The 13 Best Cars We Saw This Year at the Quail, a Motorsports Gathering
Just as the latest haute couture has Fashion Week in New York and Paris, many of the world’s most exclusive automobiles are paraded for the public during Northern California’s Monterey Car Week. And while the revered Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance remains the ne plus ultra when it comes to adding provenance and prestige to any vehicle deemed worthy of entry, it’s the Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, that’s become the automotive industry’s bellwether.
What primarily differentiates the two exhibitions is the heightened presence of automakers on the lawn at the Quail Lodge and Golf Club, evidenced again on August 16. Along with the day-long concours, which culminated this year with a 1937 Delahaye Type 145 being named Best of Show, model reveals are now a mainstay. “For the United States, but also globally, this is one of the most important places to showcase your brand,” says McLaren CEO Michael Leiters. “I think this is the replacement of the auto shows we had five years before Covid. This is a much more intimate way to get in contact with our customers . . . it’s fantastic.”
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Yet it’s not just the marques that make attending Quail a priority. “I’ve been coming every year since [Quail] opened,” says car collector Mark Newman. “At this point, what brings me here are a lot of the manufactures . . . they’re revealing some of the new cars and you get a chance to talk to management, and to me, that’s an enticement.”
This year, more than 200 cars were on the field, either as part of the judged concours, commemorative displays, or new releases. And while all of them were standouts, the following examples were truly outstanding.
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Pininfarina B95 Gotham
Since the 1,900 hp Pininfarina Battista already has performance specs that seem to be out of a comic book, how do you top it? Develop a model specifically for a superhero. “The B95 Gotham is the first example of the Wayne Enterprise collaboration that we started with Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics,” says Paolo Dellachà, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina. “The true intention of the project is to imagine that Bruce Wayne, Batman’s alter ego, would be our client.”
Forget the Batmobile, this all-electric roadster packs 1,900 hp from four electric motors supported by a 120 kWh battery. This gives the car a top speed of 186 mph and the ability to hit 60 mph from a standstill in less than 2 seconds. As for the aesthetics of the one-off car, Dellachà refers to its “understated elegance,” explaining that “we are not addressing Batman, we are addressing Bruce Wayne.”
Lamborghini Temerario
The highly anticipated replacement for Lamborghini’s extremely successful Huracán line, around since 2014, is finally here—and its hybrid. The Temerario is built on a new aluminum chassis and is equipped with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8—able to reach 10,000 rpm—and three electric motors fed by a 3.8 kWh battery. The power-train configuration combines for 907 hp and 538 ft lbs or torque, allowing this Raging Bull to rocket from zero to 62 mph in 2.7 seconds and reach a top speed of more than 210 mph.
When asked what element of the model he’s most proud of, Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s chief technical officer, told Robb Report that it’s the “character of the drive train, because we’ve really generated something unique.” According to Mohr, we can expect to see it “on the road in the middle of next year.”
1965 Aston Martin DB5
Secret agent 007’s tricked-out Aston Martin DB5—the co-star of spy-thriller Goldfinger—put Aston on the map and remains the most famous movie car of all time. While the original film cars were kluged together, and many replicas have been made since, none begins to compare to this masterpiece, whose owner commissioned noted Aston specialists Kevin Kay Restorations to achieve a concours-perfect DB5.
The car’s owner, visionary Las Vegas game designer Joe Kaminkow, began the project during the Covid pandemic, working with a team of dozens of designers and artisans to develop many special features using 2024 technology and mil-spec precision. Every trick present on Bond’s original is replicated, including a bullet-proof shield, machine guns, tire shredders, a rotating license plate, and ejection seat.
Gunther Werks 993 GWR
Ever since 2017, Gunther Werks has showcased its latest vision for Porsche’s iconic 993 at The Quail. This year, the 993 GWR, Remastered by Gunther Werks, is the company’s interpretation of the lightest, most elemental 993 of them all. Stability, low drag, and enhanced cooling are designed into the aerodynamic carbon-fiber body, which features a prominent hood duct, air curtains, fender louvres, and vents. A double-bubble roof increases headroom for the driver’s helmet, a nod to the intended use to which the GWR will likely be put.
