Not long after adding the immodestly named Concours d’Elegance of America to its ever-expanding collector-car portfolio, Hagerty has announced a new location for the Detroit area showcase. Beginning in 2022, the event will be staged at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Not only is the 43rd annual event moving from the suburbs to the city, but from July to September.
“We’re announcing two meaningful changes today – rescheduling from July to September and repositioning from the suburbs to downtown,” McKeel Hagerty, chief executive of the insurance and car culture company that bears his family name, is quoted in the news release.
“This move honors Detroit’s heritage as a hub of commerce, industry, design and culture. We couldn’t think of a better place to recognize the automobile than the Detroit Institute of Arts. It, and its 65,000 works of art, serve as the perfect backdrop as we celebrate the automobile – another signature achievement of mankind.”
Known locally as simply the “DIA,” the art museum on famed Woodward Avenue is globally known for collections that include the seven Diego Rivera frescoes, the Detroit Industry murals commissioned by Edsel Ford, one of the DIA’s founders.
One of the DIA’s current exhibitions is “Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City,” which has been extended through early January 2022.
The Concours d’Elegance of America was founded as the Meadow Brook Concours in 1979 and was held on the grounds of the former Dodge family estate north of Detroit until moving after 2010 to Plymouth Township, west of Detroit.
This latest move, to September 2022, fits the concours into a Detroit calendar that has other major automotive events taking place along Woodward Avenue in August and September.
Hagerty joins in launch of Bicester Scramblers
In England, Hagerty UK has joined Bicester Heritage to launch the Bicester Scramblers car club at the former RAF flight-training center that has been turned into a collector car facility.
“We are constantly looking for ways to add value to our clients and this latest partnership with Scramblers delivers on that,” said Lee Mathewson, managing director of Hagerty UK.
“Our new Membership provides classic car owners with the chance to immerse themselves in the action at Bicester Heritage, continuing the magic of our acclaimed Scramble events at our new monthly member ‘Assemblies’,” added Philip White of Bicester Motion.
The Assemblies are themed members-only events held monthly at Bicester Heritage.
“Joining forces with Hagerty to redoubles our efforts to encourage regular classic car use and to be the beating heart of this great industry, welcoming enthusiasts from far and wide to Bicester Heritage.”
Big turnout for Carlisle GM Nationals
Aaron Kaufman and a fan
The pent-up demand for in-person collector car events resulting from us all being shut in by the coronavirus pandemic continued to unfold as the recent Carlisle GM Nationals car show drew more than 20,000 visitors to see 1,026 vehicles on display, the most since records were set in 2014.
Special displays included the Solid-Lifter Showroom, an H-Platform and Vega array, a showcase of Novas, the Corvettes for Chip gathering, GM engine swaps, a Comic-Car Con, and even former Gas Money Garage star Aaron Kaufman.
Though busy after flying in from the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Kaufman signed hundreds of autographs and selected a 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne as his “celebrity choice” award winner.
Next up for Carlisle Events, the Chrysler Nationals set for July 9-11.
AACA opens new headquarters
The Antique Automobile Club of America welcomed the first visitors to its new headquarters and library building in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with around 130 members of the Pierce-Arrow Society stopping by. The group is one of 11 marque clubs that houses its literature collections at the AACA Library & Research Center.
Meanwhile, the AACA Museum reports that three buses from its collection are on their way to movie sets to provide vintage transportation for future films.
Road America hosts its 50th Trans Am
The Trans Am race staged during the Fourth of July weekend in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, was the 50th such event for the Road America circuit, where the pony cars first competed in 1970 with Mark Donohue scoring back-to-back victories in a Roger Penske-campaigned AMC Javelin.
Since then, Trans Am races have been staged at the Wisconsin venue annually except for 2006-2008.
Aston Martin Festival sets records
The Aston Martin Heritage Trust’s centennial celebration of the brand’s oldest-surviving vehicle, the “A3,” drew 681 cars, a record for any gathering of Aston Martins, the company announced. The event was held at the Burston Polo Club near Southam, Warwickshire.
Aside from the A3, displays included examples of nearly every period of the company’s 108-year history, and several one-off examples, including a V8-powered Cygnet.
Hot Wheels Legends goes live in Miami
The Hot Wheels Legends Tour resumes live and in-person events July 10 from 8 a.m. until noon at the Walmart Doral parking lot near Miami, Florida. Among the featured vehicles will be such Garage of Legends icons as Twin Mill, Bone Shaker, Deora II and Midas Monkey.
“The competition intensifies for this fourth North American stop, as tons of cars will be accepted and reviewed by an expert panel of judges,” according to the Mattel news release. “This team will consist of Hot Wheels designers and Miami automotive influencers, including Hot Wheels die-cast graphic designer Leeway Chang, automotive visionary Elo of Miami Supercar Rooms, John Temerian of ‘We Are Curated’ and Maximilian Trullenque of Cars & Coffee Miami.
“As always, each judge will be looking for authenticity, creativity and, most importantly, garage spirit in determining which custom fan build has the chops to potentially be immortalized as the next 1:64 die-cast Hot Wheels toy.”
