SEASIDE >> Monterey Car Week isn’t completely about prestigious, exotic vehicles. Sometimes, it’s about the beat-up car in your garage that’s been collecting dust for years.

Concours d’Lemons has been celebrating these “lemons” for the past 15 years and has become an event to show-off otherwise overlooked vehicles during Car Week. Entrants come from different parts of the state to participate in the sold out show, bribe judges and hopefully win the coveted “Worst of Show” trophy.

“This show gives a home to cars that don’t have a home elsewhere during Monterey Car Week,” said founder Alan Galbraith. “And what we’ve found is that people are just as passionate about these cars as they are out at Pebble Beach on Sunday, sometimes more so.”

In theme with the car show, the idea for the event came to be because Alan Galbraith is a self-proclaimed “snarky jerk.” Galbraith had been attending the Concours d’Elegance for around 30 years, when he realized it would be fairly easy to sneak a car, specifically a Pinto station wagon, in through the back gate.

Of course he didn’t attempt a break-in, “but that idea stuck in my head … it started off as a little bit of a joke to put a thumb in the eye of the establishment but what we quickly found is that it’s something much more than that.”

In this show, judges look for cars that are “the most offensive, the most interesting, with good stories,” according to judge Tim McNair. He will also be judging Sunday’s Concours d’Elegance, which has a very different grading rubric. “This is my warm-up,” said McNair.

“This is just fun, it’s tongue-and-cheek,” he said. Part of the job of a judge, according to McNair, is to offend the owners during the judging process. Part of an entrant’s responsibility is to make the judge’s job even harder through various bribes which can include but are not limited to: brownies, liquor, cookies, fake $100 bills and more.

“We’re here to have fun, just goof around and look at some really crappy cars,” said McNair.

“This brings back a lot of good memories, it brings back a lot of smiles. The owners share a lot of great stories and it’s all about fun,” said Galbraith.

One of these stories is Jean Novick’s, who was presenting a 1967 DAF 33 pickup truck. Originally from the Netherlands, the car heralded the age of automatic transmissions in Europe.

Novick and her husband had their first date in the car in the 1980s.

“We love this car show, we’ve been here many times,” said Novick. “It’s just silly and so it’s very enjoyable and you get to meet a nice combination of locals and other folks.”

Habitat for Humanity also had a car on the lawn Saturday morning, borrowed from Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado to raise awareness for one of the organization’s projects. The Toyota Prius is hard to miss, painted all over by local elementary school students.

“We’ve done other shows this week so we were really happy to be involved with this. It’s a great show,” said Allie Wilson, volunteer and event coordinator for the nonprofit. Wilson was on the lawn to promote the Cars for Homes program, which uses car donations to build affordable housing in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.

Salinas local Captain Hughes showed off his 1941 Dodge Hooptie, which was originally owned by his grandmother.

Hughes has participated in each Concours d’Lemons since its founding in 2009, and after so many years, “I’ve run out of Lemons,” he said.

Last year, he debuted a newer Cadillac but the general consensus was it wasn’t lemon-y enough. For this year’s show, he decided to go with the Hooptie, or Business Coupe, which only seats two and has space for “a party in the back.”

“Lemons is about having fun. They always say that, but it’s true. It’s your daily driver that you’ve had since the 80s,” said Hughes. “That’s what makes it great … people aren’t scared to drive them around (and) get on the grass.”

Steven Mandell presented a 1955 New Map Solyto, which he had shipped to him from France, along with seven other vehicles, 10 years ago. The model was mainly used as a delivery truck. It has a 123cc two-stroke single cylinder engine that turns with the front wheel.

Mandell has been working on restoring the three-wheeler for about two months and although it’s a passion, “the last two months have been hell. I’ve been working on it everyday, usually eight hours a day and believe it or not, I did have it running a couple weeks ago.”

According to Mandell, the carburetor has been on the fritz the last few weeks and isn’t able to drive more than 50 feet, but he’s confident he’ll get it driving again.

When it came time to figure out which car to bring to the event, Mandell looked around his collection, saw the Solyto that had been collecting dust for 10 years and thought: “that one’s a piece of junk, that would be good!”