There was very little to beat the first few runnings of the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco.
The Principality was near empty as it wound up towards the F1 event, you could book hotels at prices less ludicrously detached from the real world, and anyone could ease their way into the Rascasse bar to buy a drink and rub shoulders with the great and good.
It was all the good bits of Monaco with none of the battery-chicken hell of the F1 weekend. It was even sunny some of the time.
And when it was all over, you could sit on the terrace enjoying a final coffee before departure and watching the endless train of massive trucks trundling down the hill like an invading army as it geared up to the rather more vulgar weekend ahead.
More than anything though, those happy days will stay with me forever because of a single incident that lasted for probably less than a minute.
In 2000, there was a real buzz about the event and it tempted out some fantastic machinery as owners took their best toys to Monte Carlo.
Among them, the last time it was raced, was the ex-Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196. A genuine Silver Arrow, the only one out of captivity.
