Former Pebble Beach chief judge Ed Gilbertson reveals his biggest treasures

Avid motorcyclist, long-time Ferrari owner, and former chief judge at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

1. These California licence plates are what’s known as ‘vanity plates’. I kept 166 MM when I sold the car, and it now rides on our 1999 355 F1 Spider Fiorano. The GT Lusso plate was passed along when our ’64 250 GTL was sold. The very appropriate ‘California Spyder’ plate was retained when I sold my 1960 250 GT Spyder California and it later went, for a princely sum, to another California owner.

2. I bought my first power tool, a Craftsman drill, at the Sears Store in Fargo, North Dakota, when I was 11. After 70 years and a lot of use it still works perfectly.

3. Sherry and I got married in July 1971. I’ve always liked skulls and my wedding ring is a skull (she went for a more traditional one). It is custom-made in silver, with a 0.25 carat diamond in each eye socket. I still wear it every day.

4. I love my stringback leather driving gloves – purchased around 1980 at Nordstroms on Market Street in San Francisco – and use them when driving my Ferraris, Shelby Cobra and hot rods.

5. The only picture of our wedding day, with our 1966 BSA 650 Lightning just after being married by a Justice of the Peace in Monticello, New York. I handed the camera to a hippy kid passing by and asked for one shot. It turned out well; only later did we notice the church in the background.

6. In 2015, after retiring as chief judge at Pebble Beach, I formed the International Chief Judge Advisory Group to encourage fair and consistent judging based on originality and authenticity, without deducting for evidence of use – cars are meant to be driven! Today ICJAG works with over 30 shows in 12 countries.

7. Because I am a committee member of the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA), Fred Simeone invited me (and others) to be contributing authors for The Stewardship of Historically Important Automobiles, one of the first books on preservation. In 2013 it won the International Historic Motoring Award for an automobile publication.

8. I owned my 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta Touring for 22 years, but did not have the very rare bolts made by Ferrari showing the prancing horse, which were used only for the very early cars. This was given to me in the 1970s by a Texas friend.

9. In 2017 I celebrated 34 years of honorary and class judging at Pebble Beach, where I’m also a senior member of the selection committee. I’m extremely proud of the judge service awards, with an extra bar for every five years of service.