I was excited to be invited to 2023 Detroit Concours D’Elegance Media event. It was held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, same location where the actual Concours event will be on September 22nd and 23rd. The event included few classic cars, lots of networking, presentation and – of course – a lunch.
I arrived a bit early to be able to check the cars before everyone else arrived. This was the media event, so obviously there weren’t many vehicles, but some cool stuff was brought in: 2 Rolls Royces, 2 Ferraris, a 1967 Camaro SS and my favorite : Red 1953 Buick Skylark.
Event started with looking at the vehicles and taking some photos. As you might already know, I am more into the domestic cars (which sounds kind of funny, as I am a foreigner. For a Finn all cars are foreign cars – but you get the point – American built cars are my favorites!). So, I was mostly taking photos of the 1953 Buick Skylark,
After looking at the vehicles on display, we moved inside to listen to the presentation. I’ll try to list the main points of it here.
This years Detroit Concours D’Elegance campaign is called ‘Powered by Detroit’ and it honors the people who put the world on wheels by highlighting their vehicles and stories. The big question on the event was : Do People Still Love Cars ? The answer is, yes they do. In the car industry everyone is talking about the autonomous driving, but people still like to drive their vehicles. McKeel Hagerty (who is the CEO of Hagerty and Chairman of Detroit Concours) shared some astonishing numbers : In United States alone, there are over 67 Million Car Enthusiasts and 45 Million Collector Cars – bear in mind that in 2023 US Population is 332 million, so the % for enthusiasts and collector cars is quite high! Which is of course great news for us, who like driving, horsepower and car design.
Below are some of the Highlights:
Hagerty’s upcoming events are:
- Concours d’Lemons (8/19/2023)
- RADwood Detroit (9/16/2023)
- Detroit Concours (9/22-23/2023)
For this year there are some updates for the show. There will be total of 150 vehicles and 21 classes. Ed Welburn (Retired, General MotorsVice President of Global Design) will be The Chief Judge.
Featured Classes:
- Designs of Gordon Buehrig, Featuring the 1948 Tasco Prototype
- 57 Heaven (Cars from 1957)
- Mopar Magic
- Ferraris from the 60s
- American Sports Cars of the ’50s and ’60s
- Concours of America All Stars(Best in Classfrom 1979-2021)
- Powered by Detroit
Celebrations:
- 120th Anniversary of Buick
- 75th Anniversary of Porsche
- 60th Anniversary of Lamborghini
- 60th Anniversary of McLaren
- 120th Anniversary of Harley Davidson
Featured Student : Siddharth Camarushy
Here’s the link to the event website : https://www.detroitconcours.com/ for more details.
