MONTEREY, Calif.— Pebble Beach. It’s a car-lover’s heaven, and on the third weekend of August the faithful flock to this picturesque seaside venue just to be in the presence of some of the finest cars on the planet.

 This was the 55th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and it attracted vehicles and participants from 26 states and 15 countries. Just over the hill, vintage racers frolicked for four days at the Monterey Historics race at Laguna Seca. Concorso Italiano and The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering, featured two more lawns full of seductive sheet metal.

 Alfa Romeo was the featured marque at Pebble Beach, and the 18th fairway of this famous golf course was home to one of the largest gatherings of historically significant Alfas ever assembled.

 This year, the Concours also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Delage Company and honored Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina.

 Special tribute was also paid to racers Phil Hill, the first American Formula One World Champion, and Stirling Moss, a British driver who, in 1955, won the 1,000-mile Mille Miglia race on the open roads of Italy in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR at an average speed of 98 miles per hour. Moss demonstrated the car for a few laps at Laguna Seca, and on Sunday he drove it across the lawn and up the presentation ramp at the Concours. The car is now headed to permanent retirement at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Germany.

 Best of Show, above, was awarded to the 1937 Delage D8-120 S Pourtout Aero Coupe owned by Sam and Emily Mann and Alfredo Brener of Englewood, N.J. Marcel Pourtout designed the car for the 1937 Paris Auto Show.