, but you know, with the
• 34:44
  new position here, I, I was telling him, I said, maybe I
• 34:46
  won't have that. Maybe I'm really going to be
• 34:48
  happy on Monday that it's all over and I can relax a little, a
• 34:51
  little bit. We'll see.
• 34:52
  Yeah, it'll be a different meeting for you.
• 34:54
  Yeah, Yeah. It is the most wonderful time of
• 34:56
  the year. So it's hard to come down from
• 34:59
  from that, you know. So what are we, what are we
• 35:01
  excited for this year? What?
• 35:03
  What are we going to see? You said, you mentioned Mura,
• 35:06
  and I know that, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 35:08
  So it's the 75th anniversary, so we have a lot of big, great
• 35:12
  classes. We've got the Pebble Beach race
• 35:16
  car class, which is cars that actually raced in the races in
• 35:20
  the in the 50s when they still raced at Pebble Beach.
• 35:24
  We've got the Veniali classes, both non Ferrari and Ferrari.
• 35:29
  We've got pre war Streamliners which is an awesome, amazing
• 35:34
  class. I mean, that class has some
• 35:36
  really, really good cars. If you can go to the show and
• 35:40
  just see the streamliners, yeah, then you'll have seen something
• 35:44
  more tremendous than in, you know, 50 shows you can go to.
• 35:48
  So can you. For people that aren't familiar
• 35:50
  with that class, can you tell like quickly a little bit of
• 35:54
  what would be in that class, like what type of car?
• 35:56
  Characteristic yeah yeah yeah some, you know, some of the you
• 36:00
  know, the French cars that were built, you know, pre war, you
• 36:03
  know, 30s that are kind of what like a shooting break style, if
• 36:08
  you will yeah the you know the long swooping form with the and
• 36:13
  they're you're just gonna have to see it when you get here.
• 36:15
  Yeah. And, and then also so for the
• 36:19
  first time this year, we're actually if you've been to
• 36:22
  Pebble before, usually the first fairway is the Ferrari fairway,
• 36:26
  right. And Ferraris got their big
• 36:28
  display there, their activation with all kinds of cars and it's
• 36:32
  a great event. Well, for this this year for the
• 36:35
  first time, we've actually given the 3rd fairway out.
• 36:39
  So the entire third fairways going to be filled with
• 36:42
  Lamborghinis this year to commemorate the 60th anniversary
• 36:46
  of the Mira. So we've got a bunch of cars
• 36:50
  already signed up. We're going to try and get to
• 36:52
  the 60 count. Not sure if it's going to get
• 36:55
  there, but it's going to be well above the prior world record,
• 36:58
  which was 2027 Muras. That was that at, you know, an
• 37:04
  event back I think in 2016, OK. So that's gonna be fantastic.
• 37:08
  It'll be surreal. It'll be surreal.
• 37:09
  A lot of a lot of great stuff this year, yeah.
• 37:13
  Are you pinching yourself? I mean, you know someone who
• 37:15
  grew up. You know the Pebble.
• 37:17
  You know Pebble was always on this pedal stall, right?
• 37:20
  Yeah. Trip over my words there.
• 37:21
  But I mean, and now here you are in charge.
• 37:24
  There's a guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:26
  I never really imagined myself being here.
• 37:29
  And it's nothing, not something I chased.
• 37:32
  And, you know, initially it's something that I really didn't
• 37:34
  want because I, I transitioned out of the law.
• 37:37
  Practice. And, you know, I opened a shop
• 37:39
  and we were restoring cars, specializing in Italian sports
• 37:42
  cars, and I was having a great time doing it.
• 37:46
  And I just happened to meet some people with the Pebble Beach
• 37:49
  company, some executives and, and some people with the
• 37:51
  concourse. And they kept coming around the
• 37:53
  shop saying, look, we're looking at someone, you know, to kind of
• 37:56
  carry on the tradition and, and, and to take over.
• 37:59
  And, you know, we think that, you know, it's hard to find
• 38:02
  someone that the event is so big and they got the sponsor, you
• 38:06
  got the manufacturers, you got the, the, the car show, you got
• 38:09
  the judging, you got, you know, the technical aspects of the
• 38:11
  show that, you know, you really need someone who's a business
• 38:17
  person and also a car person, right, right.
• 38:19
  It's easy to find a business person.
