The Quail: Sipping on Lambortinis
There are car shows, there are concours, and then there is The Quail — an event where a Ferrari F40 can somehow become merely part of the scenery while guests gather around eating oysters, drinking champagne, and discussing the benefits of private jet ownership with someone wearing loafers that cost more than a used Mazda Miata.
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering returned to the Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel Valley on Friday, August 14, 2026, for its 23rd iteration. Since its debut in 2003, the event has developed into one of Monterey Car Week’s most exclusive and influential gatherings, combining serious automotive history with modern super/hypercars, manufacturer debuts, fine dining and the sort of polished garden-party atmosphere that makes most ordinary car shows look as though they’ve been organized in a supermarket parking lot.
It's clearly an element we don't belong in, but for some reason they keep having us back and we remain willing imposters. Every year the talk leading up to the show is the price of tickets and what they are selling for on the secondary market. A base ticket would set you back $1250, but we saw many listed on Facebook for double and even triple that number. Pro tip: the parking lots around the Quail have just as much to see as the show itself, and often better than most car shows one would ever see in your life. So if you can’t score a ticket next year, don’t fret. Everything that’s in the show has to arrive and leave the grounds, so it’s very likely you will see the entrants cruising around the Peninsula.
The inaugural Quail was considerably smaller in scope. Its 2003 field celebrated six categories, including pre-war sports and racing cars, post-war racing and sports cars, motorcycles and Le Mans machinery, along with a tribute to what was then the Monterey Historics. The Best of Show that year was a 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta
Over the following two decades, The Quail has evolved into something halfway between a concours, an automotive salon, an international auto show, and an extremely expensive garden party. The cars remain the reason to attend, but the event deliberately incorporates food, wine, hospitality, entertainment and access to manufacturers and designers.
That also explains who The Quail is for. This isn't really a conventional spectator event. It attracts serious collectors, manufacturers, designers, executives, media, and enthusiasts. It also attracts the plus ones, the influencers and those whose reason for attending is merely to be seen.
Manufacturers increasingly treat The Quail as a place to reveal their latest hypercars and limited-production machines that are likely all sold out before the sheet comes off for the reveal.
This year was no different with numerous reveals.
Featured Classes
Lamborghini Diablo
Before supercars became rolling laptops capable of analyzing your steering inputs, there was the Diablo: enormous V12, absurd proportions and a name that basically translated to “this may end badly.” The Quail celebrated Lamborghini's great 1990s supercar with a dedicated class.
The Diablo class was one of the first things many spectators viewed when entering the grounds and it seemed like the assemblage may have included every single one of them that was produced. Yes, that may be an exaggeration but for a brief moment it seemed possible.
Ferrari F40
There may be newer Ferraris, faster Ferraris and vastly more complicated Ferraris, but very few have ever looked quite as purposeful as the F40. The final new Ferrari developed during Enzo Ferrari's lifetime was one of the featured classes of teh day. Last year the F50 was honored and it was thought that showcasing Ferrari’s best couldn’t get better. Wrong! Looking at the F40 and other classic Ferraris usually leads to the question of what the heck is Ferrari doing with their design language on their newest creations and we’re not even talking about the Luce.
The Legacy of Japanese GTs
Japanese performance cars spent decades being treated by sections of the collector-car establishment as somehow less important than European machinery. That argument has become increasingly difficult to sustain. The Quail's recognition of Japanese GT cars reflects just how dramatically cars from Japan have moved into the center of serious collecting.
100th Anniversary of Route 66
The recognition of the centenary of Route 66, celebrating a road that became one of the defining symbols of American motoring culture. Part of the grounds was turned into a mini recreation of the famed road winding its way amongst the various hospitality stops in the event along with signs welcoming people to different states, all while lined with examples of classic American muscle and steel.
The Bruce Meyer Collection
A special display recognized the collection of longtime enthusiast and collector Bruce Meyer, whose cars span hot rods, sports cars, competition machinery and some of the most significant automobiles in American collecting.
