Summer 2026

122 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 The crowd goes wild and confetti flies at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in celebration of the Best of Show win- ner—a 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo shown by Penny and Lee Anderson, Sr. of Naples, Florida. Photo: Kimball Studios/Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Giving back to the local community matters to event organizers, who recognize that residents must navigate busy roadways during annual car events. to the show field. Enthusiasts were also instrumental in establishing the Pebble BeachTour d’Elegance and the tradition of awarding green ribbons to cars that complete the scenic route. A car show of this magnitude might seem like a top-down event, but Button credits supporters for providing decades of valuable input. “Our event is so organic that most of the ideas for featured marques and the direction of the show come from the car enthusiasts themselves,” she says.“It’s really a reflection of what people are currently collecting and what they love.” Other classes at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours include pre-World War I American Speedsters, Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale, and Ferrari, which became the first ongoing postwar featured marque at the Concours starting in 1973. Special exhibits will spotlight Ferrari’s overall Le Mans winners and Vignale-bodied road cars. The Sunbeam 1000 HP, the first car to achieve a land speed record of 200 miles per hour, will be traveling to Pebble Beach from the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England. It is the vehicle’s first U.S. appearance in a century, and it comes after nearly four years of careful restoration work. Though the car’s engines haven’t run in about 90 years, experts restarted the rear engine in early September before setting to work on the front one. Button has been trying to bring the Sunbeam 1000 HP to Pebble Beach since the early 1990s. For even longer, she’s been expanding the Pebble Beach Concours’ charitable footprint. When Button joined the team in 1986, total philanthropic giving had not yet reached $1 million. In 2025 alone, the gathering generated a record-setting $4 million that was distributed through its main charitable partner, Pebble Beach Company Foundation. That brought the fundraising total to $45 million since the first Concours in 1950. Organizers hope to raise $5 million in donations, and top the $50 mil-