• 38:21
  And there's a lot about business and how to run one, but doesn't
• 38:24
  know anything about cars. It's easy to find a car person
• 38:28
  that knows a lot about cars and, you know, certain areas of, of,
• 38:31
  of the industry, but doesn't know much about running a
• 38:33
  business. And it's hard to find someone
• 38:36
  with a crossover. And that's what they really
• 38:38
  wanted. So for some reason, you know, by
• 38:41
  some crazy happenstance, I, I happened to, you know, for the
• 38:45
  first time in my life, I, you know, my, my credentials kind of
• 38:48
  fell right, right, exactly where they're supposed to be.
• 38:50
  And, and, and I said, well, I'm just not, I'm not, I said, look,
• 38:55
  I'm not just a concourse person. I like to go to the concourse.
• 38:59
  I like to see the cars, but I really like to use them.
• 39:01
  I like to drive them. I like to restore them.
• 39:04
  I can do paint work, I can do metal work, I can do mechanic
• 39:07
  work. And, and that's what I enjoy
• 39:10
  doing. And they said, look, we want
• 39:12
  someone who's really familiar with all aspects of the, of the
• 39:15
  industry and, and, and the people in the industry and, and
• 39:19
  yeah, so, so I eventually my wife said, what do you, what are
• 39:22
  you stupid? Go take the meeting, go talk to
• 39:25
  him. You know, you go to these guys
• 39:26
  anyways. You know, a lot of the people.
• 39:28
  Yeah. Why, why are you so reluctant?
• 39:30
  And I said, well, right, when you put it that way, you know,
• 39:33
  it makes me feel like an idiot. But yeah, she sounds like a wise
• 39:37
  woman marrying someone smarter than I am, you know.
• 39:41
  And so I took the meeting and, and, and turned out that, you
• 39:44
  know, our our thoughts on the event and, and where it's going
• 39:47
  and the future of the event and the car, you know, the hobby,
• 39:51
  they aligned. We had a lot of the same ideas.
• 39:54
  And you know, what really got me was when I learned how much the
• 39:57
  concourse does for. For charity, it's our, it's our
• 40:03
  biggest charitable fundraising arm for the Pebble Beach Company
• 40:07
  and Pebble Beach Company Foundation.
• 40:09
  And we raise, you know, millions of dollars every year that goes
• 40:13
  to, to, to the core, core, core funding is for children and
• 40:18
  education for kids all throughout Monterey County,
• 40:21
  which is a huge county. And, you know, when I
• 40:24
  transitioned out of law practice, I wanted to kind of
• 40:26
  lean into something where I'm, I'm giving back.
• 40:29
  You know, I've been fortunate in my, my life and career, many,
• 40:33
  many, many for many different reasons.
• 40:36
  And I really wanted to give back.
• 40:37
  And when I learned that I can have fun with cars, I can still
• 40:41
  run a business and I can, I could be giving back to the
• 40:45
  community, the car community and, and, and to those less
• 40:48
  fortunate is it was just a win, win, win.
• 40:50
  You know, why? Why wouldn't I do it?
• 40:52
  So those are the reasons why I'm pinching myself.
• 40:55
  Yeah. But you know, as with any job, I
• 40:59
  mean, there's, there's, there's headwinds that we have to deal
• 41:02
  with. There's things that give you
• 41:04
  headaches. So anyone that says it's a dream
• 41:07
  job and it's just the most wonderful thing in the world,
• 41:09
  they just haven't really looked deep enough into it.
• 41:12
  And and and and see that the reality of the position, because
• 41:15
  it's not all fun and games, but it is something that I do and I
• 41:19
  I like a challenge, I like working and so it's something I
• 41:23
  do enjoy. You seem like the perfect
• 41:25
  candidate. And I guess my question for you
• 41:27
  would be, say, you know, 25 years from now, right?
• 41:30
  100th running of of the Pebble Beach Concord telegonts.
• 41:35
  How would you like people to look back at your time at the
• 41:37
  helm? What do you want them to say?
• 41:40
  I, I think I'd like them to say, you know, whatever they feel,
• 41:44
  but you know, hopefully that I was.
• 41:46
  Just be honest, right? I was, I was a good, I was a
• 41:49
  good team player and team builder.
