Hagerty cancels The Detroit Concours for 2024

[mdsalemi]

Sometime in 2021, Hagerty acquired the rights to what was the Concours of America, and formerly the Meadow Brook Concours. The latter was formed by a group of wealthy local car collectors with impressive collections, and ostensibly ran as a charity to raise funds for the Dodge mansion called Meadow Brook.

Meadow Brook Concours, in its heyday was one of the "big three" along with Pebble Beach and Amelia Island. Whereas Pebble is in a class by itself, and Amelia had the notable Bill Warner at the helm, Meadow Brook suffered under a number of directorial challenges, financial woes due to being "nickel and dimed" by the venue host and the vagaries of the local auto industry (bankruptcies, changes in marketing policies and sponsorships, etc.) before finally rebranding itself as The Concours of America (at St. Johns) and moving to a much friendlier and geographically smarter location. It did quite well there for a number of years, albeit with continuing directorial challenges, mostly self created by the BOD.

Then came Hagerty, and they moved it to an urban location: downtown Detroit. One of the first things they did was essentially remove all prior volunteers that had the street smarts and local experience. Having been one of those volunteers for years when I lived in Michigan (I was in Car Selection, Driving Tour Organization, and wrote placards) I can tell you that it's hard to place a value on "institutional knowledge". These volunteers were essentially told they weren't needed. There goes all the experience.

They ran for two years, but the latest news is "we've put the brakes on", but remain committed to fueling the city's car culture. That's a non-sequitur; it's hard to fathom commitment when the primary vehicle for such commitment is cancelled. There will not be a 2024 Detroit Concours.

I would expect that a group of like minded individuals might surface to create another Concours in the Detroit area (though probably not downtown Detroit) for 2025. Around 2005, there was a Cranbrook Concours, that ran for three years, was highly regarded, and abruptly stopped. Maybe something like that will emerge.

https://detroitconcours.com/

[ghenne]

Concours of America was a first class event - I really enjoyed going to that.

Last year, many of the people at Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance said they would have normally gone to CoA, but were happy at Cobble - it has very much the same feel and the same quality cars.

https://www.cobblebeachconcours.com/

[Benz Dr.]

Concours of America was a first class event - I really enjoyed going to that.

Last year, many of the people at Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance said they would have normally gone to CoA, but were happy at Cobble - it has very much the same feel and the same quality cars.

https://www.cobblebeachconcours.com/

It was also held on the same weekend as Cobble Beach. Even that show has problems with location and time of year. 

[mdsalemi]

It was also held on the same weekend as Cobble Beach. Even that show has problems with location and time of year.

I would suggest, with the utmost respect for our Canadian friends and neighbors, that the dates and existence of the Cobble Beach concours didn't even enter into anyone's consideration for the Detroit Concours.

Here's a bit of background, albeit summarized: for many years when it was known as the Meadow Brook Concours, there were some rumblings from the collector community that the event was too close to the Pebble Beach show. So, at some point, the organizers moved it back, a week earlier, to allow some time between the two. More on that in a moment...

The date chosen for the "new" rebranded-by-Hagerty "Detroit Concours" was to coincide with the new reformulated NAIAS; North American International Automobile Show. So, that's how the Hagerty Detroit Concours ended up with the September date, to provide two automotive experiences around the same time in the same generalized area.

Now, a bit on the NAIAS: once the largest auto show in North America, it was held in January, and was the kickoff of, for lack of a better description, the Detroit Social Calendar. (see note below). January was a good time, weather in Detroit not withstanding. New cars just introduced for the model year were given an opportunity to shine as they were starting to make their way to showrooms, and cars about to be introduced were previewed. It worked. As time went on the show lost relevance due to changes in the industry, but also due to other shows gaining prominence, such as NY, Washington, LA and others that were once small regional shows. Then the nails in the coffin: massive structural changes in the auto industry, and giants like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and more all backed out. That then engendered the question of why are we asking journalists from around the world to come to Detroit in January?

Well, the NAIAS in January ran through 2019, and a smaller show was planned for the summer of 2020. Covid squashed that idea for 2021 as well, and it finally re-emerged as a smaller show in September 2022--in concert with the new Detroit Concours. It should be noted that the NAIAS is back again with January 2025 as the date. That January date wasn't so bad after all...

In Detroit, as in many other cities, the social calendar for the year began in January with the Charity Preview of the NAIAS. This was a black tie affair, and anybody who is anybody was there. Tickets were costly ($200-$400 each) and profits benefitted local charities; millions of dollars was raised on this event, and most of the local industry titans and corporations were sponsors. I went there with my wife as a guest of Ford Motor Company once; my neighbors would frequently go as guest of one of the automotive suppliers.

Many of the best cars that came to the Concours of America, and Meadow Brook, were owned by some of the country's most notable and wealthy collectors. These were the likes of Ralph Lauren, Joseph Cassini, Bruce Meyer, Peter Mullin, etc. When they suggested to the COA that a date change would be good, they did it to allow more time between events. A Concours is not just a Sunday show, but there was usually an auction and other events tied to the main event, and one needed time to get the cars from point A to B, and to partake in the activities. On more than on occasion, a car on display at COA went to one of the Pebble Beach auctions and time was required for that.

So, the NAIAS is back to January, 2025. I would hope that another major Concours event emerges for 2025 for the Detroit area. Time will tell.

[Benz Dr.]

The Detroit show was well aware of the Cobble Beach show. This date change pissed off a lot more owners than you might first imagine but there were other problems too.
They dismissed most of their voluntary helpers which wasn't smart but rightly or wrongly, not everyone wants to go to downtown Detroit.

I showed at the Willistead Manor show back in the early 90's in nearby Windsor Ontario. Nice show that politics took out. All of these shows face external threats that few ever see.