A classic ducktail atop the engine lid conceals a 4.0-liter, naturally aspirated, DOHC flat-six engine that looks like giant jewelry and develops 500 hp and revs to 9,000 rpm, modern GT3 territory. The fastidious interior—a Gunther Werks signature— is refined but reduced to the essentials, making the GWR the lightest of any Gunther Werks creation at just 2,400 pounds. Production at the Huntington Beach, Calif., factory is planned for 25 examples, each built to the buyer’s particular specification.
1971 Maserati Ghibli Spyder
Introduced in 1966, the Ghibli was Maserati’s grand statement. Designed by Ghia’s young Giorgetto Guigiaro, it’s an Italian GT unsurpassed for its beauty. Named for a Mediterranean wind (many Maseratis are named after winds, from every corner of the globe) it’s powered by Maserati’s 4.7-liter, dry-sump V-8 engine that develops more than 300 hp, enlarged to 4.9 liters in 1969 for the Ghibli SS. That year, the Spyder went into production, probably the most desirable of all 1960s-era Italian roadsters. Altogether, 1,170 Ghibli coupes and 125 Spyders (including 45 Spyder SS) were produced. Ghibli production ended in 1973. Finished in one of the period’s most flattering colors, this example is owned by William Heinecke.
1968 Dino 206 GT
Don’t call it a Ferrari. The Dino was its own car within the Ferrari family, named in honor of Ferrari’s son, who passed away at the age of 24 in 1956. Built in the first year of production, this diminutive coupe is one of only about 152 Dino 206 GTs produced from 1968 through 1969, and may be the most striking example we’ve ever seen, in part for its original Viola Metalizzato color.
Of course, any Dino 206 GT is striking, as sinuous and seductive a shape as ever to come from the house of Pininfarina, whose designers, Aldo Brovarone and Leonardo Fioravanti, conceived the curvaceous aluminum coupe with styling cues from racing cars and prototypes like the three-seat 365 P Berlinetta Speciale. This one is owned by Frank Bouche.
1986 Porsche Turbo Type 930
A half century ago, Porsche added a turbocharger and launched the marque’s first supercar—internal type number 930—whose descendants still shatter performance records today. Almost 21,600 Turbos were made through 1989 (before the introduction of the type 964 Turbo), and of those, one of the most beautiful is the “Grey Ghost.”
Named for its ultra-rare Marble Grey color, this car has been awarded dozens of trophies over its concours career. Amazingly, it showed 131,000 miles when acquired by its current owner in 2000. After driving it an additional 20,000 miles, it was restored to become a three-time full-restoration national champion at Porsche Parade—formerly The Manhattan Trophy—the highest concours honor awarded by the Porsche Club of America. The car is owned and restored by Joseph DeMeo.
1994 Bugatti EB110 GT
The rare Bugatti EB110 is at the tip of the analog-era supercar pyramid. The brainchild of the Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli, it was launched in 1991, its name referencing the 110th anniversary of Ettore Bugatti’s birth. A model name as good as any, it reflected some exciting developments in the supercar world at the time. Carbon fiber was the hero of the day, and the EB110’s carbon-fiber tub was woven by Aérospatiale, builders of the Concorde supersonic airliner.
The shape, perhaps the car’s most remarkable and timeless attribute, is the work of Marcello Gandini, who penned the Lamborghini Miura, Countach, original Diablo, and so many other automotive masterpieces that his work should be enshrined in the Uffizi. Altogether, only 136 examples of the EB110 were produced. This Rosso Scuro example is owned by Gérard Lopez.
