Something’s always brewing in Detroit. Anxious to get back to its glory years, the city continues to play the Comeback Kid little by little, much to the eye rolls of the rest of America. But what these people don’t realize is that Detroit is the barometer for America and, when Detroit goes down, so does America. So, if you were downtown visiting the Detroit Concours d’Elegance, you would have known that Detroit’s right on track.
Historically, the event has been held at the Meadow Brook Hall from 1979-2010. Then the Concours moved to the Inn at St. Johns in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth. In 2021, Hagerty, the automotive lifestyle brand, bought the Concours d’Elegance of America (as it was last called at St Johns) and put on its first production for 2022.
Unlike past Concours, Hagerty made theirs a weekend extravaganza full of automotive events. On Saturday, September 17, there was a Cars & Community event at Comerica Park that contained micro shows like Radwood, Concours d’Lemons, club shows, Hagerty Ride & Drive and Kid Zone. Sunday was the big Kahuna of American concours events, Hagerty’s maiden voyage of automotive history at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The classes were as follows:
- Prewar American Classics
- Cars of Harley Earl
- Cars of Woodward Avenue
- Detroit Autorama
- Prewar European Classics
- Modern European Classics
- Modern Hot Rods
- Limited Production Chryslers from 1950-70s
- Limited Production Fords from 1950-70s
- Limited Production GM from 1950-70s
- Orphan Cars — Postwar Packard
- Orphan Cars — Postwar Studebaker
- American Sports Cars from 1950-60s
- Italian Sports Cars
- Supercars
Take a gander at the below images and see for yourself how Hagerty reimagined the Concours.
Source: www.classiccars.com