Welcome to Pebble Beach, the world's most respected classic car show

Today it’s the 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but on Sunday the focus will be on cars, not golf, as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance recognizes the best in classic cars.

The Concours is regarded as the preeminent competition of its kind in the world, where owners of the rarest, most desirable cars from years gone by compete at the highest level.

While the competition actually began in 1950 in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Road Race, it was not until 1952 that the event was moved to the 18th green at Pebble Beach, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That first event in 1950 had 30 cars in competition, and this year we’ll see over 200 vehicles in a range of classes.

But what exactly happens during the competition Sunday? To find out, we spoke to Marek Reichman, chief creative officer at Aston Martin, who will also be an honorary judge at Pebble Beach this year.

For Reichman, it all starts at around 5 a.m. “Dawn parade — all the cars go into the 18th green to set up for the Concours. There are no people really other than the owners setting their cars up, or their car handlers,” he says.

“We then meet as judges at 9:30, we get out our judging criteria [and] part of the criteria is that your car is usable and drivable, so they’ve gone on a mini tour,” Reichman notes of the judging process, which includes the tour that happens on the Thursday of competition week.

Then on Sunday, the judges pick the best in class out of around 10 classes. Each winner then goes forward for the potential to be crowned the overall winner, known as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show.