75th Celebration of the Pebble Beach Concours d Elegance

2026 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Featured Marques & Classes

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance has made history time and again, often hosting first-ever or even once-in-a-lifetime gatherings of cars and pairing the world’s greatest designers with their creations. Now, as the event approaches its 75th celebration on August 16, 2026, it plans to revisit some of these iconic gatherings while hosting a wide range of features and new classes.

Ferrari, which has a long history at Pebble Beach, will be the primary featured marque on this occasion, with a special focus on overall Le Mans winners and NART competition cars, and Vignale will be the featured coachbuilder. New offerings include special classes for Early American Speedsters, Classic Streamliners, and Japanese Motorsports.

Ferrari

A Ferrari first appeared at Pebble Beach in 1951: Gentleman Jim Kimberly, heir to the Kimberly-Clark Kleenex fortune, showed his 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta at the Concours and went on to compete in the Road Races. In the intervening years, over 900 Ferraris have appeared here. On this occasion, we will be showcasing Ferrari’s overall Le Mans winners, NART competition cars, and Vignale-bodied road cars.

Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale

Born in 1913 as the fourth of seven children, Alfredo Vignale first found work as a panel beater at the age of eleven. After having worked with Pinin Farina and later Stabilimenti Farina, he started his own carrozzeria in 1948. What followed would secure their enduring legacy: a seemingly unending stream of Ferrari, Lancia, FIAT 8V, Maserati, and many other Italian chassis that received their golden touch.

Early American Speedsters (Pre-World War I)

In the tumultuous years leading up to World War I, a handful of American automakers offered exciting models that stirred the souls of early sporting motorists. The Speedster was an exciting, fast, bare-bones iteration of the newly emerging horseless carriage. Minimalist in guise, speedsters generally featured a powerful engine, a rudimentary hood,  lightweight fenders, two bucket seats, a cylindrical fuel tank, and a pair of spare tires. Although more than a century has passed, evocative names like Stutz Bearcat and Mercer Raceabout still resonate with car enthusiasts.

The Birth of the Streamliner

The latter half of the 1930s was a time of unrest and upheaval in automotive design—yet one of great creativity and originality as the new science of aerodynamics rose to the fore and the old upright and angular three-box car designs were forced to bite the dust. Some experimented with genuine windswept teardrop forms tested in early wind tunnels.

As the design studios of car manufacturers and coachbuilders experimented with the new and fascinating shapes of these “streamliners,” they created astonishing automobiles that remain some of the most extravagant and breathtaking machines ever conceived. 

Pebble Beach Road Racing Greats

Amidst its 75th celebration, the 2026 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will pay tribute to its historic roots in road racing. The first Pebble Beach Road Race took place in November 1950, and the first Pebble Beach Concours was held in tandem with it; Concours cars were shown and judged in a field near the tennis courts and then paraded down the start-finish straight of the racecourse. Racing continued in Del Monte Forest through 1956, and a multitude of top racers and constructors took part, including Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Ken Miles, Richie Ginther, Bill Pollack and Phil Remington, along with celebrities such as Jackie Cooper.

Japanese Motorsports: The Rising Sun at Le Mans

Le Mans has long been considered the most challenging endurance contest. Marques like Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche have all enhanced their reputations with impressive victories there. Understandably, Japanese automakers were eager to show that their cars could compete in that grueling international endurance race. Toyota, Mazda and Nissan entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1990s. Mazda convincingly won the Sarthe Classic in 1991 with the unconventional Mazda 787B Rotary. Not to be outdone, Toyota won Le Mans five years in a row, from 2018 to 2022, fielding a convincing variety of Hybrid racing car configurations.

We’ll present a fine array of Le Mans cars from a selection of Japanese manufacturers.