Valley Auto and Truck Classic

The 1st Annual Valley Auto and Truck Classic held in Maggie Valley, North Carolina was a complete success! The venue was filled with gorgeous classic vehicles, which travel from neighboring States. The show had the atmosphere of a festival with vendors, music and live classic car auction host by Gore's Corvette World and Motorama.

This 1922 Velie Sport was one of many remarkable vintage cars on display during the three day event. This Velie won a 1st National award in 1983, and was restored by Josey Restorations. The vehicle remains in the Josey family today. This particular Velie was manufactured for the John Deere Family, and had a purchase price of $3,000.

This is a fabulous streetrod! The engine block is cherry red with checkered interior to complement the design of the classic. This has to be one of my favorite streetrods!

Please click on http://www.smokyevents.com/ for more information on classic car events in the Maggie Valley area. Congratulations to the event organizors for having a successful car event!

Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance

I finally made it to the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance on Sunday, August 16th at The famed Lodge. In attendance are 175 of the most prized collector cars in the world displayed on the famed eighteenth fairway at Pebble Beach with thousands of the world's top car enthusiasts and collectors. This celebration of the automobile celebrated its 59th anniversary. I met a man there that has never missed one year since 1950. Now that is a true enthusiasts.

This year The Pebble Beach Concours showcased the Bugatti and Bentley, celebrated 100 years of Audi and Morgan, feature the designs of Zagato and displayed motorcycles for the very first year. As expected it lived up to my expectations of being the most elegant and beautiful concours I have ever seen.

Check out all my pictures from Pebble Beach Concours

The Quail - Motorsports Gathering

I am still so excited that I had the opportunity to attend The Quail Motorsports Gathering this year at The Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley. It is the most prestigious event of the entire weekend, well I think it is. With a limited number of tickets available; to be exact there are 3,000 sold at $400 per ticket. The Quail provides an unequalled lifestyle experience that combines spectacular automobiles with mouth watering displays of gourmet food accompanied with local wine and champagne on a beautiful green lawn. The luxurious and exclusive event should not be missed if you can afford the expensive ticket.are hard to come by. I heard that they sell out within 10 minutes of going on sale.

The 2009 Quail featured displays celebrating the 50th Anniversary of America’s legendary Daytona Speedway; the 30th Anniversary of BMW's Motorsport division featuring the M1; and paid tribute to race car driver Hans Joachim Stuck. Be prepared for a mixture of vintage automobiles and motorcycles that most have never seen. I tried to capture it all with my camera but I just don’t think I did it justice.

3rd Annual Motorama!

While everyone thought rain might be an issue, it actually turned out to be an amazing day! Over 200 cars showed up to support the Indy Hi-Winder's 3rd Annual Motorama car show this past Saturday. The Indy Hi-Winders have been around for a LONG time, and they are very active in the hobby. To find out more information about them and how you can support their events, check out their website: http://indyhiwinders.com.

Hagerty's Youth Judging program was also in full swing at the annual show! Twelve young car enthusiasts travelled around to 7 cars and looked them over with a fine-tooth comb. Whether it's taking a kid to a car show, giving them a ride in a classic, or having them help with a restoration, it's extremely important to get them interested in the hobby. To find out how Hagerty can help your club with getting kids involved, check out their website: www.hagerty.com.


Classic scooters on display!

A shot looking down the show field

This car had some wicked flame-throwers!

And meet Gilligan, he participated in the show all day!

Auction Weekend in Monterey - RM

Auctions are a big deal in Monterey! Gooding, RM, Bonhams & Butterfields, Russo and Steele, and Mecum were in full force this past week. In total for the weekend $118,692,823 sold from 558 cars. This is an average of $212,711 per car. The biggest sale this year was at Mecum's inaugural Monterey auction. A 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe went for $7,250,000. I know it happened but I still can't wrap my head around someone spending that much money on a car. What recession?

I had the opportunity to work and attend the RM Auction from start to finish in Monterey. I was there on Wednesday for the preview until the last auction on Saturday night. RM is a huge player in the collector car auction arena and put on a high energy event. They sold 206 cars for a total of $35.5 million for the week. Check out some of the cars that went across the auction block.

In the Lobby at the Portola Hotel on the first night I arrived to Monterey.

Bugatti Veyron - I love the coloring on this! It looks so much better than the two toned black and blue or red!

My favorite car that went across the block but I don't think it sold, so there is still hope for me to buy it. A 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Boat Tail Skiff.

Part of Nick Alexander's collection of Woodies that sold for almost $7 million

PEBBLE BEACH TOUR D’ELEGANCE

As stated in the Hagerty's Guide to Monterey, one of the best reasons to rise early on Thursday, August 13, 2009 in Monterey is to watch the cars line up for the Tour d’Elegance. This is a great chance to see many of the cars entered for The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in motion.

