Concours d' Lemons

August is “car” month in the U.S. Most people know about the historic vintage car races at Laguna Seca raceway, the famous Concours d’ Elegance at Pebble Beach in California and the increasingly famous cruise on Woodward Avenue near Detroit, Michigan, but we have a real  California car oddity for you.

While the rich and famous were looking at and bidding on expensive collector cars in PebbleBeach recently at the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance, the “real” people were displaying their “real” cars at the Concours d’Lemons in nearby Salinas, California.

This offbeat and off-the-track event celebrates “the oddball, mundane and truly awful” of the automotive world. Visitor Jeff Hildreth of Williams, Oregon went to the better-known car displays in Pebble Beach, but also traveled to Toro Park in Salinas for the Concours d’ Lemons. "Anyone can go look at a Ferrari,” he said. “These are "people's" cars; this is a premiere event for me."

Vehicles on display at the Concours d’Lemons included a 1983 Mitsubishi Sapporo Techica. The vehicle even has a name, Charlene, and it is owned by William Babaian who lives in Monterey, California. 

There was also an AMC Gremlin X and a shiny, fully–restored 1965 Rambler 990 Cross Country Wagon. The Rambler is owned by Eric Parsons who found it for sale by the side of road and restored it. “I never thought I would own a Rambler," said car-collector Parsons, who lives in ValleyVillage, CA. "It's a neat to have people see things (and cars) in a different way."