• 41:51
  And that that I that I was really able to put together a
• 41:54
  strong team that was able to, you know, carry this, this thing
• 42:01
  called Pebble into the new generation to attract young
• 42:04
  collectors and to grow the hobby.
• 42:07
  And also respected the lineage and the history of the event and
• 42:12
  also all of the wonderful cars that are part of the event and
• 42:16
  didn't neglect any area of the industry or any area of, of
• 42:21
  collectors. You know, a lot of collectors
• 42:23
  were wondering, well, what are you, what are you going to
• 42:25
  change? And you know, that's the first
• 42:27
  question I get asked by everyone, you know, because
• 42:29
  everyone has their own interests, you know, and, and,
• 42:32
  and they don't, they don't want what they know and love to, to,
• 42:35
  to change. And so my first answer is, you
• 42:37
  know, not much. It's, it's, it's a great event.
• 42:40
  It's a pinnacle event. Anyone that gets in there and
• 42:42
  says they want to make these huge sweeping changes is not the
• 42:45
  right person, right? But that being said, it is a
• 42:48
  living, breathing event. It needs to change and it has
• 42:53
  been changing for decades in order to stay relevant and fresh
• 42:57
  and new and to remain something people want to go to year after
• 43:01
  year and not just see the same thing over and over again.
• 43:04
  Yeah, that's. True.
• 43:05
  What has been the most like unexpected or surprising part
• 43:09
  for you given like you've attended it, you know you have a
• 43:12
  lot of history with the event, but now you're on the other side
• 43:15
  of it What's been the most surprising or unexpected thing
• 43:17
  about putting it together for you Let.
• 43:23
  Me see, most surprising is really, I mean, I guess the the
• 43:27
  amount of passion that everyone really has for the event.
• 43:33
  You know, I think, I think, I think what, what kind of sets
• 43:37
  Pebble apart from a lot of other events is that you, you've got
• 43:40
  some really die hard Pebble Beach Concord fans all
• 43:46
  throughout the world. You know, whereas before I
• 43:48
  thought that, you know, you know, there's, there's, there's
• 43:51
  people who kind of, you know, think that maybe it's a little
• 43:53
  bit too high society, if you will, or, and, and, and it's not
• 43:59
  really the case at all. It's a very, very inclusive
• 44:03
  event. And, and the one that have
• 44:05
  people have a lot of passion for and, and people want to help.
• 44:08
  I mean, I've gotten calls from people all over the collector
• 44:13
  car community, whether it's, you know, brokers and dealers and
• 44:20
  people run museums and manufacturers and people in this
• 44:25
  special equipment territory. They, they, they, they all love
• 44:29
  the event and they all want to help, help it to, to, to, to
• 44:32
  elevate it and, and to help it to continue.
• 44:35
  So that's something that really surprised me.
• 44:37
  I thought it was going to be more of a niche thing that was
• 44:40
  just for like the hardcore Concord people.
• 44:42
  And then, you know, the rest is just like, oh, well, it's just
• 44:44
  another event. But that's right.
• 44:46
  It's really not turned out to be that, which is great.
• 44:49
  That's a pretty fantastic surprise, yeah.
• 44:51
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's funny, Lindsay, you
• 44:54
  grew up going. I didn't get around till till a
• 44:57
  couple of years ago. And I think one of the reasons
• 44:59
  was, yeah, I thought maybe it was a little too highbrow for
• 45:01
  me. First year I went, I was very
• 45:03
  worried about what Sport coat I was going to wear, you know,
• 45:06
  Then I get there. That's the impression into
• 45:07
  Friends like it was. Easy.
• 45:10
  Yeah, that's the impression. That's the impression.
• 45:11
  But, but, but you get there. Yeah.
• 45:13
  There's that element where, you know, a lot of people dress up
• 45:16
  and. But.
• 45:16
  But I think that's one of the beauties of the event.
• 45:19
  You know, it's good to get dressed up at least once a year
• 45:22
  and, you know, kind of walk around and have a, you know,
• 45:24
  glass of champagne and go talk about cars.
• 45:27
  But the best part of the show is that you see all your car people
• 45:31
  friends there. And if you've been around the
• 45:33
  car community for a long time, everyone comes from all around
• 45:36
  the world and you see everyone there.
• 45:38
  So it's just, it's, it's a great, it's, it's like our, you
• 45:41
  know, I say it's like our, like our Christmas, if you will.