In true Hagerty fashion our entire team arrived by 6am to serve much needed coffee and donuts to participants and spectators. They sent the cars off in 3 different waves allowing the last car to leave by 9am. They then toured through Pebble Beach on 17-Mile Drive and ended the day for lunch in Carmel.

If you missed it this year, be sure to never miss it again. The festivities start at 7am at Collins Field in Pebble Beach. This was my favorite event of the week. Check out my pictures and videos below.

The Tour - Monterey/Pebble Beach from laura jacobsen on Vimeo.

The Tour - Monterey/Pebble Beach from laura jacobsen on Vimeo.

The Tour - Monterey/Pebble Beach from laura jacobsen on Vimeo.

Old US 27 Tour is the Real Deal!

Everyone getting ready to depart for Waterloo!



The Old US 27 Motor Tour officially kicked off yesterday at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile (ACDA) Museum in Auburn, Indiana. What a great place to start a cruise! The ACDA Museum is in my opinion, one of the finest Museum's in the nation! There were roughly 20 classics present for the start and it only picked up steam as the tour progressed. After touring the museum, the group caravaned by police escort to Waterloo. Now, if you have never had the pleasure of being escorted by police, I strongly suggest you try it sometime. My best suggestion is to do it with a sanctioned cruise, rather than getting arrested or leading the police on a high-speed chase. It was so neat being able to run red lights and watch vehicles pull over and wait for our caravan to pass through. Along the road people were waiving and the vehicles that had to pull over were snapping photos with their cell phones! It's amazing that was for just 20 vehicles, can you imagine what it will be like on the 3rd or 4th day of the tour with 150 or more vehicles?!?

(A video of the tour leaving the ACDA Museum in Auburn, IN)

The first stop of the day was in Waterloo, Indiana, where the town greeted everyone with Goody Bags and water. After a quick presentation, it was off to Angola! In Angola, the tour was greeted by the town with open arms with a news crew and everything! The town was extremely excited to see everyone role in with their classics and then disperse to pour money into the local economy by eating lunch and shopping. That's what's cool about this tour, it helps local towns out by bringing hundreds of people in to boost the economy! I think Craig Parrish, Tour Director, mentioned they were planning on stopping at 12 or 16 towns along the way.


(The presentation in Waterloo, IN)


Next year, I anticipate the tour to explode with collector car enthusiasts! Hopefully, a number of clubs from Indiana can join along in the trip and see how beautiful Michigan is. To get more information about how you can participate next year, check out the Old 27 Tour website: http://www.old27tour.com/

Old US 27 Motor Tour

It may be a little late notice for this year, but check out this website, www.old27tour.com and start planning for next year! Here's a brief write-up on how the tour's starting. This tour will begin in Historic Auburn on Tuesday, August 18th, at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. Enthusiasts will have a chance to tour the museum from 9-11 am, then it's off to Angola, Indiana for a cruise-in from 12-2:30. After that, it's off to Coldwater for the first nightly stop of a week-long tour. This is an extremely well-planned tour and in 2008, cars stretched for over 2 miles! One thing is for sure, there's some beautiful sights to see and this will take you right through them!

Mopar Nationals!!

That title sort of has a catchy ring to it.....you can hear yourself saying it out loud through a bull-horn.. M-O-O-P-A-RR NATIONALS!!!!! It's best when it's shouted out with a long, drawn out sound! The 29th Annual Mopar Nationals at National Trail Raceway just east of Columbus, Ohio took place last weekend. The weather was cooperative, and the crowds were plenty. I apologize for the lack of photos and video, but I spent the majority of my time at the Hagerty booth speaking to enthusiasts about collector car insurance. Next year I will get out and see the grounds as there is tons of cool stuff to see. For information about Mopar Nationals, check out their website: http://www.moparnats.org. One great highlight of the event was the drag racing. Mopar fans could take some time to sit and relax while watching some powerful beasts race down the 1/4 mile all weekend long!

With the weather topping out at 90+ degrees, shorts were the only way to go when spending 12 hours on your feet!

It's a short video clip, but humorous seeing a grown man drive that little go-cart past the booth!

Someone brought a car that you could smash with a sledge hammer. Only cost $1 for 4 or 5 swings!

The NMRA All-Star Nationals and All Ford Event!

The excitement began on Friday, at the zMAX Dragway, where spectators witnessed the extreme power of drag racing! The speeds exceeded 170 mph, and continued with four Jet Cars soaring down the dragway at the same time!

The all Ford event also gave enthusiast plenty to do with vendors throughout the dragway parking lot, food concessions and car show. The burning heat didn't keep diehard enthusiasts from this event.

The car show had great participation during the event! There were a wide verity of classics and new collectable vehicles ranging from a '68 Shelby GT 500 KR, Saleen, Roush Stage 3 and more!

The Mustang Club of America was present to provide support for the NMRA and All Ford Car Show events. Please visit www.mustang.org for detailed information on the 45th Anniversary of

the Ford Mustang!

