Hagerty announces plans to host next year’s 43rd annual Concours d’Elegance of America in Detroit and to move it from the heat of July to a potentially more moderate September date. The hub of this 2022 “multi-location experience” will be the Detroit Institute of Arts, the “cultural epicenter of the country’s automotive capital,” promoters say.
“This move honors Detroit’s heritage as a hub of commerce, industry, design and culture,” says Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty. “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.”
It will raise the count of major Detroit-area auto events expected to be held in September 2022 to an unprecedented four: Motor Bella and the American Speed Festival at Pontiac’s M1 Concourse (Sept. 21-26 and Sept. 27-Oct. 3 this year), plus a revived downtown Detroit Auto Show at Huntington Center (formerly Cobo Hall) and now the Concours d’Elegance of America at DIA.
After encountering a CEO who predicted Hagerty – a Traverse City, MI-based automotive lifestyle and membership company and the world’s largest provider of specialty insurance for enthusiast vehicles – would be put out of business as personal transportation moves to electric and autonomous in coming years, company leaders decided to do whatever they could to save America’s car culture and driving. “Our car culture is very much about history and events,” McKeel Hagerty says at the June 30 announcement, “and we realized there are a bunch of events that need to be preserved.”
Among the special cars (and one motorcycle) displayed at the press event – a small sample of the 250 expected at this year’s 2021 Concours d’Elegance of America being held July 23-25 at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, MI – were a rare and gorgeous 1924 Delage GL Skiff Torpedo Dual Cowl Phaeton by Labourdette (pictured, above), a 1942 Harley-Davidson UL with Goulding Rocket Sidecar, a 1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE Hardtop, a 1976 Ford Bronco, a 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 Coupe, a 2020 McLaren Senna and a 2021 Ferrari Monza SP1 (pictured, below).
In addition to specialty insurance for enthusiast vehicles, Hagerty bills itself as an automotive enthusiast brand offering integrated membership products and programs. Among these are the Hagerty Drivers Club, Hagerty DriveShare, Hagerty Valuation Tools, Hagerty Media, MotorsportReg and Hagerty Garage + Social.
Hagerty now owns an expanding portfolio of auto events, including Michigan’s Concours d’Elegance of America, Florida’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance and the California Mille. It describes its 650,000-member Hagerty Drivers Club as “a hub of car culture providing unique experiences, entertainment, branded content, social communities and special offers focused on cars and driving.”