1948 MG TC
Morris Garages—or MG—turns 100 this year, and since early in its history has played a key role in stirring the sporting passions of drivers in America and abroad. Sports cars were virtually unknown here until servicemen returning from Europe after the war brought back cars like the little MG TC. Famous names in motorsport cut their teeth on a TC, like Phil Hill, John Fitch, and Carroll Shelby, who handily won his first race driving a friend’s car in 1952.
Phil Hill’s first closed-course race victory was in this delightful racer, tricked out with a supercharger that made the MG a tiny terror on the track as it did battle with mighty Jaguars and other larger foes. Our car world is a small one . . . Robb Report photographer Scott Williamson’s father machined the hardware Hill used to adapt the custom supercharger to the engine of his MG.
1965 Mustang OVC Shelby G.T. 350 Roadster
Drive an early Shelby G.T.350 and you might declare it the most visceral, exciting, and just plain awesome American performance car ever made. Peter Brock, designer of the first Shelby G.T.350, teamed up with Camillo Pardo, designer of the 2004 Ford GT, to create a 425 hp roadster version of the blue-striped terror that put Shelby’s Mustang on the map in 1965.
From the Original Venice Crew (OVC), this “what-if” car is engineered and constructed by some of the same men who built the originals, including OVC founder James Marietta. Sanctioned and licensed by Ford and Shelby, just 24 examples will be built from the ground up, using original VINs and 1965 convertible body shells.
2024 Touring Superleggera Veloce12
Carrozzeria Touring of Milan was founded in 1926 and created some of the most notable automotive designs in history. Touring Superleggera continues the Italian coachbuilding tradition with the Veloce12, the quintessential “analog-era” GT brought into the present. Beginning with a Ferrari 550 Maranello V-12 engine and six-speed manual transmission, every system on the original car is upgraded, revised or rebuilt. Most notable is the all-new carbon-fiber body that completely reimagines the shape of the original.
Matteo Gentile, head of design for Touring Superleggera, penned the lines using nature as his inspiration, evident in the silver-white form that evokes a white shark in motion. Inside, the ultra-luxe interior is all-analog too, with not a single digital screen present to “date-stamp” the design. In the authentic Touring tradition, build quality is impeccable and refined details abound, while exclusivity is ensured: only 30 examples will be produced.
Eccentrica V12
To reimagine this 1990s-era Lamborghini Diablo, restomod specialist Eccentrica recruited Maurizio Reggiani, Automobili Lamborghini’s recently retired chief technical officer. “The requirements of Lamborghini customers in the 1990s are completely different from [those of] Lamborghini customers in 2024 and 2025. And for this, I think I am probably one of the best people to tell how we make this technical migration,” Reggiani told Robb Report in a previous interview. “You perceive that it’s a Lamborghini Diablo, but it’s completely new in every single element—everything is done in carbon fiber.”
The retro-chic supercar is fit with a naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V-12 that delivers 550 hp and 442 ft lbs of torque, giving it a top speed of 208 mph. Only 19 examples will be made, each starting at around $1.3 million. When asked why he thought the decision was made to reinterpret the Diablo, Reggiani was pragmatic: “Sure, the Countach and Miura are much more iconic, but it’s difficult to catch donor cars that can be used to build this kind of car. With Diablo, the [production] volume is superior and [donor examples] are much more affordable.”
Best of Show: 1937 Delahaye Type 145, 12-cylinder Competition
Delahaye’s Type 145 was only one of four examples built to engage in a competition sponsored by the French government offering a 1-million-franc prize to a French manufacturer whose grand prix race car could beat the Germans. Powered by a magnesium V-12 engine and with star driver René Dreyfus at the wheel, it succeeded, breaking the record with an average speed of 146.654 kph (91+ mph).
As WWII ensued, it was disassembled and stored away. A whole new roadster body was built by Carrosserie Franay in 1945, a masterpiece of Art Deco style despite its postwar construction, and one giving no clue as to the original grand-prix racing drivetrain beneath the exquisite form. It has been meticulously restored by its current owners, Sam and Emily Mann, and was our pick as the most beautiful automobile at this year’s Quail event even before it took Best in Show.
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