This year I accompanied SF attorney, Dennis Birkhimer as his co-driver in the Colorado Grand. A few months ago he bought a very fine 1957 Alfa Romeo 1900 Zagato coupe from Craig & Bunny Davis in Pebble Beach. We sent the Alfa by truck to Vail, where the Grand started. Although the Alfa was in good condition, it hadn't been run much in recent years. That fact colored and in some way enhanced our Colorado adventure.

Our SF-based "team" included TV's Tim Allen, who shared a car with Eric Zausner of our city. Jerry Seinfeld was there with his one of his Porches, but since he and Allen are competitors, we didn't see much of Jerry.

The 1000-mile trek in Colorado is divided into four days, starting in Vail, and overnighting in Snowmass, Durango, Telluride, and back to Vail. At the end of day one, we were in a garage in Snowmass struggling to make the Alfa Romeo run right. Unsuccessfully.

Day two was spent in our rental car, but after that things looked up. Neil Hathaway of Louisville, Kentucky owns a 1954 Edwards prototype, a sports car built here in San Francisco by Sterling Edwards, a successful local businessman and car enthusiast of that era. He planned to build them for sale in small quantities. In the end, only five were produced. Hathaway had brought the car to Colorado following an extensive restoration. I hoped he'd let me drive it.

But first, I wanted to drive the 2004 Maybach 57, which event sponsor Mercedes-Benz had brought along. Maybach, a fine German car brand of the past, has been revived by Mercedes-Benz as a $300,000 challenger to Rolls Royce. Each new Maybach is built to order (you don't buy them from stock), with the customer selecting from a wide range of colors and leather.

The Maybach 57 (5.7 meters long; another model, intended to be chauffeur-driven, is 6.2 meters long and called the Maybach 62) is a big car – about like the Cadillac Fleetwood of a generation back. But it's no old-fashioned car. It's a technological marvel, with a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine (good for 155 mph, and blinding acceleration) and every passenger convenience you can imagine.

Somehow my words can't convey the experience of driving this car. It’s so quiet, competent, quick and subtle that you're almost unaware that it’s functioning. You accelerate faster than most Corvettes, almost without sound, and very smoothly. And once you're on the open road any speed – 80-100-130-150 is easy and quiet. Road-holding and brakes are equally able and unobtrusive. Can you tell I was very impressed?

Now remember Neil Hathaway, owner of the San Francisco-built 1954 Edwards sports car prototype? He wanted to drive the Maybach, so I traded seats with him and drove the Edwards back to Vail. The Edwards, like most historic sports cars, feels old, but charming. It's powered by a Cadillac engine of the era, and a hydramatic transmission. If you're old enough, you'll remember those old jerky-shifting automatics. The style is 50s Italian-influenced modern; less chromy than American cars of the era, but not as lithe and lean as the Italians.

I started by calling the Edwards charming, then told you its foibles. You may wonder how that adds up to charm. For me the charm is a product of a more naive time, with all the defects of the period. Later cars were much, much better, but often feel like products of a dehumanized machine age, rather than a very human struggle to create a workable machine.

While I was driving the Edwards at about 70 mph, a front tire blew out. We brought the car to a safe stop. The Maybach soon pulled up. Turned out the Edwards had no jack. The Maybach jack worked, but we had to wait for the AAA to get a lug wrench that fit. Luckily, the spare tire had air in it.

When we started the 1000-mile drive, I looked forward to enjoying the Alfa Romeo 1900, and a visit with Dennis. I had no plans to drive the Maybach or the Edwards. I've always thought that the unpredictability of the old cars made travels with them extra interesting. The 2003 Colorado Grand re-confirmed that.

San Francisco Auto Show Tip: I always go to this show, which runs from November 23-30, on Thanksgiving morning between about 10 AM and noon. No crowds at that time, easy parking around Moscone Center, and you can actually see and sit in the cars.