• 45:44
  Yeah, doesn't say that. Or like homecoming or.
• 45:48
  Yes. It's not just about the
• 45:49
  presence, it's about, you know, spending time with your family
• 45:51
  and friends. Yeah, no.
• 45:54
  The people, not just friends, that's just the people you know,
• 45:56
  but the people you've only ever seen in magazines, right?
• 45:58
  Or on television. And, and people are generally
• 46:01
  pretty accessible too, if you, if you go about it the right
• 46:03
  way, right? It's a very easy, welcoming
• 46:06
  environment. And I'm so glad you, you touched
• 46:08
  on that because I, I don't think enough people know that.
• 46:11
  And it's. Yeah.
• 46:13
  I know. I mean I save.
• 46:13
  Space, for lack of a better term.
• 46:15
  Yeah. Well, it's it's like if you try
• 46:17
  to put the experience, the actual experience of being there
• 46:21
  for the event, being at the event, if you try to put that
• 46:23
  into words, there's something intangible about it.
• 46:26
  It is so wonderful. You only feel that at the Pebble
• 46:29
  Beach Concorde. And I think that's part of why
• 46:32
  we're like, like you said, Monday morning, you're just
• 46:35
  like, well, wait, that's it. We got to wait a whole nother
• 46:36
  year. Yeah, yeah.
• 46:38
  So is that something that you talk about?
• 46:40
  Like how do we create this feeling and preserve that for
• 46:44
  the attendees? Because it's magical.
• 46:48
  It's, it's just part of the magic of Pebble and, you know,
• 46:51
  living here, I, I get to experience that, you know, a lot
• 46:55
  more than than some people do. And, and, and I don't take it
• 46:58
  for granted. It's just, it's a wonderful
• 47:02
  piece of geography. It really there is something
• 47:05
  very. There, yeah.
• 47:07
  And the lodge, it's, it's, it's a magical place.
• 47:09
  So, you know, you combine with, you know, you can put your
• 47:13
  favorite cars in the world there and, and, and walk there and see
• 47:16
  the water and smell it and, and it's just, you know, it's, it's,
• 47:19
  it's really a lot of people's happy place.
• 47:21
  Yeah, Yeah. So.
• 47:22
  Definitely one of mine. Huge.
• 47:25
  It's a huge differentiator from from a lot of other events.
• 47:28
  You know you can. You can have the same cars
• 47:31
  potentially, but you can't have the same location.
• 47:34
  No, yeah, no, it's it's just magical talk about gravity.
• 47:37
  That said, if it is your first year, this year, what do you
• 47:40
  recommend for a first timer? What should they know?
• 47:42
  Where do they start? What?
• 47:44
  What's your advice to a first timer?
• 47:47
  1st timer, you know, I would say get, get a catalog, you know,
• 47:52
  like sports car market has a really good catalog they put out
• 47:55
  that, that shows all the different events going on.
• 47:58
  There's so many events that you can't attend everything.
• 48:01
  A lot of the events overlap with one another and you just got to
• 48:04
  look through it and you got to plan out your time because a lot
• 48:08
  of people come into town. I think 100,000 people for the,
• 48:12
  the, the, the week. And so traffic becomes an issue.
• 48:15
  Yeah, yeah. And getting from one event to
• 48:17
  another becomes an issue. And if you try to do too much,
• 48:20
  yeah, you end up spending your time in traffic.
• 48:23
  And so you'll rush through the one event, right, which is not
• 48:27
  fun. And then you'll be in traffic,
• 48:31
  which is not fun. And then you'll rush through the
• 48:33
  next event, which is not fun. So you should really be
• 48:36
  selective and only go to a few events and leave yourself enough
• 48:40
  time to get from one to another so you can spend your time there
• 48:43
  and really enjoy yourself. And another thing is just put
• 48:47
  down the phone. I, I, I tell everyone, put down
• 48:50
  the phone. There's going to be so many
• 48:51
  photos of these cars and the location and everything all over
• 48:56
  social media and the Internet. You don't need to, you know, to
• 48:58
  take photos of the, the, the GTO that you know, everyone's
• 49:02
  photographing. You know, obviously take some
• 49:04
  photos with your friends and your family or whatever, but put
• 49:07
  the phone away because that's when you can actually soak it
• 49:10
  all in and you can talk with some of the people that are
• 49:13
  there. You know, these, you know,
• 49:15
  these, these, these these captains of industry, these,
• 49:17
  these, these, you know, Carpi race car drivers and, and all
• 49:21
  kinds of people in the car industry.
