When the San Marino Motor Classic switched dates last year so it would fall on the weekend after Monterey Car Week, locals wondered how attendees would handle the San Marino summer heat, which is usually in the upper 90s. So far, they needn’t have worried. Aaron Weiss, chairman of the event, has it under control.
“We’re planning on a great day,” Weiss said while wheeling around the show in his chairman’s golf cart. “Temperatures are going to be in the low 80s, which for this time of year in San Marino is low.” Can Weiss actually control the weather? Does he have a sponsorship deal from a higher power?
“Yes,” he said. “I told somebody the other day that I was very spiritual, and they said, ‘Well, I don’t think so.’ And I said, ‘Well, I drink a lot of spirits.”
Whatever it takes, the weather was as lovely as the 500 cars. The center of the enormous lawn in San Marino’s 31-acre Lacy Park was taken over by the Ferrari Club of America Southwest Region’s Concorso Ferrari. Right next to that, local Ferrari Collector David S.K. Lee had another fantastic group of all-yellow Ferraris: an F40, F50, Enzo, and a modern Tour de France, among others. The Porsche Club of America had the southwest corner of the park but could have used a little more room. The Classic Car Club of America parked on the west end of the lawn—their collection anchored by Weiss’ Murphy-Bodied Duesenberg fresh from second in class at Pebble (“First in class won Best of Show,” Weiss pointed out). And everywhere else you turned was something cool with wheels, including automotive art.
So far, before this year’s show, the Motor Classic has raised over $2.8 million for various local charities—everything from the Pasadena Humane Society to Cancer Support Community Pasadena. And it only cost $35 to get in. Compare that to anything at Pebble!