Concorso Italiano supports golf event
If you’re on the Monterey Peninsula early in Car Week this August, you might want to join Concorso Italiano in its support for the Wings of Humanity golf outing at the Black Horse course where the car event takes place August 14.
The 4-person scramble starts at 9 a.m. on August 10 and supports Wings of Humanity’s charity that flies children in need of special treatment to hospitals and specialty physicians at no cost to the child’s family.
Debutants at Goodwood Festival of Speed
Several automakers, and others, will use the resumption of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, scheduled for July 8-11, to unveil their latest vehicles. Among them will be Maserati, with the dynamic debut of the MC20, which the Italian company says will herald the start of Maserati’s new era. Also being unveiled is the Aston Martin Valkyrie and MissionH24, a joint-venture Le Mans prototype race car by Michelin and fuel-cell producer Symbol, which is a joint-venture between Michelin and automotive supplier Faurecia. Michelin plans to use endurance racing as a test bed for its development of tires made from 100 percent sustainable materials.
Meanwhile, Pininfarina will make its own debut at Goodwood with its presentation of the Battista electric hyper GT as part of festival’s “Electric Avenue.”
The festival also will showcase its Future Lab with such topics as “Beyond infotainment,” “Ultimate racing simulator” and a look at sustainable fuels.
Collector Car Appreciation Day is July 9
Don’t forget: July 9 is Collector Car Appreciation Day and celebrating car shows will be staged throughout the weekend, here and abroad. Click here for the full list.
2021 car show and concours calendar
The following are dates currently set (but subject to change) for a variety of concours d’elegance, car shows and driving tours scheduled during 2021:
July
8-10, Iola Car Show, Wisconsin; 8-11, Goodwood Festival of Speed, UK; 9 – Collector Car Appreciation Day; 9-11 – Carlisle Chrysler Nationals, Pennsylvania; Goodguys, Columbus, Ohio; 10 – Steam Day, Seal Cove, Maine; DeutscheMarques, Hickory Corners, Michigan; RADwood, NorCal; 11 – Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Hickory Corners, Michigan; Simply Land Rover, Beaulieu, UK; 11-16 – AACA Vintage Tour, Lock Haven/Wellsboro, Pennsylvania; 12-17 — International Ford Retractable Club 50th national convention, Strongville, Ohio; 16-17 – Horseless Carriage Club, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 16-18 – Street Machine Nationals, St. Paul, Minnesota; Hillsborough concours, California; 17 — Philadelphia Concours d’Elegance, Pennsylvania; Albaugh Classic Car Show, Ankeny, Iowa; Simply Vauxhall, Beaulieu, UK; 17-18 – Classic Nostalgia, Shelsley Walsh, UK; 18, The Great Car Show, Kansas City; Classics on Main Street, Forest Grove, Oregon; Simply Ford, Beaulieu, UK; Corvette Envy, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 21 – Woodward Dream Cruise, Michigan; 22-24 – AACA Grand Nationals, New Ulm, Minnesota; 23-25 – Concours d’Elegance of America, Michigan; Goodguys Pacific Northwest, Payallup, Washington; 24 – Mopars At the Red Barns, Hickory Corners, Michigan; Rolling into Roanoke, Indiana; 25 – Simply Japanese, Beaulieu, UK; Ultimate Truck Show, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 31 – Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional, Linconshire, UK.
August
1 – GM/Chevy Show, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 5-8 – Motor City Car Crawl, Detroit; 6 – Concours at Pasadera, Carmel Valley, California; 6-8 – Carlisle Truck Nationals, Pennsylvania; 7 – Red Barns Spectacular, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 7-8, Supercar weekend, Beaulieu, UK; 13 – The Quail, Carmel Valley, California; 14 – Lincoln Homecoming, Hickory Corners, Michigan; Concorso Italiano, Seaside, California; 13-15 – Goodguys Great Northwest Nationals, Spokane; 14-15 — AACA car show, Lindsay, Ontario; VW T(ransport) Chill, Beaulieu, UK: 15, Pebble Beach Concours, Monterey, California, 15 – Graham Walker Run (vintage motorcycles), Beaulieu, UK; 19 – EyesOn Design, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan; 20-22 – Goodguys Great American, York, Pennsylvania; 21 – Woodward Dream Cruise, northern Detroit suburbs; Back to the Bricks, Flint, Michigan; Relix Riot (hot rods and customs), Hickory Corners, Michigan; San Marino Motor Classic, Pasadena, California; 22 – Simply Mercedes, Beaulieu, UK; 24 – Import Showcase, Seal Cove, Maine; 26-28 – Corvettes at Carlisle, Pennsylvania; 27-29 – Goodguys West Coast, Pleasanton, California; 28 – Automobilia: Art & Design, Carmel, Indiana; RADwood, Chicago; 28-29 – Taste of Motorsports, Portland, Oregon; 29 – Pierce-Arrow Gathering, Hickory Corners, Michigan
Have an event to add? Email details to [email protected].