• 49:23
  And most of them are there to have fun as well.
• 49:25
  Yeah. And they're if they're friendly
• 49:26
  and they'll talk to you. And that's kind of one of the,
• 49:29
  the beauties of, of, of car week that you don't get other places,
• 49:33
  you know? Yeah, right.
• 49:34
  Yeah, Yeah. No, that's that's great advice,
• 49:36
  right. I mean, and all those other
• 49:37
  pictures are going to be better than yours anyways.
• 49:39
  Yeah, it's one thing I learned. Right, I know.
• 49:41
  Well, and it's yeah, it's a good point of if you if you pay
• 49:44
  attention, because a couple years ago I was coming out of a
• 49:47
  luncheon at the lodge and Jackie ICS was coming down the sidewalk
• 49:51
  and I went no time like the present.
• 49:53
  So I said hi to him. Yeah.
• 49:55
  And he was like, he was so lovely.
• 49:58
  Took the time to say hi to us. I was friend with I was with my
• 50:00
  friend Alana share and we both got to say hi to him and take a
• 50:02
  picture and he walked away and we went like only during car
• 50:06
  week like this is. Yeah, it's just amazing.
• 50:09
  And. Another thing is like, if
• 50:11
  you're, you know, because I just, you know, people are on
• 50:14
  their phones a lot. I, I'm seeing it more and more,
• 50:17
  especially at big sporting events and things.
• 50:19
  And if you don't have your phone out and you're just looking
• 50:23
  around and you, you, you get to be the one that experiences a
• 50:26
  lot more than they do because you know, you get to see them,
• 50:29
  you're there. You really get to, you really
• 50:31
  get to take in the event. And it's kind of like a hack.
• 50:34
  It's a cheat code for the event. Vince's wife hack.
• 50:38
  Put your phone down it. Really is, you know, you put the
• 50:40
  phone away. It's a little weird for a little
• 50:42
  bit, but then you kind of get to, you know, loosen up and it
• 50:46
  makes it a much more pleasant experience.
• 50:48
  It's very, it's very analog. It's like going back to all of
• 50:51
  our childhoods. Right.
• 50:53
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's such a special event, such
• 50:57
  a special day. You know, our friend Johnny
• 50:59
  Lieberman was on too, and he had some very similar advice.
• 51:02
  He said pick one thing each day and then just go have dinner
• 51:06
  with good friends and you're going to have the the best time.
• 51:08
  So that and put your phone away, I think.
• 51:10
  I think that's the the road map for success during car Week for
• 51:14
  for sure. Yeah, what did he say?
• 51:16
  Pick decide that your philosophy is Jomo with the joy of missing
• 51:19
  out and then being determined to miss out, aren't they?
• 51:21
  Yeah. That's, that's right, because
• 51:23
  it's going to happen. You're just, I feel like each
• 51:25
  year it's just more right. Each year's just more.
• 51:27
  But if you're going to do one thing, you know, and you can,
• 51:30
  you can swing it, make sure that it's it's Pebble because it is
• 51:32
  it is the one. It is the.
• 51:34
  One, yeah. So, well, it's the one, it's the
• 51:35
  one event that, you know, the other events kind of all shut
• 51:39
  down and, and, and everyone comes here, you know, and it's,
• 51:44
  you know, it's an event where you you see things on Sunday
• 51:46
  that you don't see beforehand. You know, you can go to the tour
• 51:49
  and watch some of the cars go and drive, You know, you can go
• 51:53
  to Concourse Village and see some of the stuff.
• 51:55
  But if you really, really want to see the event in the show and
• 51:58
  what the magic is all about, you got to come on Sunday, which is
• 52:01
  what it is. Absolutely.
• 52:03
  I'd like to bring it home just for a second because I'm very
• 52:06
  lucky to be a part of the Colorado Grand.
• 52:09
  And it's another opportunity to see a lot of these cars that,
• 52:12
  you know, these sports and racing cars at least that you
• 52:13
  see, you know, on the lawn in in motion.
• 52:17
  Have you ever thought about doing the Grand?
