The Little Car Show
On the road to cars with a light heart and good humor, the Little Car Show is a close cousin to the Concours d’ Lemons which is also held during Monterey Car Week. Though neither show puts down stakes in any of the iconic Monterey, Carmel, or Pebble Beach locations, they nonetheless have made a mark on this week of automotive overdose. The Little Cars make their temporary home a takeover of Lighthouse Avenue, the main street through picturesque Pacific Grove, CA. ‘Little Cars’ are simply deemed to be anything that has an engine no bigger than 1.6 liters, or 1600 cc. This results in a wide variety of the quaint, curious, ridiculous, custom and endearing automobiles largely of the mid- and later- twentieth century.
Invariably I find two or three cars I would love to own, as they usually appeal to a sense of whimsical fun. Manx dune buggies, British and Italian minis, beautiful classic Porsche 356s, Labradors perched in back seats, customizers showing off hopped up mini-creations, like a hot-rodded Mini-Cooper.
This beautiful little Porsche 356 C is a 1965 version originally bought in Paris (France, not Texas), repainted in this sonorous blue from Irish Green. The woman sporting the matching blue flip flops and hair was too good to pass up. I’m glad Janice wasn’t with me because she loves blue and even these pictures don’t do this one justice.
Across the avenue is this Mini-Cooper remade into a monster Cooper from Spectre Vehicle Design in Vancouver, BC. Called the Type 10, the Launch Edition consists of 10 cars. They hope to sell 25 of these crazy vehicles with a ridiculous 232 hp Honda VTEC 2 Liter in this little 1,750 pound go-kart that houses a fully custom suspension and tube frame chassis reinforcement. Custom carbon fiber seat buckets and a sky panel roof highlight a wonderfully detailed interior.
Not far away is the 1967 Triumph Herald that holds two brother Labradors who are looking for attention, and getting it. The Herald had a long production run. This cabriolet carries a 1296cc engine with 61 pounding horses (and two dogs) propelling it.
Moving down the block and across the street we find the iconic California beach toy, the Meyers Manx dune buggy. There are a couple of these babies here. This one is resplendent in a glittering metallic green and white pleated seats. Not exactly true dune crashing attire, but fun and attractive nonetheless. In 1964, Bruce Meyers took the staid little Volkswagen and transformed it into a high energy fun machine for tooling around on or off the road, inventing what became known as the dune buggy that still exists today.
Next, we find several cute, off-beat and even homely little variations on cars, including this bugger, a 1964 Fiat Michelotti Torino. Owned by Barbara Major from Newcastle, CA, this is a larger take on the Fiat Jolly theme of a wicker seated, open air bit of beach resort transport. This one was penned by the famous Italian designer, Giovanni Michelotti. Michelotti was a prolific auto designer who created cars for the likes of Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati, Triumph, Aston Martin, and Alfa Romeo, while working for design houses like Pininfarina, Vignale, Bertone, Ghia, and many others. That Michelotti would design such a humble little car is a surprise. He apparently bought 80 Fiat 850 coupes and transformed them into Torinos for yacht-goers in Monaco.
Further browsing reveals these two mini panel trucks. Right is a 1959 Series III Morris Minor 1000 Van. These were actually advertised and used as quarter ton commercial delivery trucks and many were used by the British Postal Service. The yellow bomb on the left is something of a mystery, though its heritage is easy for all to see.
Lastly, we feature the homely but loveable 1947 Crosley sedan. In typical British fashion, these cars were utilitarian, mostly reliable, small and budget conscious. And in teal green, what could be more fun on a leisurely Sunday drive.
If you like fun, offbeat shows and unusual cars this is a fun place to start. The people are great and easy to talk to. It’s relaxed, people are there for a good time and there’s plenty of local eateries along the avenue should you get hungry or thirsty. Pacific Grove is a great little community literally a stone’s throw from the wharf and downtown Monterey. It’s very hard not to love this place.
