Monterey Car Week has so much to offer that it is difficult to legitimately label any one event with a convincing superlative. That said, the 2026 Legends of the Autobahn was most likely Thursday’s coolest event. And that was before we even started looking at the amazing registered Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes covering fairways one, two, three, eight and nine.
The cars, people, and weather were cool at Legends of the Autobahn
Regardless of your favorite Autobahn chariot, attendees were greeted by a day of all four seasons at Pacific Grove. There is some debate as to whether we’re going to call that precipitation “heavy mist” or outright rain. Umbrellas and a sudden run on rain ponchos at the merchandise tents suggest the latter. Either way, with temperatures loitering in the low 60s all day, it made for a beautiful day devoid of the heat that sometimes shortens attendance for many event-goers.
Instead of birdies and eagles (and intrigued deer) being featured on the fine kikuyu grass, it was all about horses. (That might not be entirely accurate, as some of the cars like the Kirksey’s popular BMW 600 and a beautiful BMW 700 combined for less than 60 horsepower.) Between the three featured marques, there were 350-plus cars there in either Display or Judged classes. Additionally, there were 800-plus spectator cars scattered among the adjacent fairways of the beautiful Pacific Grove Golf Links course.
This 40 Years of BMW M3 line-up from BMW (and Ryan Danco!) included some pretty special models. Can you spot the unique ones?
For BMW fans here, the 40th anniversary of the M3 did not disappoint. BMW USA presented a beautiful row consisting of examples from each of the seven existing generations. It was anchored with an E30 M3 contributed by Ryan Danco for the day. Six cars from the BMW USA collection finished out the line-up, capped with a stunning Imola Red example of the G80 M3 CS Handschalter. As it drove off, you could hear more than a few people recognize it and ask somewhat rhetorically, “Is that a manual?!!” to which you might reply, “That’s THE manual!”
Automotive artist Rae Roberts came in from Arizona to finish painting Jade Huntington’s car in from Connecticut.
We’ve seen a lot of displays and activations on the lawn at Legends over the years. This has included more than a number of talented artists setting up “shop” in front of a car and then spending the day capturing it in a painting. Now, to them artist Rae Roberts can ask, “Sure, you’ve painted a car at Legends, but have you painted a car at Legends?” Roberts recently got a head start on the project–hand-painting a livery onto Jade Huntington’s E46 M3.
Jade Huntington looks on as Rae Roberts adds some finishing touches to his E46 M3 at the Continental Tire booth.
The Continental tire-clad M3 took center stage under the yellow Continental tent. Just as Legends officially opened, Roberts began the final touches–carefully incorporating her design onto the still-naked hood. Huntington was often close by, watching with excitement as this unique project came to life (and completion) as the day evolved. This wasn’t just a show piece or museum tenant; Huntington then drove the car from Monterey down to Southern California Sunday and will have the car at Bimmer Invasion in September before–he hopes–getting to enjoy it back on his home roads in Connecticut.
There were fantastic cars from Audi, Mercedes, and BMW. Halfway through the morning, every single Lotec Sirius arrived on the lawn–all one of them–rumbling through with its Mercedes V-12 under its rear bonnet. The Mercedes fairway was also punctuated by a small fleet from CMS Motorsports in Southern California. They made the sojourn up to Monterey with a bevy of new builds, some of which were completed “SEMA-style” hours before the event, looking as though they came from the factory like this.
Mercedes also had historic cars that many would not come across at any old show and some of the latest (or soon to be latest) Mercedes and Maybach examples. Audi had wagons (Avants!), coupes, sedans and more. The highlights for many four-ring fans were the UR Quattro and cars with racing pedigrees. It had to be one of the largest showings from Mercedes and Audi clubs. It’s clearly a trend any automotive fan will appreciate in coming years.
While many BMW registrants brought M3s out to align with the theme, there were certainly other great examples. The usual row of 2002s will never get old, no matter how… old they are. Most of those examples are more than 50 years old seeing plenty of pavement getting to Legends and (presumably) back home. A red M1 will always garner attention, but this year, it sat next to other red royalty: a Z1 and a Z8.
Seemingly almost every model old and new was represented on the lawn. A row of E9 coupes that sure looked “judged-class-worthy” stared back at the row of 2002s. One specific E9 did enter the judged classes and certainly made its presence felt. It won so many awards, it seemed like it would start claiming trophies from Mercedes and Audi, too. Indeed, it did take home Best of Show along with Best BMW Coupe, Best BMW, and People’s Choice. Congratulations, Keith Zaky!
The BMW Performance Center Driving Schools were popular all day. Legends attendees could receive 20% discounts off of most programs–an event greater one-day discount than the 15% discount BMW CCA members receive.
The sponsors continued to be fluidly integrated into the day. While they would likely all enjoy sales, it’s clear they’re there as part of the community. Drew Manley of Cooled Collective certainly sold plenty of his works but he was enjoying talking with everyone about their interests. The BMW Performance Center was popular, too, perhaps because on that Thursday, you could get a 20 percent discount off most of their programs.
Legends continues to be the diamond in the rough for Monterey Car Week. Some might still want a little gatekeeping here, yet even that won’t keep even more great energy with more cars from its participating clubs’ members and more great sponsor support. And some rain here and there.
