For those who didn’t pop down to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Pre-Reunion (known to the crusties as the “Pre-Historics”), Gordon McCall’s Motorworks Revival hootenanny stands as the kickoff for five days of motorized hedonism in Greater Monterey. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the convergence of the very well heeled at the Monterey Jet Center, and all manner of rolling and flying machinery was crammed into the hangars and onto the asphalt in front of them in celebration of the landmark.
Of note, a murder of E9 BMW coupes lined up along the edge of the display area, including the above 3.0 CSi with the utterly boss and entirely Germanic headlamp wipers. After ogling the BMWs a bit, we wandered past a couple of Koenigseggs and thought, You know, if we had one of those, we’d be king of the town. We’d always have our windows rolled down, ready to throw. You know, we’d be the Egg Man. We swear Adam Yauch’s ghost appeared on the wing of a nearby B-25 Mitchell and shook his spectral finger at us.
Although Ferrari 400i prices have finally started rising, for years you could pluck a cherry early-’80s four-seater from Maranello for around 20 large. We imagine that’s how this Colombo-fired land missile got its start.
Of note to those whose taste trends toward two-wheeled motoring, we ran into Bryan Fuller, who’d brought his wild Shogun CB550 along, fresh from an appearance in Sturgis. He interrupted our conversation to note, “It’s not every day you get see Alain de Cadenet checking out your bike!” Sure enough, Mr. de Cadenet was very interested in the intricately engraved Honda. Wayne Rainey’s ’83 Kawasaki GPz Superbike was also in the house. Gutted and goosed by the great Rob Muzzy, the Kawi carried Rainey to the AMA championship that year.
Toyota rolled in with an assemblage of machines designed to appeal to fans of American muscle, including that zany flip-body Camry from the 2014 SEMA show and Del Worsham’s Funny Car. They seemed perhaps a bit incongruous at an event best known for antiques and exotica, but looked at another way, the deuce highboy parked in front of the hangar, the one with the Ardun overhead-valve heads, is their direct progenitor.
25 years ago, the first Zonda was but a twinkle in Horacio Pagani’s eye, Christian von Koenigsegg was barely out of short pants, and Ferrari was on the verge of wrapping up its first turbo-V-8 era. What might the next quarter-century bring? About the only thing we can be remotely sure of is that NHRA Top Fuelers will still be powered by versions of the venerable Chrysler Hemi.
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