Congratulations to the event organizers for having a successful event. Please visit www.lowesmotorspeedway.com for more information on future events!

Saturdays in Socal

Wake-up call on Saturday, August 8th 4:30am. Destination Donut Derelicts in Huntington Beach and Early Rodders in La Cañada. My partner in crime and fellow car enthusiast is John Gilbert, Editor of Custom Classic Trucks http://www.customclassictrucks.com/.

Donut Derelicts is a weekly gathering in Huntington Beach. If you sleep in until 7:30am you most likely missed it. This unorganized show has been going on for the last 25 years and has an international following. Check out my early morning pictures. These were all taken around 5:30am, sorry they are so dark.

All lined up in their favorite spots



This is for sale!! I want it. Can you imagine how good the Hagerty logos would look on that?

Early Rodders in La Cañada allows for a later wake-up call since the show is from 7-9am. This is a gathering that has been going on for a few years now. If this is in your neighborhood stop by and check it out. It is in the United Artist parking lot on Verdugo Rd. They pull in a good mix of new and vintage vehicles.

Don't get caught in the handicap for too long. The police came through to make sure each car had a pass.

This is a beautiful Sportsman!

This is the inside of the Mustang above. I have never seen headrests like this....very interesting. I am still not sure how I feel about them.

A Hot Rod Ferrari 360 named Quick Bastard. I think that sums it up.

Cruisin' Grand - Escondido Cruise Night

Every Friday Night in Escondido from April 3rd till the end of September from 5pm to 9pm check out the Cruisin' Grand. You will not be disappointed. I would guess about 7 blocks of Grand Ave. are lined up with cars anywhere from 1973 and earlier American-made. They get anywhere from 100 cars to 300 cars each Friday Night. If it is too crowded to park you can always cruise Grand Ave. I had my first cruising experience in the Chevy Traverse. It takes sometime to get used to driving so slow down the street. In fact it goes against our human nature!

Driving tip for anyone coming from LA or Orange County - Leave before 1pm on Friday to head down there. I left at 3pm and it took 3 hours to get there. Please learn from my mistakes!

Cruisin' Grand - It was a busy night



One block off the main cruising street lined up with cars.

T-Buckets are becoming one of my favorite cars. If anyone has one I would love to be your co-pilot for a day.

Everyone needs a shirt like this.

The battle of the Nitro Dragsters. There were about 10 blocking a side street and they took turns revving their engines. I think my ears are still ringing.

Check out the video below for the battle of the Nitro Dragster engines.

Escondido Cruise Night 8/7/09 from laura jacobsen on Vimeo.

I love this picture. "Hey you want to race?"

Historic Auto Club's 'F'-Tour!

And by 'F', I mean Food, Flowers, and Fleas (flea market)..... The weather may have been less than desirable, but spirits were high and everyone was happy to be driving their classics! Starting out bright, well, not so bright, but still early, we departed with 7 cars and met up shortly after with 3 more classics. Travelling with a caravan of classics through the country side of southern Indiana doesn't get any better than this! As people drove by, they would stare at the cars and look into the windows trying to get a glimpse of who was driving these mysterious machines. My wife, Courtney, and I sat in the back seat of Gerald and Ann's Plymouth pretending we were celebrities on a date. It was so nice to ride in a piece of history, hoping someday we will have a classic of our own.

The trip was planned extremely well, with rest stops along the way to our first major stop of the day, FOOD! We kept hearing it was going to be good, but home cooked Amish food? How do you beat that? After my third trip to the buffet, I was filled to the brim and wanted to loosen my belt a couple notches. There's nothing better to wear off your meal than shopping.....so it was off to the flea market at the Gasthof to find some hidden treasures! As I waddled my way through all the 'stuff', I started wondering how all of it was collected and now for sale. It's almost similar to people with their classic cars: collect them, fix them up a little, and either keep them or sell them. Either way, they are both preserving a piece of history.

As the weather took over and the storms rolled in, it gave everyone a chance to talk for a while and discuss their projects. It's always interesting to hear how certain cars were obtained, or what kind of opportunities people have been faced with while restoring a car. After the rain let up, we drove over to Bill Larkin's home to see his beautiful flowers. And when I say, beautiful, I mean AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE!! Take a look at the video below to see what I'm talking about. He's located in the town of Loogootee, IN and I strongly suggest getting down there to check it out. It's worth the drive, even if you go JUST to see his flowers and bird houses.

To see some video with commentary on the flowers, check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXjuMWIKBo8

So, this is what the Historic Auto Club (HAC) does. They drive their classics to visit unique areas and pieces of history. They also do a great deal of community service, driving their cars to events and fundraisers. The HAC promotes the hobby and the enjoyment of the automobile! They are an amazing group of people who are always courteous and willing to help. Consider joining the club: http://www.acc-indiana.org/members_db/database1_interface/Results/results_page.asp. Hopefully you can join them on their next adventure!