The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance was founded in 1950 as an adjunct to the Pebble Beach Road Race, a race event sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America and conducted on a circuit of closed public roads. The 1950 and 1951 Concours were held on a practice tee and driving range adjacent to the Beach Club, near the Del Monte Lodge (now known as The Lodge at Pebble Beach). Thirty cars were exhibited on November 4, 1950, and a smaller field of 23 on May 27, 1951. In 1952, the event moved to the 18th green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links, between the Lodge at Pebble Beach and the Pacific Ocean, overlooking Carmel Bay.
The Concours has continued annually since 1950 with one missed year: in 1960 the show was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Heavy rain in 1963 and 1965 made the lawn area unusable, and cars were shown at the old start/finish line of the road race, near the horse stables now known as the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center. In 2001 a new category for preservation cars was introduced, designed to "bear witness to the passage of time", including the so-called barn find car. The 2006 event featured 175 cars from 27 states and 13 countries with a total estimated value of US$200 million; the field was reduced from 227 cars in 2005 to allow more time for judging. In 2009, classic motorcycles were included for the first time under the theme of pre-1959 British Motorcycles. The Concours received the 2011 Motoring Event of the Year award by the International Historic Motoring Awards. The 70th event, originally scheduled for 2020, was deferred to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prospective entrants must submit an application for each car, and the field is selected from the annual pool of applicants. Many collectors spend years and hundreds of thousands of dollars purchasing and restoring a car in hopes of being chosen. Accepted cars cannot be re-entered for ten years, with three exceptions: ownership of the car has changed, the car has been restored, or the featured marque is obscure and the selection committee chooses to invite cars to provide a healthy representation. Many competing cars are valued in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. The event is the centerpiece of over 50 related events spanning more than a week, including vintage racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (formerly the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, now the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion) and classic car auctions. Approximately 15,000 spectators attended the 2012 event.
The Best of Show award is given to the overall winner chosen from the three highest-judged vehicles across the entire event and is considered the most prestigious award achievable at any car show worldwide. Several Elegance Awards are also presented: the J.B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car, Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible, Jules Heumann Most Elegant Open Car, and Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car. Honorary judges — individuals who have made significant contributions to the automotive industry or motorsports — award a number of subjective awards to recognize standout vehicles regardless of class ribbons, as well as memorial awards created to honor specific automotive industry personages.
Since 2008, Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony Digital and creator of the Gran Turismo series, has presented the Gran Turismo Award to the participant vehicle that stands out as exemplary, whether for rarity, quality of restoration, or stunning appearance; the owner is offered the opportunity to have their car featured in the Gran Turismo series. Yamauchi also serves as an honorary judge for the main awards. In 2021, the Gran Turismo Award went to a 1969 Ferrari 512 S Berlinetta once driven by Jacky Ickx and John Surtees, owned by Swiss-based Frenchman Pierre Mellinger. The French Cup, established in the 1980s, is given to the most significant car of French origin; in 2021 it went to a 1937 Delahaye 135 M Chapron Cabriolet owned by Tom McGough Sr. and Tom McGough Jr. of North Oaks, Minnesota.
World-renowned luxury and supercar brands use the event to officially debut new models and showcase future concept cars, with many manufacturers maintaining their own corporate display building for the duration of the event. Participating brands have included Aston Martin, Acura, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Cadillac, Corvette, Czinger, DeLorean, Ferrari, Ford, Hennessey, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Lucid, McLaren, Pagani, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, SSC, and others. The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport was revealed at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours.
The event hosts the Pebble Beach Auctions, an auto auction centered on high-end vehicles valued in the millions. In 2022, the auction's total sales reached $469 million USD.
The proceeds of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance have supported the United Way of Monterey County and the Pebble Beach Company Foundation for a combined 56 years, and also support a number of other local and national organizations. The 2016 event raised over $1.75 million, and the Concours has given more than $23 million to charities in total.
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