Gunther Werks Dinner
Monterey Car Week
August 15, 2024
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I consider the Gunther Werks dinner the quiet chapter in the middle of Monterey Car Week—the part where conversation takes the lead. On Thursday, August 15, 2024, the venue moved to Folktale Winery in Carmel, a shift from last year’s undisclosed spot and a good fit since Folktale would also host Gunther Werks gatherings over the following days. The guest list was tight by design: customers, a few regional dealers, and the executive team—led by Peter and Cecilia—circulating to meet owners, compare notes, and put faces to builds. The tone was hospitality first: cocktail hour rolling into dinner, with time to introduce people and let stories travel naturally across the table.
I left the big camera behind and kept a low profile, grabbing a handful of frames on my iPhone so as not to be obtrusive. The room was deliberately dim, with spot highlights used more for mood than presentation. A small selection of showpieces served as conversation starters rather than a formal program: two Speedsters in different shades of blue, and a Turbo powertrain staged under lights so you could study packaging and cooling paths without a crowd. That ambience dictated the pictures: vignettes over wide scenes, details where the light pooled—carbon-fiber catching a narrow beam, an edge reading cleanly, hands sketching a body line mid-sentence. The gallery leans into that intimacy: faces in mid-conversation and the quiet cues that explain why these cars feel personal to the people who commission them.
Around the tables, talk naturally settled on the force-fed Turbo program, the Speedsters on display, favorite roads, delivery-day moments, and what’s next on the calendar. No engineering walk-throughs—just clear intent from leadership and time for owners to trade experience with the people who steer the program. In the week’s arc, the dinner sits neatly between the crowds at The Quail and daylight at the Folktale Showcase. It sets the tone: craft framed by hospitality, community in close quarters, and an evening designed to let the work—and the relationships behind it—speak.
