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Inaugural Concorso Arizona canceled

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The planned inaugural Concorso Arizona scheduled for January 2018 during Arizona Car Week has been cancelled by its Scottsdale promoters, Scuderia Southwest.

No reason for the show being “postponed indefinitely” was given in a news release from partnering sponsor Russo and Steele collector car auction, which announced the cancellation of the event.

The concorso was to be held January 13, 2018, on Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Casino and Resort on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, just east of Scottsdale and adjacent to the Russo and Steele auction site.

Inaugural Concorso Arizona canceled | ClassicCars.com Journal
The annual Concours in the Hills is organized by Scuderia Southwest | Larry Edsall

The pullback of the Concorso Arizona follows the cancellation of the highly regarded Arizona Concours d’Elegance that was held for four years on the lawns of the world-famous Arizona Biltmore Resort. Although cancelled for 2018, the Arizona Concours d’Elegance could resume in future years, according to its organizers.

Despite its Italian name, Concorso Arizona was to be a showcase for vehicle brands from around the world, with classes for American, English, French and German marques, among others, as well as those from Italy.

Drew Alcazar, chief executive and co-owner of Russo and Steele, expressed disappointment at the decision from Scuderia Southwest.

“Our staff, sponsors and event partners devoted an enormous amount of time, energy, operational support and resources in contributing to the initial launch of the Concorso Arizona brand,” Alcazar said in a news release.

“Needless to say, we are extremely disappointed in Scuderia Southwest’s decision to not move forward, not only for our organization and affiliates, but also the entire collector automobile enthusiast community both here in Arizona and abroad, as it leaves 2018’s Arizona Car Week without a premier, internationally recognized Concours event.

“We certainly wish Scuderia Southwest the best and hope they can regroup, restructure and then fully execute for the 2019 season.”

Scuderia Southwest hosts several other classic car events in Arizona, including the annual Concours in the Hills in Fountain Hills, the annual Festival of Speed in Scottsdale and the monthly Scottsdale Motorsports Gatherings.

A spokesperson for Scuderia Southwest was not immediately available for comment about the Concorso cancellation.

 

 

Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen is a longtime automotive writer and editor, focusing on new vehicles, collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. He is the former automotive writer and editor for The Arizona Republic and SPEED.com, the website for the SPEED motorsports channel. He has written free-lance articles for a number of publications, including Autoweek, The New York Times and Barrett-Jackson auction catalogs. A collector car enthusiast with a wide range of knowledge about the old cars that we all love and desire, Bob enjoys tinkering with archaic machinery. His current obsession is a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe.

1 COMMENT

  1. Evidently the festival of speed is offline also. Maybe the concorso was contemplated as sort of a successor event. Hard to complain since we get this for free.

    Still, it would be great to have some sort of kickoff to auction week.

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