Monterey Motorsports Festival 2024

Updated on Sep 4, 2024

Monterey Car Week, held every August, is known for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, among other car centric activities that draws thousands of people to the seaside town in Central California. While sipping champagne in a sport coat and bowtie is a favorite tradition of some, there is another side to Car Week. One that is more accessible to the general public and welcoming to families.

Now in its second year, the Monterey Motorsports Festival is a one-day celebration held on 22 acres of the Monterey Fairgrounds, which aims to bring everything automotive to a less exclusive audience than what you would see at the Quail. This year’s event attracted nearly 7,000 people and had everything from trucks and exotics to heavy machinery and even a helicopter as some of the more than 250 vehicle entries.

With a late morning kickoff and a show that lasted late into the evening, the Monterey Motorsports Festival was full of great vehicles and regularly scheduled parade drives of different vehicles throughout the day. Live workshops and demos, along with interesting expert panels on the main stage were complimented with live music. We were especially interested in the OVRLand Outpost that features off-road vehicles and the sprinkling of cool trucks throughout the show.

As we walked around the fairgrounds, soaking in all the great vehicles, revving engines and the mechanical sounds were constantly playing in the background as we found ourselves walking around with fellow enthusiasts. Read on to see a few of our favorite builds and for more information on the Monterey Motorsports Festival, point your browser to www.montereymotorsportsfestival.com.

Inside the 2024 Monterey Motorsports Festival

The Monterey Motorsports Festival takes place on 22 acres of the Monterey County Fairgrounds and attracted almost 7,000 people for this year’s one-day event.

1962 Jeep FC-170

This 1962 Jeep FC-170, owned and built by Roy Wallace, debuted in the RealTruck booth last year at the 2023 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Thanks to a unique custom tray bed built by Summit Expedition Trucks, the build envisions a vehicle that could chase the famous Baja 1000 race as a support vehicle while simultaneously living out of it.

Powered by a Chevy 5.3L LS V-8 and backed by a 6L80 transmission and paired with an NP208 transfer case, the FC-170 uses an upsized Dana 60 front axle and a GM 14-Bolt rear axle with Yukon 5.13 gears to turn 38-inch Falken Wildpeak R/T tires.

The tray bed makes for a great platform to mount the spare, on-board air, traction boards, and even the ladder used to access the rooftop tent.

Inside the weatherproof and securable canopy is additional storage space for tools, recovery gear, cargo boxes, sliders, and even a 12-volt fridge.

TruckHouse BCR

Another truck that caught our eye was the massive BCR from the team at TruckHouse. While this truck might look like just another adventure vehicle, it's actually hiding some secrets under the shiny exterior. The habitat, which is mounted on a RAM 4x4 chassis cab outfitted by American Expedition Vehicles, is actually made from carbon fiber, making the truck much lighter than its competition.

Hidden underneath the BCR’s habitat is an innovative mounting system that attaches it to the frame of the truck, but allows everything to flex independently, ensuring that even the most hardcore trail won’t tear the camper apart.

Inside the BCR is a lightweight, luxurious, and space efficient interior that is designed to be as flexible as it is durable. It can easily accommodate up to four and it would be our first choice to take on a long backcountry adventure.

Land Cruiser 100-Series and Rubicon 392 from OVR Magazine

Our partners at OVR Magazine curated the OVRLand Outpost space, bringing a bevy of interesting overland rigs to the show. Here you can see their Land Cruiser 100-Series and Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 projects.

International Scout

This vintage International Scout was a super clean rig on its own, but outfitted for adventure with a rack, lighting, roof top tent, winch, and custom bumpers made this one of our favorite vintage adventure vehicles at the show.

Chevy C-10 "Big Window"

Here is a rad ’63-’66 Chevy C-10 “Big Window” that was proudly displayed with the patina it has taken a lifetime to earn, while the interior upgrades make this one comfortable where it counts. We were ready to grab the keys and take it for a ride down the coast.

Robinson R66 Helicopter

As if trucks and exotics weren’t enough, the Monterey Motorsports festival even had a helicopter on display. This Robinson R66 drew a crowd throughout the show.

1966 Chevy El Camino

The ruby-colored paint on this ’66 Chevy El Camino was absolutely flawless, highlighting the tremendous amount of bodywork that went into getting this classic looking perfect. The lowered stance was just right rocking its vintage look, but modern fitment, wheel and tire package.

Scarbo SV Rover

If you’ve never seen a SCARBO SV Rover hyper truck, you are missing out. More trophy truck than Defender, the SV Rover combines insane off-road performance in a street legal package. We aren’t sure what our favorite feature was, but the 1,100-horsepower rear-mid-mounted engine was at the top of our list. Unique front fenders are attached to the front suspension and move with the wheels.

Body-Dropped First-Gen Silverado

This body-dropped ’98-’07 Chevy Silverado pickup instantly brought us back to the early 2000s and club-run truck shows. The taller HD hood and monochromatic paint scheme allowed the big rollers to pop and all we could think about was hitting the switches.

Ford F-150 Muscle Truck

Our favorite sleeper of the show was this late-model Ford F-150 regular cab. The wheel and tire package was the only thing that hinted at the Ford Performance supercharger lurking under the hood and on top of the 5.0L Coyote V-8. With four-wheel drive and over 700hp on tap, we are pretty sure it was capable of surprising more than a few exotics at the show.

Wrapped Tesla Cybertruck

Yep, it’s a Cybertruck with a wrap.

Heavy Steel Area

The Heavy Steel area of the show had all sorts of heavy equipment that kids of any age could climb aboard and pretend to live out their childhood dreams of leveling a mountain. Who doesn’t love a little excavator time?

Ford Cab Over Engine (COE)

This vintage cement mixer, based on a Ford COE truck from the late ‘40s, was another great example of a vehicle you wouldn’t be able to experience anywhere else.

Kids Entertainment

While piloting the vehicles on display at the show were left to the big kids, FMS brought out an RC track and their latest truck for the little guys to play with.

Mecum Auction Overflow

The backlot of the fairgrounds was used as overflow for vehicles sold at the nearby Mecum Auction. Throughout the day vehicles were added and we found this trio particularly interesting and reminiscent of our youth, as it consisted of a classic Dodge Ram Charger and two vintage “Dentside” Fords from ’78 and ’79.

Live Entertainment

Live entertainment battled with the sounds of V-8s and exotics all day, making for a fantastic soundtrack playing in the background all day.

US-Legal Land Cruiser 70-Series

This might look like a Land Cruiser 70-series pickup truck, and part of it is. This truck’s body has been mounted to a US-spec Land Cruiser 80-series chassis, keeping this rare treat legal here in the US.

700HP Supercharged Fox Factory Silverado

Another treat at the Monterey Motorsports Festival were two of the recently released Fox Factory turnkey Silverado super trucks on display. With a 700hp supercharged 6.2L V-8, 14.5-inches and 15.5-inches of front and rear wheel travel, and 37-inch tires covered in carbon fiber fenders, this truck is made to go up against the best factory super trucks on the market.