The Detroit Concours d’Elegance has announced 17 classes representing 140 historically significant vehicles will take the field at the Detroit Institute of Arts on Sunday, Sept. 18, while a Cars and Community event will be conducted the previous day at Comerica Park.
The weekend of events from Sept. 16-18 is an all-new, weekend-long tribute in Detroit to the people who designed, built, and drove American car culture, and to the vehicles at its heart.
The weekend of events will take place throughout the city, and complimentary and ticketed activities include new-vehicle showcases, ride-and-drive opportunities, and exclusive experiences as well as Saturday’s family-focused Cars and Community and Sunday’s Concours d’Elegance.
On Sept. 17, Comerica Park’s parking areas will be transformed into Cars and Community, a family-friendly celebration of the automobile. The event will feature three unique shows in one, including RADwood, a celebration of 1980s and 1990s lifestyle, blending period correct dress with automotive brands.
The Saturday event will include Concours d’Lemons, a motoring festival designed to celebrate the oddball, mundane, and unexceptional of the automotive world as well as a curated Cars and Caffeine, designed as a showcase for local car clubs. Youth will enjoy spending time in the Kids Zone, featuring racing simulators and more.
The show is owned by Hagerty, an automotive enthusiast brand based in Traverse City that offers integrated membership products and programs as well as a specialty insurance provider focused on the global automotive enthusiast market.
“Sunday’s Detroit Concours will celebrate many of the vehicles that put Detroit on the global map,” says Matt Orendac, vice chairman of the Concours Group. “Our team has chosen themes that will resonate with local automotive enthusiasts as well as grab the attention of car lovers from across the globe.”
The 2022 Detroit Concours featured classes include the “Cars of Harley Earl,” in honor of General Motors Co. in Detroit and the industry’s first styling chief. The class will showcase the automotive designs that helped lift GM to a place of global industry leadership during Earl’s tenure as the Vice President of GM styling.
Another class, “Cars of Woodward Avenue,” celebrates the iconic muscle cars that rolled along the historic roadway. The “Detroit Autorama” featured class consists of customs and one-offs from the golden age of “America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show” that began at the University of Detroit Mercy almost 70 years ago.
Drawing exclusively from cars produced in the 1950s and 1960s, Limited Production Chrysler, Limited Production Ford, and Limited Production GM will offer a fascinating display of automobiles built in relatively small production numbers and concept cars.
In turn, two classes of Orphan Cars will provide a glimpse into the postwar models from Packard and Studebaker.
Additional classes include prewar American Classics, prewar European Classics, European Modern Classics, Midwest Hot Rods, and American Sports Cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Classes representing Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati will offer examples from the 1960s and 1970s from each Italian automaker. Modern Supercars will round out the list.
The Detroit Concours d’Elegance builds on more than four decades of world-class automobiles, fine dining, exceptional hospitality and impactful community giving. Its heritage can be traced to the Meadow Brook and Concours of America events held beginning in 1979.
Vehicle nominations for the Detroit Concours d’Elegance are open to the public here.
For more information about the Detroit Concours d’Elegance, visit DetroitConcours.com
