There are the cars, but Car Week is also about the people, the place and the good time had by many.

Dave Faries here, noting that I never had time to get my car detailed before Car Week. So mine was the one dusty eyesore among polished and gleaming vehicles in parking areas from Pebble Beach to Monterey. 

On Thursday of Car Week proper I had lunch with Dan Duffy. He’s from Georgia and owns one of the cars featured in our cover stories—and on the actual cover—in the current edition of the Weekly. It was his first trip to Car Week and he was bubbling over with enthusiasm, not only for the impressive display at shows and on the streets, but also because of the restaurants. Mind you, we’re not talking about Coastal Kitchen or Chez Noir here. Instead, he found Monterey’s Fish House and Sea Harvest in Moss Landing. Our lunch was at Duffy’s Tavern in Monterey.

His car, a custom 1961 Chevrolet Impala called “Dirty Martini,” cost some $1.2 million to build. He hoped for a return of investment of $500,000 at auction. You don’t do this to make money, he told me. It’s for the fun and the people you meet along the way.

In this week’s cover stories, we met some interesting people, all of them excited for their venture to Monterey. Fritz Burkhard from Switzerland drove from the Atlantic to the Pacific in his vintage Bugatti. “You have a big country,” he told me by phone from somewhere in the grasslands of Wyoming. Associate Editor Erik Chalhoub chatted with Bruce Meyer of Los Angeles, owner of the first Shelby Cobra ever presented to someone not named Carroll Shelby as part of a story on the 60th anniversary of the big block version. Cobras were celebrated at several Car Week events, including Concours d’Elegance.

One of the more popular gatherings this year was the original IROC race cars, with some hall of fame drivers behind the wheel, at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Former NASCAR star Mark Martin was among those who had never been to Car Week—or even to Monterey County. In our conversation he used the word “fun” several times in anticipation.

Car Week has its detractors, of course. But pretty much everything does. For those who attend the events, however, fun defines the vibe—that and the people we interact with over those 10 days.

So, as always, I will leave Concours d’Elegance looking forward to next year. Now I need to find time to get the car cleaned.