San Marino Motor Classic 2017 – Report and Photos

The San Marino Motor Classic 2017 was held on Sunday, June 11 at Lacy Park in San Marino, California. Over 350 cars were displayed on the lawns of the 30-acre park, ranging from brass-era, depression-era classics, post-war luxury, sports cars, hot rods, race cars, exotics and rare cars from the last century.

In its seventh year, the 2017 San Marino Motor Classic featured over 40 classes of cars, which included examples from Ferrari, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Pagani, Porsche, Maserati, Packard, Cadillac, Jaguar, Lotus, Hispano-Suiza and Rolls-Royce. Entrants competed in their respective classes with judging taking place at the end of the day for the awards that were given in their respective classes, including divisions and classes for Ferraris, Porsches, “American Big Block Muscle Cars” and a special class called “American Postwar Orphan Marques,” to include Edsel, Kaiser, Muntz, Nash, Rambler, Willys, Hudson and Studebaker cars built before 1974. A new category for Japanese manufacturers which included classics from Toyota, Datsun, and Honda was added. A 1967 Mazda R360 microcar won that class.

A beautiful 1938 Delahaye Model 135 Roadster by Chapron was awarded Best of Show Pre-War and the stunning 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Alloy Body won the Best of Show Post-War award. Other notable winners included the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Competizione, owned by David Lee; the 1948 Tucker Torpedo owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum; the 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 Model C owned by Dave and Amanda Abrams; the 1956 AC Bristol Roadster owned by Julia Rosenstock and the 1937 Delage D8-120 Cabriolet by Chapron owned by Peter and Merle Mullin.

Car enthusiast and local TV station KABC 7’s Automotive Specialist Dave Kunz and racing royalty Ed Justice, Jr. emceed this year’s event.

Some interesting cars that made their appearance included Gary Wales’ hot rod fire truck, La Bestioni; former Tonight Show host and current TV car guy, Jay Leno, made a grand entrance with his brand-new 2017 Ford GT; and a stunning Toyota 2000GT graced the lawn during the event.

Collector David SK Lee displayed eight cars from his collection, including a McLaren P1 GTR, a Pagini Huayra Da Vinci, a Ferrari La Ferrari, a 2017 Ferrari F12 TdF and his 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Competizione, which was named the “Most Significant Ferrari” at the motor show.

Throughout the day, the weather was a great mix of grey, overcast skies, clouds and sunshine, with warm but comfortable temperatures. The 10,000 plus attendees were tempted by the culinary creations of the nine gourmet food trucks and treated to musical performances throughout the day by the USC Trojan marching band.

The San Marino Motor Classic was established in 2011 by co-founders Aaron Weiss, Ben Reiling and Paul Colony, held in Lacy Park, an exclusive 30-acre park in San Marino. It is the successor of the Los Angeles Concours d’Elegance. In its inaugural year, the exhibition was a hybrid of a Classic Car Club of America Grand Classic and a contemporary Concours d’Elegance. More than 220 Brass Era, Depression Era and Post-War luxury and sports cars were showcased attracting more than 3,000 spectators. Since its inception, the SMMC event has raised over $1.6 million for charity. This year’s Motor Classic raised more than $300,000 for the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA, USC Trojan Marching Band and the Rotary Club of San Marino.

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Similar to 2015 and 2016, Sports Car Digest also documented the San Marino Motor Classic 2017, with photographer Victor Varela offering the following images from the Concours held in Southern California.

San Marino Motor Classic 2017 – Photo Gallery (photos: Victor Varela)

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