Behind The Quail’s international honor is a down-to-earth mentality and a lot of work.

Courtney Ferrante couldn’t contain a burst of excitement. It escaped her lips before she could stifle it – a buoyant exclamation of elation, pride and achievement bound in a single, unplanned shriek.

What caused the outcry was an announcement naming the 2021 edition of The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering as the collector car world’s Concours of the Year, an honor that seemed unlikely even after she learned the event had been nominated.

Ferrante serves as director of Peninsula Signature Events at the Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel Valley, the group responsible for organizing The Quail. Signature affairs around the world attract the finest polished automobiles to be judged by the most fastidious experts. The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the Salon Privé, Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and others are long established. Owners of vintage Pierce-Arrows, Duesenbergs and Delahayes vie for awards.

The Quail takes a different approach. Guests are as likely to spot Volkswagen dune buggies or rat rodded 1950s cruisers with Tesla power units as they are Mercedes Gullwings. It’s a car show for lifestyle enthusiasts, presenting the finest in food and wine, debut cars of luxury marques, panel discussions – a garden party with polished steel and gleaming chrome and the latest in engineered composites.

“I’m not calling it a concours,” says Gordon McCall, who started The Quail 18 years ago. “The way we curate cars, it’s very eclectic.”

Yet there it was – that announcement that rippled through the collector car world, the trip by Quail Lodge General Manager Kai Lerman to the Historic Motoring Awards in London to be feted and presented with the trophy, the swell of accolades. It took a bit for everything to sink in.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Ferrante says. “We wanted people to really appreciate what we curated, but we’ve never been a traditional concours.”

It started when McCall – an enthusiast who runs Monterey Motorsports Park and also throws Car Week’s posh kickoff party, McCall’s Motorworks Revival – was working with the Pebble Beach Concours and noticed that some premier automobiles had caretakers. The owners never tinkered with them, likely didn’t know how to operate them on the road.

“Cars should be fun, car events should be fun,” he says. So he began imagining a different kind of venue. “What if everyone was a VIP? What if everybody was a judge?” While the organizers limit the number of tickets available, each one is all-inclusive.

McCall is quick to point out that credit for what The Quail has become – as well as for the international recognition – belongs to Ferrante and her Peninsula Signature Events team.

The experienced hospitality veterans at Quail Lodge bring it definition. Beyond deciding upon cars and categories they assemble five-star dining pavilions, sponsors appropriate for the occasion and the associated minutiae.

Many people would dare to relax in the days after an event of this magnitude. Not so Ferrante and her crew. The Quail runs on a Friday. They meet up on Saturday to debrief and share thoughts that popped into their minds as they walked through the crowds the day before. The event, after all, is still very fresh in their minds.

It’s a spirit shared by the event’s founder. McCall is a “car guy” – a phrase traded in the enthusiast world to mean something between down to earth, knowledgeable, eager to learn and industrious. “What’s fun is thinking about what’s next,” he says. “There’s not much opportunity to take your foot off the gas.”

There was, of course, a pause in 2020. But that’s another advantage of a hospitality background. Sudden changes are part of day to day work.

“You make plans and then you pivot, pivot, pivot,” Ferrante observes. “In the event world we always have to adapt.”

In other words, it took car guy mentality, hospitality know-how and luxurious grounds to earn global acclaim.

“If I’m proud of anything, it’s being a car guy,” McCall says.