Pebble Beach Concours Hands Leadership to Vince Finaldi as Younger Collectors Reshape Classic-Car Elite

Pebble Beach's 34-Year Sandra Button Era Ends With a Succession Test

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Monterey week fixture that decides which preserved or restored automobiles earn the highest honour in the classic-car world, is entering one of the most delicate handovers in its history. Sandra Button, who has run the concours since 1992, will step down as chair on 1 October and become a brand ambassador. Her successor is Vince Finaldi, a 51-year-old Monterey attorney and restoration-shop owner who is comparatively unknown among the international collectors who place their cars on the field.

Button has been the event’s institutional memory and personal bridge to owners described in the source as billionaires, real-estate magnates and pharmaceutical executives. The competition is not open entry: a 16-person selection committee sifts more than 1,200 applications each year and actively discourages hundreds of unsuitable submissions. The 220 invited vehicles are judged for authenticity, original condition, restoration correctness, elegance and design, and a best-of-show victory can add substantial resale value. The source cites last year’s winning 1924 Hispano-Suiza, sold for US$9.2 million in 2022 and now estimated near US$12 million after its Pebble Beach recognition.

The event has also become a commercial anchor for Monterey’s automotive week. Hagerty, the specialist insurer, supplies coffee, caps and multimillion-dollar policies to participating owners. Local motels quadruple daily rates and impose four-night minimum stays, while the five largest Monterey auction houses consolidated US$432.8 million in sales last year. The concours itself raises more than US$4 million annually for local charities and draws about 20,000 spectators to the golf links.

The challenge facing Finaldi is demographic as much as operational. A younger car culture shaped by video games, influencers and investment groups favours Lamborghinis, Ferraris, McLarens and other modern-era supercars, while Pebble Beach’s official classes remain dominated by vehicles built before 1970. Finaldi has named parking, official merchandise and social media as immediate priorities, and this year the event will for the first time open the third fairway on Sunday to dozens of Lamborghini Miuras marking the model’s 60th anniversary.

Why Finaldi's Modernising Push at Pebble Beach Carries Real Market Risk

The Button Succession Is a Relationship Risk, Not Just an Operational One

Because Button’s authority rested on decades of personal trust with famously private collectors, Finaldi’s low profile is the core vulnerability. The article describes a network stretching from India to Argentina, built on remembered birthdays and even pet names. That relationship capital cannot be transferred by title. If owners sense that the event’s standards or etiquette are drifting, they can withdraw to private displays, auctions and rival concours, and the prestige that underpins values would weaken.

Finaldi’s Modernisation Targets Experience, Not the Judging Field

Finaldi’s early agenda is narrower than a full generational overhaul. He has criticised the concours’s social media presence, called the US$550-per-person entry experience too expensive for many families, and wants parking and official merchandise to match automotive culture. That suggests changes will first be felt at the perimeter — ticketing, digital reach, branding — rather than in the judging rules. The delicate question is whether those changes can attract younger spectators without loosening the pre-1970 standard that makes a Pebble Beach win valuable.

The Supercar Boom Is Already Being Served Around Pebble Beach

Younger enthusiasts are not waiting for the concours itself. Peripheral events such as The Quail, Concorso Italiano, Motorlux and Werks Reunion already cluster around Monterey and absorb the demand for modern collectibles and supercars. The planned Miura gathering on the third fairway is a visible gesture, but it is not an official judged class. That structure lets the concours acknowledge the younger market while preserving its traditional judging core — and may be the most realistic template for Finaldi’s first years.

What the Market Is Telling the Concours

Classic-car values are increasingly set by auction results and investment-grade indexes such as the K500, not by enthusiast clubs. The Monterey week’s US$432.8 million in auction sales and the value uplift cited for the Hispano-Suiza show why a concours win carries commercial weight. That gives the event leverage, but also pressure: if Pebble Beach’s relevance fades with younger money, the auction ecosystem and insurers such as Hagerty would feel the shift. The event’s charitable haul and local motel premiums are further evidence that the handover is a business decision, not merely a ceremonial one.

What Collectors, Entrants and Brands Should Watch After the Handover

What the leadership change means in practice:

• For prospective entrants and restoration owners: The official route remains a pre-1970 vehicle judged for authenticity and originality. The selection committee receives more than 1,200 applications and discourages roughly 1,000, so the practical target is an exceptional, documented restoration of a historically significant model — not merely a rare or expensive car. A win can materially raise value, as with the 1924 Hispano-Suiza cited at US$9.2 million before its Pebble Beach recognition and roughly US$12 million after.
• For owners of 1960s–2000s supercars and modern collectibles: Do not expect the main concours to become a supercar showcase immediately. The Miura display on the third fairway is a non-judged anniversary feature. Owners should look to the peripheral Monterey events — The Quail, Concorso Italiano, Motorlux and Werks Reunion — that already carry the supercar audience.
• For sponsors, auction houses and Hagerty-linked businesses: The commercial centre of gravity is holding: the five top Monterey auctioneers sold US$432.8 million last year, and local lodging already imposes four-night minimums. Watch whether Finaldi’s social-media and merchandise changes lift ticket and brand reach without diluting the event’s exclusive image, because that will determine whether the week’s spending continues to grow.
• For collectors watching market signals: The Miura 60th-anniversary attempt — expected to exceed the 20 cars Lamborghini assembled in Italy in May — is a concrete sign that 1960s Italian supercars are gaining institutional recognition. That does not mean the concours is abandoning its pre-war core; it means the surrounding market is broadening.