The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering made its debut 21 years ago. It’s now one of the preeminent events of Monterey Car Week which takes place in August each year in the vicinity of Monterey, California.
Over the years, The Quail has grown to include hundreds of cars on display as well as motorcycles, and the event is used as a launch platform for new vehicles by many of the most prestigious automakers on earth.
Wandering the manicured lawns of the Quail Lodge & Golf Club you’ll typically see offerings from the likes of Koenigsegg, Gordon Murray Automotive, Pagani, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Porsche, Jaguar, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and some more unusual creations from firms like McMurtry Automotive, Meyers Manx, and Oil Stain Lab.
This year at the event we made our way around the vehicles on display and picked out our favorite ten – these aren’t necessarily the most expensive ten, or the most rare, they’re just the ones that happened to catch our attention on the day.
⤉ 1962 Volvo P1800
This is an earlier Volvo P1800 from 1962, the bodies were initially made by Jensen in England and shipped to Volvo in Sweden for finishing. Later, Volvo would bring the contraction in-house. Unusually, this example has been fitted with a period-correct aftermarket supercharger – significantly boosting power output from the B18 1.8 liter inline four.
⤉ 1951 Baldwin Special
This is the Baldwin Special from 1951, it was built by Willis Baldwin of Santa Barbara, California who built a number of one-off racing cars in the period. This vehicle is based on a shortened 1947 Ford chassis, with a Mercury 99A flathead V8 fitted with Ardun overhead valve heads.
⤉ 1938 Bentley Boattail Speedster
This is “The Black Prince,” it’s a 1938 Bentley Boattail Speedster powered by a 4.25 liter straight-six sending power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission. This car was created as a special by well-known collector Gary Wales with one-of-a-kind coachwork and dozens of unique features.
⤉ 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Michelotti NART Spyder
This is one of only five examples of the 365 GTB/4 NART Spyder created between 1974 and 1981, and this specific car has been kept under wraps for decades, making its formal reentry into the public eye here at The Quail for the first time. It’s based on the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, with new bodywork designed by Italian automotive legend Giovanni Michelotti.
⤉ Meyers Manx – Radial-Engine Powered
This is one of the new breed of Meyers Manx dune buggies that has been fitted with the revolutionary three-cylinder radial aircraft engine that was developed by Australian company Radial Motion. It now offers 300+% more power than the early VW Beetle-powered buggies, and it sounds like nothing else on the road.
⤉ 1989 Ruf CTR – The First Production Yellowbird
This is the first production Ruf CTR Yellowbird ever made – serial number #001. This car was a highly-modified version of the Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 that was lightened and powered by an uprated turbocharged version of the 3.2 flat six. With a top speed of 342 km/h (213 mph) the Yellowbird was the fastest production car in the world at the time of its introduction.
⤉ 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico
Just four examples of the Ferrari 340 Mexico were made, all designed by Giovanni Michelotti and intended to race in the grueling Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico – an event similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio.
⤉ 1953 Siata 208S Vignale Coupé
The 1953 Siata 208S Vignale Coupé was styled by Giovanni Michelotti as a one-off design, it debuted at the 1953 Turin Motor Show showcasing Michelotti’s forward-thinking design language. The car was based on the Siata 208S platform, with power provided by the 2.0 liter Fiat tipo 104 V8 engine.
⤉ 1966 Citroen DS21 Le Leman By Chapron
This is the elegant 1966 Citroen DS21 Le Leman with coachwork by Henri Chapron. Approximately 27 were made in total, and they’re celebrated today as some of the most beautiful French cars of the era. Power is provided by a 2175cc inline-four producing 109 bhp powering the front wheels, and the car rides on independent front and rear hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension.
⤉ 1954 Troutman Barnes Special
This is the 1954 Troutman Barnes Special, a sports racing car designed and built by Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes. Interestingly, the two men would later go on to develop and build the famous Scarabs for Lance Reventlow. The Troutman Barnes Special uses a steel space frame chassis made with two inch tubing and it was initially powered by a Mercury flathead V8 – which was later swapped out for a Ford Thunderbird V8.
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