• 52:19
  I know that a couple of your predecessors have done it over
• 52:22
  the years. Yeah, yeah, I have.
• 52:25
  So I did the California Melee this year at a great time.
• 52:29
  Yeah, it was a very good event. And so I'm planning to do
• 52:32
  probably 1 driving tour every year.
• 52:36
  Next year I'm looking at doing either the Colorado Grand or the
• 52:40
  Millimelia. I know it's the 100th year.
• 52:43
  It's the 100th anniversary of the Millimelia, which is a huge
• 52:47
  deal. So I think, you know, the cars
• 52:49
  are probably going to tip in favor of the millimelia.
• 52:51
  Sure. Yeah.
• 52:52
  It's that Natalian, by the way, the 100th year of the
• 52:55
  millimelia. The Millimelia.
• 52:58
  Yeah, it's Chantani. Okay.
• 53:03
  Yeah, 100 years, but that's. Going to be a huge.
• 53:08
  Event and I've got a car that actually raced in the middle
• 53:11
  million 1954 that I'd like to bring over.
• 53:14
  So what does that be? It's a 54 Ferrari Mondial 500
• 53:19
  Mondial race, the race there, and it's done.
• 53:23
  I think it's done the millimillion like 16 * 15 times,
• 53:27
  yeah. It could pretty much do it
• 53:28
  without you. It's like if you want to sit and
• 53:30
  have lunch, I can go on ahead. Yeah.
• 53:32
  Yeah, it's traveled a lot more than than a lot of people have
• 53:36
  in their lives. But I've never done that event.
• 53:39
  I hear it's really a it's one you'd really have to do.
• 53:42
  So I'll do that one and maybe the grand the year afterwards.
• 53:46
  Yeah, yeah. I feel like that's a no brainer.
• 53:48
  Yeah, yeah. Come to Colorado, yeah.
• 53:51
  Yeah, that's awesome. So what is your like what up to
• 53:54
  this point because you've had a lot of car and driving related
• 53:57
  experiences like what is the best like drive you've been on
• 54:02
  or like favorite car related experience of your life so far?
• 54:08
  Best drive I, I get to do it all the time.
• 54:11
  I, I live in Carmel Highlands, which is if you drive South from
• 54:14
  Carmel towards Big Sur, it's the area where the Cliff cliffs
• 54:18
  start. And, and so I live at the very
• 54:21
  end of the houses there. So when, when I leave from my
• 54:24
  house, I make a left on PCH and there's no houses.
• 54:28
  It's just, you know, because I live in like the last part of
• 54:31
  civilization, if you will. So if I make a left on PCH and I
• 54:35
  and I and I floor it, then it's just me and, and the road and,
• 54:42
  you know, trees and, and the landscape and the ocean.
• 54:45
  And I can go all the way down to Big Sur or I can keep going and
• 54:48
  go all the way down to Cambria for hours.
• 54:50
  And if I go early enough, I don't have to see anyone else on
• 54:53
  the road. So, you know, that's, that's,
• 54:56
  that's my number one drive. I've driven all over the world
• 54:59
  and, and that's, that's always going to be my number one drive.
• 55:03
  We, you know, my buddies and I almost every single weekend, you
• 55:07
  know, we get up really early and we drive down South to Big Sur
• 55:10
  and we'll have breakfast and we'll be back home by 9:00 AM.
• 55:14
  That's amazing to kind of start our day.
• 55:16
  But yeah, that's that's my number one drive.
• 55:19
  That's a pretty great. Living the dream.
• 55:22
  Yeah, it's not bad. No, I know there's a lot of hard
• 55:24
  work that went behind, you know, getting here, but yeah, yeah,
• 55:27
  yeah. So have you been to, I'm
• 55:30
  assuming you've been to the Nepentha?
• 55:33
  Yeah, restaurant. Absolutely.
• 55:34
  Yeah. It's, it's like right on the
• 55:37
  Cliff in Big Sur. So if you, for our listeners, if
• 55:41
  you haven't been, you have to go once.
• 55:44
  Yeah, that's a good one. But, you know, it's so that's
• 55:47
  one that we can go to when it's not tourist season or something
• 55:53
  and we can go for a drive a little bit later and there's not
• 55:55
  too much traffic on the road if it's summer, you know, because I
• 56:00
  don't think the restaurant there opens till like maybe 11 or
• 56:02
  something. So, you know, if you're going,
• 56:05
  yeah, you can't drive down South in a sports car at, you know,
• 56:09
  10/30/11, there's me a lot of cars on the road and it's just
• 56:12
  you don't have the same fun experience.
