St. John Concour July 2013
St. Johns Concour, July 28, 2013 By: Russell GlaceMichigan in the summer, what a cooling relief. The St. Johns Concour, known as the Concour of the Americas, in its 35th year, took place July, 26 28, 2013. The Inn at St. Johns , a former Catholic Seminary, in Plymouth Michigan hosted the event. This location, acres of manicured landscaping and beautiful Romanesque architectural buildings on a 27 hole golf course, brought together over 250 of the worlds finest cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Such a huge complex allowed a very comfortable display of these fine machines. Since its home is in the greater Detroit area, I expected to see Americas finest, and did. One of the more impressive displays was GMs Corvettes. They featured their latest offering, the new Stingray. It was surrounded by all the different model styles from the C-1 through the C-6. All were in the same livery, white over red. Seeing them all together showed the progression from day one to the present date. In addition, they featured several race prepared examples. The next display of note was the Electric Cars These went back to 1889 with the Edison Electric through the 2014 Fiat 500c, Chevrolet Volt, ChevroletSpark, Cadillac ELR, and Nissan Leaf. There were 19 different models on display. In addition to these impressive displays, St. Johns also displayed the London to Brighton class, Gaslight Era 1906 19014, Jazz Age 1915 1927, Auburn/ Cord One-Offs, Detroit Iron, Indiapolis Iron, Racing through the Ages, Supercars, Vintage Nascar, Jet- Age Convertibles, and The Great Race Classes. All in all, 27 different classes were gathered on one site. It appeared the real estate was not an issue, with plenty of room to expand if needed in the future.
In addition to the Concour dElegance, RM had a major presence for their July 27th, 2013 auction. They featured 79 lots, see www.rmauction.com for their results. The bidding was brisk and plentiful; almost all lots were sold above their reserves. Most of the offerings changed hands, some at negotiated amounts after the sale concluded.RM held a preview and cocktail party Friday night in the main ballroom of the hotel, itwas well attended. Saturday morning featured several seminars, Hagerty Looks underthe Hood at the Class of 63. , and Mercedes- Benz Pagoda & 600, sponsored by M-B USA. I attend both, the Hagery panel of experts fielded questions, mostly about present and future values of our classic cars. The Mercedes expert JudgeMichael Salami, did a good job explain the differences in the 2 series cars, W113 body style.
After the concour it was time to head back to the humidity and temperatures in Florida. I had wondered about all the bad news coming out of Detroit, and how tranquil St. Johns had been, be careful what you wish for. On the way to the airport my navigator, with the help of ourGPS girl Sere, miss directed us. Our mistake, we didnt put in the correct airport code. This mis-direction put us squarely in the heart of Detroit. It looked like a war zone, burnt out buildings, and destruction as far as the eye could see. What a sad commentary for the once thriving city. Its so bad, theres nothing to save. I see why the city wants to bulldoze the inner-city and start over. We dared not stop, and finally found our way back to the main highway and airport.
This concour, previously held at Medowbrook, the Dodge Brothers Estate, is an important part of our national shows; I would give it a solid B.