The Concours d’Elegance of America is one of the top events in the calendar in the USA.  Perhaps not to the level of Pebble Beach, but it is certainly up there with events like Amelia Island.   Being in Detroit, gives it a unique flavor is there are normally historical concept cars from the big three on display.   This year was no different with the GM Firebird concept cars from the late 50s.

As far as I can tell, the core classes remain the same, but some special classes vary each year.   For example, this year they had a class for cars from 1958, Plymouth, Porsche, The Coachbuilder Rollston, Mercedes 300SL and others.    As with last year, the highlight for me was the cars from the Art Deco period.    Not only are these cars stunning, but the top cars had technology that was truly cutting edge for the day.   This includes vehicles from Bugatti, Delahaye, Delage, Duesenberg, Packard, Cadillac, Marmon and others.

The 2010 event was held at Meadow Brook, and some time between now and then it has moved to the Inn at St John.   The Inn is a nice venue too, but it doesn’t quite match the elegance of Meadow Brook.   It also means spectators must be bussed from remote parking sites.   As a frequent business traveler, I have little patience for shuttle buses.   One nice touch was that Hagerty were giving out free sunscreen and sunglasses.   Hagerty are a USA based classic car insurance company.  I used them when I lived in Detroit for my 250SE Coupe and Jaguar.

The great thing about this event for me is that it features cars that one does not see in Australia.   You also get to see them drive up to get their awards, and hear the drag cars start up.   There are so many great cars to look at, I was able to drain the battery in my camera.   That was before I had even looked at the historic racing Porsche’s.

It was good to be back in Detroit after 7 years.   Even better that it was the weekend of the Concours d’Elegance of America.

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The museum has two parts, the public exhibits over three floors and three basements with cars not in the current collection.    You can do a tour of the basement for an extra charge, although for some reason photography is prohibited.   Despite that, the tour is well worth it and you’ll see a range of really interesting cars from horseless carriages, custom cars, race cars, Saddam Hussein’s W100 600 and so on.   This is also how they can keep the upstairs collections fresh.

The highlight for me was the display of the pre-war French cars, Bugatti, Delahaye, Delage, Voisin etc.   These are some of the most beautiful cars ever manufactured and this is an amazing collection of them under the one roof.

As the museum is near Hollywood they also feature celebrity owned cars, and cars that have been in movies or TV shows.   For example, the De Tomaso Pantera that was shot by Elvis Presley is in the basement.

I only had two and a half hours there which is not really enough, but the museum is well worth it for anyone who has a few hours in the Los Angeles area.

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As usual it was a good day, despite the cold and I was able to see a ~1908 Delage that drove under its own power from Bankstown, as well as the some of the usual nice French cars that turned up.   The electric DS also was in attendance and usually had a crowd of people gathered around to see how it worked.  Due to the cold weather, attendance was down a little from 2014.

I also got to speak to a gentleman who is pretty sure he owned my car in the late 70s and was the one who installed the radio antenna.   He is going to send me a photo of the car from around 1977.   It is great to be able to put a piece of the puzzle of the car’s history together.

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