The Manufacturers
Lamborghini Revuelto SV — The newest member of Lamborghini’s legendary Super Veloce family made its world debut at The Quail. It’s naturally aspirated V12 and three electric motors produce 1,050 hp, making it the most powerful production Lamborghini yet. Lamborghini says 0–62 mph takes just 2.4 seconds, with production limited to 1,963 cars.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1 — Gordon Murray’s latest creation takes a refreshingly analog approach: a 4.2-liter naturally aspirated Cosworth V12, six-speed manual transmission and center driving position. Producing roughly 681 hp and revving to 12,100 rpm, the S1 is designed as a more touring-focused counterpart to the S1 LM. Just 64 examples will be produced.
Aston Martin Valen — Created by Q by Aston Martin, the Valen takes the Vanquish formula considerably further. Its 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 produces 838 hp, while extensive carbon fiber and lightweight components trim as much as 110 kg compared with the standard V12 platform. Production is limited to just 150 cars.
Cadillac V-One Concept — One of the biggest surprises of the show. The V-One imagines what a customer-accessible track car inspired by Cadillac’s V-Series R IMSA and WEC prototype might look like. With roughly 830 hp from a hybrid V8 powertrain, it brings Cadillac’s endurance-racing technology to a private-owner track weapon.
Audi Nuvolari — Audi’s new halo car represents a very different side of the brand. The limited-production Nuvolari combines a high-performance hybrid system producing around 987 hp with active aerodynamics, quattro technology, and a carbon-intensive Audi Space Frame. It also translates themes first seen on the Concept C into a production supercar.
Spyker C8 Preliator XXV — Spyker is back, and thankfully it remains as eccentric as ever. The aviation inspired C8 Preliator XXV uses a 789-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8, rear-wheel drive, and a six-speed manual with Spyker’s trademark exposed shift mechanism. Production will be limited to 25 examples.
Porsche Flachbau RS — Built through Porsche’s Sonderwunsch program, this one-off takes a 991-generation 911 GT2 RS and reinterprets the legendary slant-nose Porsche racers of the 1970s and ’80s. Underneath the dramatically reshaped body remains the GT2 RS’s 700-hp twin-turbo flat-six.
Gunther Werks GXR-Evo — Gunther Werks pushed its interpretation of the Porsche 993 even further with the track-focused GXR-Evo. Its naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six produces 455 hp, paired with a six-speed manual, extensively reworked aerodynamics, and a carbon-fiber body. Only 15 cars are planned.
Koenigsegg CCGT1 — Koenigsegg finally revisited one of the great “what if?” stories from its history. The original CCGT was developed to take on Le Mans in the GT1 era, but unfortunately, changing regulations killed the program before it was ever raced. Two decades later, the CCGT1 resurrects the idea as a road-going hypercar, combining a 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing as much as 1,600 hp with dramatic active aerodynamics and styling heavily inspired by the original race car. Production is limited to just 70 examples, all are reportedly spoken for.
Bugatti Destrier-The Destrier is a one-of-one creation from Bugatti’s ultra-exclusive Programme Solitaire. It uses the complete technical foundation of the Bolide, including Bugatti’s final-generation 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 producing 1,578 hp, but replaces the Bolide’s extreme track-focused body and cabin with something much more elegant and bespoke. Bugatti describes the idea as transforming its most extreme engineering package into a “sculpture of speed.”
Trust us when we say this was not a full list of all the reveals that occurred…Its just what we could fit in. See our full gallery for what we missed talking about.
What The Quail Really Is
It would be easy to dismiss The Quail as simply the uber-wealthy end of Car Week, and admittedly there will probably be enough money sitting on the lawn to refinance several small nations.
But that misses why the event works.
The Quail compresses virtually every corner of enthusiast culture into seven hours. A 1930s racing car can sit near a Ferrari F40. Lamborghini can celebrate the Diablo while simultaneously unveiling whatever comes after it. Japanese GT cars can share a lawn with European coachbuilt machinery. Collectors, engineers, designers and journalists can actually stand next to the cars and talk to the people responsible for them.
And unlike many traditional concours events, there is relatively little pretense that the automobile's story ended sometime around 1967.
The Quail celebrates the old stuff because it matters.
It celebrates the new stuff because some of it eventually will.
And in between, a lot of food and booze.