• 56:14
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 56:16
  I've only seen pictures of that place, though.
• 56:18
  It looks like one of the most amazing locations of any
• 56:20
  restaurant in the. World, yeah, there's just
• 56:22
  incredible restaurants like that.
• 56:24
  I think, Sir, that you know, I think nepent they what is that?
• 56:29
  What was it built in like the the 40s or 30s or something?
• 56:32
  It's a. Really old building.
• 56:34
  Yeah, it was like an artist, artist vlog.
• 56:37
  You know, they had restaurant there, but it's, it's a, it's a
• 56:40
  wonderful place. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 56:43
  Well, Vince, I, I know we're at close to an hour and we're so
• 56:47
  fortunate to have the chance to talk with you.
• 56:49
  I and I think that Pebble is so fortunate to have you at the
• 56:53
  helm. I I you just seem like the
• 56:54
  perfect guy, this role. We'll find out.
• 56:57
  Truly. Yeah.
• 56:59
  Oh, I have a feeling this is going to be the best 1 yet.
• 57:01
  So yeah. Come back in September.
• 57:05
  That's, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 57:08
  Hopefully we'll cross paths, say that again.
• 57:11
  Hopefully we'll cross paths with you at some point during this
• 57:13
  year's event. I know you'll be so so busy, but
• 57:15
  can't just. Slap me on the back of the head
• 57:17
  and, and introduce yourself. And I, you know, I'd love to see
• 57:21
  you guys. I'm sure I'm going to be, I'm
• 57:22
  going to be very busy, but definitely not too busy to talk
• 57:24
  with you guys. Yeah, yeah.
• 57:26
  We would love to say hi in person.
• 57:27
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I know Jackie IX, but.
• 57:31
  I still want a picture with you. Yeah.
• 57:33
  Yeah. Well, that's a great.
• 57:36
  Story for this year, right? I'll be like, and that's right,
• 57:39
  I got to meet Vince and ALDI in person.
• 57:41
  That's right. That's right.
• 57:42
  That's right. Well, long silence afterwards.
• 57:48
  Awkward silence. No, I guess.
• 57:49
  We do that. Yeah.
• 57:51
  Well, all roads lead to Pebble. And this year it's Sunday,
• 57:54
  August 16th again. It is the 75th year.
• 57:58
  And I think it's going to be really, really wonderful.
• 58:01
  So it's going to be off. Vince Fenaldi, president of the
• 58:04
  Pebble Beach Concorde Elegance. I think you just brought us up a
• 58:07
  notch. So thank you.
• 58:08
  This has been fun. Been a real pleasure.
• 58:11
  Can't wait. For this year to me guys and.
• 58:14
  Are you? Thanks so much.
• 58:16
  Are you on social media? Like if our audience wants to
• 58:19
  follow along, is there a place they can find you?
• 58:22
  You know, I, I still have the restoration shop.
• 58:24
  It's Finaldi Inc and it's Finaldi dot Inc on Instagram and
• 58:28
  my, my Instagram handles really difficult.
• 58:30
  It's Vince Venaldi, so pretty, pretty easy to get a hold of.
• 58:34
  Yeah. He's made a.
• 58:35
  Real challenge, of course. Yeah, Yep.
• 58:37
  And Pebble Beach. So you want to find out about
• 58:41
  the event or you want to find tickets, you go to
• 58:44
  www.pebblebeachconcourse.net. Perfect.
• 58:49
  Awesome, awesome. And we will see you in.
• 58:51
  Office, thank you so much. I know.
• 58:53
  Appreciate it. All right on that car show and
• 58:56
  Lindsay? Yeah, thank you so much Vince.
• 58:58
  We loved having you and look forward to meeting you in
• 59:00
  person. Thank you to our audience.
• 59:02
  We appreciate you all being here, listening, sharing with
• 59:05
  your enthusiast friends. And of course, we always
• 59:08
  appreciate you liking subscribing and leaving a five
• 59:10
  star review. Remember, always be driving.
• 59:13
  We're that car show and we'll see you next week.