2018 San Marino Motor Classic

L.A.’s Concourse for a Cause

Paul Newman’s Race cars on Display at Lacy Park

What makes L.A. “car culture ground zero?” Is it that we are more into cars than anywhere else? I doubt it. More likely it’s a perfect storm of the perfect weather to preserve cars, various Southland industries booming throughout the decades to keep the car (and car parts) money flowing, and a local style-driven culture that’s emphasized form as much as function. Perhaps that’s why we have more cars & coffee per capita than any other city (I’m spitballing on that one, but sounds about right).

Dreamed up by co-founders Aaron Weiss, Ben Reiling and Paul Colony in 2011, the San Marino Motor Classic elevates modern-day Los Angeles’ car culture to world-class status. It’s the leading concours-level event in Southern California, and it benefits local charitable organizations such as Rotary and the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA.

This year amongst the 350 classic and collectible cars, 10 of Paul Newman’s racing cars were exhibited together for the first time.

I’ve admired this gathering from afar for a while. It’s one thing to check out the cars online, it’s quite another to walk among some of the finest examples of automotive design from the past century. If you ever find yourself near Lacy Park in June, you owe it to yourself to make time for history and take a stroll among the automotive stars.

For more information on next year’s event, visit the San Marino Motor Classic website.