concours

Norman Mayersohn’s guide to summer destination car shows includes the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance near Owen Sound, Ontario.

Spanning a broad range that includes formal concours d’elegance in country club settings as well as impromptu parking-lot cruise nights, there are gatherings to satisfy most enthusiasts.

In the center of the city, organizers of the Detroit Concours were able to remove some of the physical and financial barriers of exclusivity, making it more accessible to residents.

On one side of the lot was the Concours d’Lemons, which draws models like the AMC Gremlin, the Ford Pinto, the Chevrolet Vega and other oddball vehicles produced mainly during the nadir of the American auto industry in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The location, however, was anything but typical — the Concours d’Elegance was held for the first time at the Detroit Institute of Arts, a Beaux-Arts museum in the heart of America’s Motor City.