THE WOW OF THE ROAD: It isn't all that often we spy a gleaming-of-fender, swooped-of-line automobile out on the highway, the sort of car that trails history and design and luxury in its wake. But when we do we tend to spend a mile or two talking about it, or at least thinking about it, pondering its beginnings, and the owners who've tended to it over the decades, and what it might be like to handle a rare artwork that just happens to come with its own engine. Truly, the freeway becomes, briefly, a museum, for well-made, magnificently imagined automobiles are gems worthy of prominent placement in a prominent institution. If this pumps your gas a bit -- catching a '20s-era Rolls Royce or '50s-cool hot rod zoom by you, suddenly, out on a back road -- then consider the whooshy feeling you may gain from seeing 300-plus artworks all in a veritable row. You don't need to find that magical back road to enjoy this singular car-tastic experience; you only need to make for La Jolla's Ellen Browning Scripps Park on the second Sunday in April. That's...
SUNDAY, APRIL 10... and the happening is the 12th annual La Jolla Concours d'Elegance. "Celebrating French Curves" is a theme, so if fenders with French lineage are your obsession, be sure to eye all of the autos set to roll into their ocean-close spots. The mondo day of the three-day weekend is the Sunday, but there are car-nice gatherings on April 8 and 9, too, including a BMW Tour d'Elegance on Saturday. The big Sunday to-do will include a craft beer garden (and a wine garden, too), as well as vendors and other on-the-scene additions to enhance the auto-awesome experience. What's your favorite way to admire your favorite car? Seeing it in motion, briefly, on the freeway? Or getting the chance to linger next to it, for several minutes, as you eye the doors and dash and how it commandingly fills the space it occupies? We suspect, for many people, the answer is "both," but both opportunities come along pretty rarely. La Jolla on April 10, 2016 is one of the big ones, so rev your engines in advance of the weekend now.
