Carmel, California

 This year, we decided to spend time before Concours d'Elegance in Carmel, so we wandered the city Friday night and all day Saturday.

One of the first things we ran across was this beast.  It was drawing quite a crowd.

 I took a few photos with my cell phone and moved on without figuring out what it was.

 But actually the first noteworthy thing we saw was this Fisker Karma getting juiced up in the parking lot where we parked.  Niiice.

 Great, unusual color on this Ferrari.

 This road always seems to filled with exotics during auto week in Carmel.  They must reserve the spots or something.

 Great color on this Lambo.

 A Lambo with a car seat.  This exact car was here last year - with the same car seat.  Is the kid still old enough to use that, or is it a prop for attention?

 We had dinner and visited a wine bar.  We found this particular wine particularly noteworthy.

 We returned to Carmel on Saturday to explore the shops in the city (they were closed Friday evening).   We found they mostly consisted of art stores and jewelry stores.

 Some of the art stores had auto oriented displays for car week.

 Many of the shops had interesting names.

 We were all set to buy a couple of these for Troy and Teo, but all we could find in the store was pink so we passed.

 There were also a few bakeries in Carmel.  One thing that was missing: an ice cream or yogurt shop!  Note to business owners:  the next thing you should open is an ice cream/yogurt place.

 Some lads having fun in a guitar store.

 An early BMW.

 The new Lincoln MKZ.  Looks good in blue...

 ...and they had one of its ancestors parked right in front in the same color.

 A lil Citroen.

 There must have been 4 or 5 Ferraris on every block.  I took photos of a few of my favorite.

 Here's one in a hotel parking lot.  Where else can you go to find Ferraris parked everywhere overnight?

 Somebody tucked their Lambo in for a long night's sleep.

 Beautiful color.

 We stopped for lunch at an Italian place.  Good food.

 There were Tesla salesmen on one corner.  They had obviously reserved a small section of curb.

 We wandered about a bit and then left town for a few hours, planning to return in the evening.  And when we did...

 ...we spotted this even before we parked!  A 2014 Maserati Ghibli!  They aren't even on the market yet, so I was shocked to see one on the street.  We quickly parked, grabbed the camera, and ran back to where we saw it.

 Not my favorite color on it, but it certainly has great lines.  And it looks even better in person than in photos.

 What a shark face.

 My beautiful bride waiting as I snap photos.

 Probably the best angle for photos right here.  I had barely noticed that the yellow beast we had viewed the night before was across the street.  But once I was done snapping the Ghibli, I noticed some unusual poses starting up over there...

 Yeow!

 I kept snapping.

Once we returned to SoCal, I did some research and discovered this vehicle is a 1919 LaFrance Fire Truck (pumper) that someone found rotting in a field.  The modified everything from the seats rearward to create this racy beast which has been christened "La Bestioni".  I even found a Jay Leno video of it (see bottom of this post).

 When she saw I was taking photos, she was kind enough to pose for me without being asked.  Very kind woman!

 Back to the Ferraris...

 The new flat paints are the talk of car guys this year.  Most of us older dudes hate it.

 Another Fisker Karma.

 A lil Alfa that was never officially imported to the US.

 It gets the red carpet treatment!

 Beautiful, beautiful red.

 The new Jaguar F Type looking very debonair in black.

 A Maserati...but wait, what's behind it?

 A Duesenberg perhaps?

 Great little Ferrari.

 The new 2013 Maserati Quattroporte - whose name means "4 door" in Italian.

 Yawn. Another Ferrari.

 Another F-Type.  Or maybe the same one just parked.

 Ferrari.

 Lambo.

 I like these. Jaguar XF.

 Older Jag....looks so regal.

 Ferrari.

 And three F-Types in a row!

 Number two...

 This Rolls was parked at our hotel in Big Sur the night before.

 Another Tesla sucking up the juice!

 And lest you think there was not much American iron,  there were loads of the new Camaro.  This one I found particularly photoworthy.

 A really nice 55 post.

 This Blazer looked like it just left the factory!  I think this is like a 1972 or so.

 Immaculate in every respect.

 Down to the smallest detail.

 Viper, baby!

 We found a wine tasting room for a before dinner drink.  This is after it had cleared out - it had been busy earlier.  There were some odd activities by customers in there that we can tell you about sometime.  I think it scared the staff some.  Luckily those causing worry left.

 The sun was heading down when we left the wine tasting room.  We saw yet another Ferrari just a few feet away.

 Now why didn't we install a tub like this?  Though you can't see it, there is a seat built in and your feet go into the narrow area.  Hmmm.

 A particularly picturesque hotel in Carmel.

 A Ferrari in front of said hotel.

 A closed shoe shop.  Then we went to dinner.

Exiting the restaurant, this was parked right outside the front door.  Yessirree Bob, this is a car town.  At least for one week in August.