Pras Subramanian

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Ferrari's newest car was inspired by these two classics

When the church bells ring in Maranello, Italy, on Sunday – it’s not always to remind the faithful for prayer. Since 1928, in the land of Ferrari the church bells ring for victory on the Formula 1 track, too.

But times have been changing, and the most famous team in Formula 1 has seen muted success as of late. Nevertheless, the company has been winning where it counts in another area – the bottom line. The Prancing Horse brand continues selling thousands of high-priced machines.

Ferrari is public now, spun off from parent Fiat Chrysler, and Ferrari must meet the demands for its passionate customers and the investing public. That’s why the setting of Pebble Beach, during Monterey Car Week from August 15-21, was the perfect time for Ferrari to make both parties happy by showing off a new car.

Home away from home

“This is one of the most important automotive events in the world this is for car enthusiasts. It’s all about beauty, it’s all about performance, it’s all about classic cars, and Ferrari is everything about cars,” says Enrico Galliera, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Ferrari. “Here we have some of our best customers, our best collectors, and we’re here to support them at this fantastic event.”

At Casa Ferrari, Ferrari’s home away from home in Carmel, California, fans of Ferrari can meet for an espresso, display their treasured Ferrari automobiles, or just buy a t-shirt. It was at Casa Ferrari that the automaker debuted the GTC4Lusso in North America for the first time. The GTC4Lusso is an update to the groundbreaking FF, a hatchback, or shooting brake as they call it.

The ‘4’ in its name signifies all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, which is represents the highest technology Ferrari has to offer. “This is a GT car, and the DNA of Ferrari is performance,” Galliera proclaims about the GTC4Lusso, adding that it also “takes inspiration from some cars from [Ferrari’s history].”

And just behind us paying homage to the GT cars of the past, Ferrari had on display a vintage 330 GTC. This was Monterey Car Week after all, a celebration of both the past and present of the automotive world’s most celebrated carmakers.

“The 330 GTC represents the heart and soul of the company, which is not only creating high performance sports cars, but high performance cars you can use everyday,” Galliera says. It was also one of Enzo Ferrari’s favorites.

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Jay Leno on the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and the crazy story of his Lamborghini

If there’s one thing most people know about former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, it’s that Jay Leno loves cars. In fact, he loves them so much he has a prime-time show on CNBC about all things cars, “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

Given Jay’s predilection for all things wheels, it’s no surprise he frequently attends the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the world’s most respected classic car show. But when we asked him about the cars he was most excited to see, it was the unknown that intrigued him most.

“The fun part is you don’t know what’s going to show up,” he says in the attached video. It’s the surprise of just popping onto the lawn and encountering the cars at first blush that Leno craves. “No matter what you think you know about cars, there’s always something here I’ve never seen or heard of,” he notes. “People bring these cars from all over the world. They come from Germany, Finland, and every other place. So that’s what’s kind of fun about it.”

One car that Jay Leno does know, and owns himself, is the Lamborghini Miura. At the time the car was built, which was 50 years ago, the Bertone-designed Miura was considered the most beautiful supercar. This year the Pebble Beach Concours will celebrat the Miura in its own special class.

Leno’s version of the car, which he jokes is now worth a “gazillion” dollars, has quite a backstory. “Dean Martin bought [Leno’s Miura] new, his kid blew it up, a friend who was a schoolteacher at the time bought it, thinking he could fix it,” he recalls.

Because of the prohibitive cost of fixing the car, the schoolteacher’s wife suggested that her husband “just give it to Leno, he likes cars.” So he took it, fixed it up, and now it’s one of his favorite cars (as depicted in a recent YouTube episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage”).

Leno’s advice to anyone looking to get into the classic car game is, like Socrates, know that you know nothing. “You don’t know what’s going to be valuable. If you go back 30 years, the Shelby Mustangs, I saw one for $600,” he says. “This is all fairly new — the idea that that all this stuff has just become crazy valuable,” he says, slightly incredulous. “I mean look at Porsche, 911s used to be what, $3,000?”

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Welcome to Pebble Beach, the world's most respected classic car show

Today it’s the 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but on Sunday the focus will be on cars, not golf, as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance recognizes the best in classic cars.

The Concours is regarded as the preeminent competition of its kind in the world, where owners of the rarest, most desirable cars from years gone by compete at the highest level.

While the competition actually began in 1950 in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Road Race, it was not until 1952 that the event was moved to the 18th green at Pebble Beach, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That first event in 1950 had 30 cars in competition, and this year we’ll see over 200 vehicles in a range of classes.

But what exactly happens during the competition Sunday? To find out, we spoke to Marek Reichman, chief creative officer at Aston Martin, who will also be an honorary judge at Pebble Beach this year.

For Reichman, it all starts at around 5 a.m. “Dawn parade — all the cars go into the 18th green to set up for the Concours. There are no people really other than the owners setting their cars up, or their car handlers,” he says.

“We then meet as judges at 9:30, we get out our judging criteria [and] part of the criteria is that your car is usable and drivable, so they’ve gone on a mini tour,” Reichman notes of the judging process, which includes the tour that happens on the Thursday of competition week.

