2015 Concours D'Elegance of America at St. John's - THIS WEEKEND

Coming up this weekend!

By Steve Purdy
The Auto Channel
Michigan Bureau

Recognized as one of the three most prestigious classic and collector car shows in America – along with Pebble Beach and Amelia Island – the Concours d’Elegance of America at St. John’s in suburban Detroit promises to continue that tradition with close to 300 cars in more than two dozen classes along with peripheral events throughout the weekend in which car fanatics can get immersed.

RM/Sotheby’s will hold another of their high end collector car auctions on Friday and Saturday, the Automotive Hall of Fame with host their annual induction dinner on Thursday evening, an admission-free Autobahn Night German car show on Friday is presented by Kip Sheward Motorsports, Hagerty Insurance will host a Motoring Tour on Friday morning . . . and the list of events goes on. This is just a sampling.

A Concous d’Elegance, for those unfamiliar with the concept, is an exhibition and competition for classic and collector cars, race cars and other things vehicular. Vehicles participate by invitation and fit into certain classes and featured marques. Judging is accomplished with experts evaluating competitors in great detail naming a Best-in- (each) Class as well as Best-In-Show, along with designating a variety of special awards.

Featured classes this year include:

Ferrari Competition Cars
Vintage Bentleys
Pierce Arrows of the Classic Era
Bonneville Streamliners
Hearses
Auto Show 1955
1980s Dream Cars
Early Japanese Sports Cars
Bizzarrrini Spyders

This Concours covers parts of the golf course at the Inn at St. John’s, a 1920s monastery converted into a convention facility. Highlighting the day, the class and special award winners pass in review under a canopy of trees to the narration of experts. We never fail to learn something new about cars we thought we knew all about. Unique to this show is an exhibition of historic women’s fashion from the collection of Margery Krevsky. Beautiful models step out of special cars as Ms. Krevsky describes the outfit and its history.

Automobile fine art plays a big part in the show as well. A large tent houses gallery-like displays of the work of some of the finest artists in the world for whom the automobile is a central theme. Many are members of the prestigious Automotive Fine Art Society like Tom Hale and Jay Koka. Mr. Koka produced this year’s poster.

Hagerty Insurance will present a free seminar on Saturday exploring the topic of investing in factory drag cars.

So, if you are in the area, this is the show to attend. In fact, if you only want to attend one car show in a season, this is the one to attend. Each car will have a ‘story board’ in front of it with basic information about the car, its history and other details, much like annotations at a museum.

The Concours d’Elegance happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 26 at the Inn at St. John’s on Five-Mile Road in Plymouth, MI. Admission is $35 at the gate and nearby parking with shuttle is free.

All the details are at: www.concoursusa.org