Every August, the Monterey Peninsula in California turns into the center of the automotive world for a stretch of about ten days. Auction houses set records. Manufacturers debut concept cars. And collectors who spend the other 51 weeks of the year quietly guarding their garages bring their rarest machines out into the open, in public, for anyone to see up close. It’s called Monterey Car Week, and it’s the closest thing the classic car world has to a Super Bowl.
What Actually Happens During Car Week
Car Week isn’t one event, it’s a cluster of them, spread across venues on and around the Monterey Peninsula. The anchor is the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, held on the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links. First run in 1950, it’s the most prestigious car show in the world: cars aren’t just parked, they’re judged, restored to exacting historical standards, and presented like fine art. In 2026, Pebble Beach celebrates its 75th year.
A few miles away, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (founded in 1974 by racer and event organizer Steve Earle) puts many of those same rare cars back on track, driven the way they were built to be: hard, loud, and fast, on one of the most demanding circuits in North America, including the famous “Corkscrew” turn.
Around those two anchors sit dozens of smaller events: the Concorso Italiano celebrating Italian marques, manufacturer unveilings, private collector showcases, and major auctions from houses like RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Company, and Bonhams, where cars regularly sell for seven and eight figures in a single week.
Nowhere else on earth do this many historically significant cars leave their garages at the same time, in the same place.
Why Collectors Build Their Year Around It
- Rarity, concentrated. Cars that might otherwise never leave a private collection are shown, driven, or sold during this one week, for many enthusiasts, it’s the only chance they’ll ever get to see certain machines in person.
- The market moves here. Auction results from Car Week often set the tone for classic car valuations for the rest of the year.
- It’s still a car culture event, not just a trade show. Alongside the black-tie Concours, the week is full of casual gatherings, cars and coffee-style meetups, and public car-spotting on the coastal roads leading into town, accessible to anyone, not just collectors with a paddock pass.
It’s Not Just California
Monterey set the template, but the same spirit shows up at events worldwide: the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival in the UK, Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy, and Miami’s growing calendar of supercar and Concours events all draw from the same idea: cars this significant deserve to be seen, driven, and talked about in person, not just photographed.
What It Has To Do With Coffee
You don’t need a Concours-level garage to be part of this culture. Most of the people at Car Week, and at the Cars & Coffee meetups that happen every weekend, everywhere, all year, are just there because they love the machines. That’s who RunFlat Coffee is roasted for.