Then on Sunday, the judges pick the best in class out of around 10 classes. Each winner then goes forward for the potential to be crowned the overall winner, known as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show.

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Bentley will sell millions worth of new cars at Pebble Beach

If you follow the classic car scene, the crown jewel for collectors is the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which occurs at the end of Monterey Car Week this month.

But the festivities aren’t just for old classic cars and collectors. Many current luxury brands also have huge presences here at Pebble Beach.

At the Bentley House, a plush mansion on the ocean located a stone’s throw away from the 18th green at Pebble Beach, Bentley Motors is showcasing its newest cars, as well as current race cars. For Bentley brand ambassador Richard Charlesworth, Bentley’s presence at Pebble Beach makes perfect sense.

“You know we’ve been around for nearly hundred years, and we’ve been well represented here, and had some great customers here for all of our history,” he says in the attached video. In fact earlier in the day, Bentley hosted a rally around the Monterey peninsula featuring classic and modern cars driven by their owners.

Charlesworth knows these owners quite well, as he is also director of royal and VIP relations. “Many of our owners are collectors — that might be large or small — but they’re people who have a great knowledge of the history of the brand,” he notes. Charlesworth believes being at Pebble Beach connects the history of the brand — the prestige of being a classic marque — with a new generation of cars showcased by Bentley.

Indeed, during last year’s festivities at Pebble Beach, Bentley sold around 15 new cars in just a few days. With cars starting at $200,000, and the top-of-the-line Mulsanne hitting $335,000 without options, one can see it was a fairly lucrative weekend for the automaker — with sales figures likely in the millions.

With its new Bentayga SUV, and new versions of the Flying Spur and Mulsanne sedan, Bentley is not standing pat this year when it comes to new offerings here in Monterey. But since it is Pebble Beach, Charlesworth is keeping an eye on two special classics at auction this week: a 1932 Bentley 8-Litre Tourer, and a Bentley 4¼-Litre Sports Coupé, known as the “Honeymoon Express.” The 8-Litre Tourer is expected to fetch $2,500,000-$3,000,000 at auction.

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Dow hits 7th straight day of gains

Stocks edging higher as Wall Street turns its focus back on to earnings. Will Netflix, and perhaps Yahoo keep the good times rolling? Catch The Final Round with Alexis Christoforous and Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer.

Winners and losers

Let’s take a look at some of today’s winners and losers. (FS) Stocks on the move lower today include Hasbro slipping on concern over slowing growth in its boys division, I-P-O darling Twilio as Wall Street analysts initiated coverage of the stock with steep price target discounts, and Monster Beverage – shares of the energy drink company fizzling out following a Wells Fargo downgrade, citing concerns over shrinking revenue growth.

Stocks on the move higher today include Groupon as Piper Jaffray upgraded the the deals site on its focus on successful products and regions, ARM Holdings soaring as Softbank bids $32 billion for the chipmaker, and Bank of America – the nation’s second biggest bank by assets surging as the bank posted an earnings beat fueled by strong bond-trading revenue.

Consumer shares to the rescue?

As the markets notch new highs, how sustainable is the rally? And which sectors could power the next leg of the bull market? Yahoo Finance’s Justine Underhill on why it might be the consumer coming to the rescue.

Peter Kenny on the markets

For more on the markets and where we’re headed following another up day for stocks, I’m joined by Wall Street veteran and longtime NYSE floor trader Peter Kenny of Kenny’s Commentary dot com.

Looking ahead

In the morning we’ll get housing starts for June. Economists are looking for around 1.17 million new starts, slightly more than the prior month.

Earnings season is in full swing with huge reports from Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft after the bell – which we will have for you live tomorrow morning.

Finally the RNC convention rolls on with Day 2 speeches by House Speaker Paul Ryan, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

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Why Tesla wants Obama’s help in China

In a bid to boost prospects in China where sales are lagging, the Wall Street Journal reports Tesla Motors is urging the White House to press China on loosening auto-industry restrictions during President Xi’s visit.

Tesla wants Obama’s help in China, but they're probably not going to get it

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Goodell, NFL in fight to save public image as Rice scandal deepens

Mike Santoli and Jeff Macke on the financial impact the Rice scandal could have on the NFL

New post

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$AAPL Liftoff

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" generations "

www.pursang356.blogspot.com

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Nice one

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Brace yourselves - the bitcoin ETFs are coming: http://online.wsj.com/articles/with-a-bitcoin-etf-risk-isn-t-virtual-1410120108?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_tech

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Not exactly textbook tackling technique

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The Galaxy Alpha is Samsung’s most beautiful phone ever

I’ve already written about the subtle but important upgrade that Samsung made to its Note series with the addition of a metal frame to the new Note 4 and Note Edge devices. But preceding them on...

Looks familiar...

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Porsche 911 Carrera Makes Shift Work Wonderful

The latest iteration of the sports car is a tailor-made joy.

Maxing out around ten credit cards should do the trick

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Hard to pull off the oversized suitcase look, but this fellow can