It’s just before 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Sarasota, Florida. The sun has made it over the Tabebuias and palms on its way to highs in the low 70s under blue skies. Folks have started to gather on the sidewalk outside of Starbucks on St. Armands Circle in anticipation of the arriving Ferraris and other exotic motorcars that are about to descend on the landscaped grounds at the center of the Circle. There’s a cacophony of conversation and the clinking of cups that drifts through piped-in classical music when the first notes of an F430 Scuderia approach.

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The weekend began, as it does every year, with a cocktail reception and fashion show benefiting the Child Protection Center. It was held at the Rectrix Aerodome, a jetport on the grounds of SRQ. A few showcase cars are in the hangar amongst the crowd sipping champagne, sampling a delectable spread and admiring beautiful people flaunting local fashion. Many of the guests brought their own Ferraris and collectibles that were parked outside of the hangar on the runway (The Tengerdys were represented by a 1990 Mondial T Cabriolet, a 1985 Rolls Royce Silver Spur, and my chariot for the evening: a pristine 1967 Volkswagen Beetle). For a car guy — nee for anyone who appreciates the finer things in life — there is little in this world that compares to standing at the end of a runway, just beyond a field of beautiful high-end automobiles, watching private jets take off into the night, talking to a gorgeous model with a glass of champagne in my hand. I need no further evidence of God.

Automotive highlights for me were the first up-close interactions with a 1966 Lamborghini 350GT that remained one of my top cars over the weekend (it, like most of the cars at the jetport, were also exhibited on St. Armands the following day). It’s a black/tan car that, while not perfect in its restoration, is truly a rare gem to behold. Only 120 cars produced between 1963 and 1966, The 350GT was designed by Touring and employed the company’s legendary Supperleggera construction that fixed aluminum-alloy panels directly to a tubular structure. The engine in the 1200 kg 350GT was the 3,464 cc 60° DOHC aluminium V12 designed by Bizzarrini. It was a very capable powerplant that could reach 350 bhp and featured side-mounted carburetors to reduce the height of the engine.

At the other end of the spectrum, Rolls-Royce Tampa Bay had on display the new Phantom Coupé. The car showed very nicely in its garnet paint with the optional ($11K!) brushed steel bonnet and saddle hides. This is the car that Jessica, the aforementioned gorgeous model, wanted me to buy her. And with good reason: This sexy beast (220 in., weighing over 2,500 kg) is at once seductive, masculine and opulent, with its rear-hinged doors, split-tail picnic boot and starlit roofliner; it’s glamorous without being ostentatious (well… perhaps just a little). What really struck me was how good everyone looked sitting in it. Everyone, from the sophisticated older gentleman to the stylish Swedish couple to Jessica all appeared as though Ian Cameron designed the car around us. Underneath all the refined aesthetics and luxury is a stiffened up body driven by a 6.75 litre V12 putting out 425 bhp and a massive 720 Nm (530 ft./lbs.) torque, making it a surprisingly sporting drive, an undeniable benefit of BMW parenthood. Further BMW influence is evidenced by a 25% increase in fuel economy, compared to the Drophead developed just two years ago. The Phantom Coupé is unparalleled and, at nearly $450,000 in show kit, it should be. Alas Jessica, there may be a rapper in your future.

By 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning, organizers Gary and Marilee Roberts and steward Ali Haas had the cars arranged in and around the Circle like a garden with blooms of steel, rubber, glass, and carbon fiber. Ferraris, mostly new but some vintage, other Italian sports and exotics, British cars, a couple Mercedes SLRs, and a few random makes here and there adorned the park. I was judging the vintage Ferrari class which included three beautiful 246 GTs, a 250 PF Cabriolet and Coupe, a 365 GTC4, and — not sure about this reasoning — an F40. Points aside, my favorite was Dennis Bosch’s lovely original 246 GTS. The doors have been resprayed, but the car is otherwise as it was in 1974. It is a US car so it did not have the flush turn signals or headlamp enclosures of a restored Euro-spec “chairs & flares” cars that it was being judged against, but it honesty far outweighed any aesthetic shortcomings. On points however, the best was the dove gray 250 PF Coupe restored to a high standard. It wasn’t a Pebble Beach restoration, but then the PF coupe is probably not a Pebble Beach car. My Most Interesting Award has to go to a Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner that was on the perimeter. Having never seen one before (nor had Sarasota’s Bentley mechanic), it was a rare spotting to say the least. Only 56 Turbo RTs were built between 1997 and 1998. Of those, only a handful were Mulliner editions. Beyond its rarity, the car is beautiful and aggresive. It’s not unlike the Arnage T that came a few years later, but it’s perhaps a bit more elegant in its stance due in part to the longer (211 in.) chassis derived from the Turbo RL. The 2,400 kg Turbo RT was powered by a 6.8 litre Rolls-Royce V8 producing 400 bhp. This particular car was finished in a British Racing Green with matching diamond-stitch hides with a turned aluminum dash and interior accents. Absolutely stunning.