Hagerty Acquires Greenwich Concours

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Not sure if that is a good thing or not, but it looks like the Greenwich Concours as well as the Manhatten Sports Car and Chowder Society will now be owned, funded or managed by Hagerty.  

[1937hd45]

They do advertise "antique" insurance on the radio, so they must be a fairly large company now. Need to call them about covering my 1912 Model T. Bob 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

We have had good service for nearly 20 years Bob.  Easy people to work with..

[Walt G]

Henry Austin Clark Jr. and Bruce Wennerstrom were the owners of the Madison Avenue Sports car Driving and Chowder Society and Bruce was the head of the Greenwich Concours, so after Austin passed away Bruce had control of MASDCS , Bruce has passed so so it looks like his heirs(?) have sold off or perhaps passed off  the assets??? Can anyone confirm?

Edited September 11, 2019 by Walt G
spelling error of a name (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

I wish the Hagerty family good luck, nice to see established parts of the hobby continue. Bob

[mercer09]

Manhatten Sports Car and Chowder Society ....

 

that is too funny!  do the pinkies go up or down?

[philip roitman]

On 9/10/2019 at 10:06 PM, Walt G said:

Henry Austin Clark Jr. and Bruce Wennerstrom were the owners of the Madison Avenue Sports car Driving and Chowder Society and Bruce was the head of the Greenwich Concours, so after Austin passed away Bruce had control of MASDCS , Bruce has passed so so it looks like his heirs(?) have sold off or perhaps passed off  the assets??? Can anyone confirm?

Yes, you are correct. Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom owned and founded the Greenwich Concours which was passed down to his heirs. Leif Wennerstrom and his wife Mary took it over. Mary has been the driving force behind them both ever since. Mary W. has been hired by Hagerty, who bought both the Concours and Chowder to be the Executive Chairman/Officer of the event. The Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society (MASCDACS) has also been sold to Hagerty. Mary was also the person running the club, not without some strife after taking over and some members leaving the club. The announcement was made at yesterdays meeting. I have been a Chowder member since 1982 (37 years! WOW) when I was racing in SCCA, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the New York Region of the SCCA. (Sports Car Club of America) It is a new chapter for both. Hoping for the best.  Henry Austin Clark Jr. and Bruce Wennerstrom were the directors of the club until Austies passing, then Genia and Bruce Wennerstrom until the passing of Genia W. and a few years later Bruce. I have been friends with Mary and Leif all these years since they were brought by Bruce and Genia to a SCCA double National at Pocono Raceway, (The event was run by Oscar Koveleski, also a good friend) when they came to see Tom Cruise race in Showroom stock, (I believe that was 1984) which is the class I was also racing in. They were teenagers and not married at that time.

P.S. Just to show how it's a small world McKeel Hagerty owns one of my old 1LE Camaro Show Room Stock cars that I have been trying to buy back for over 2 years now!

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by philip roitman (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

Thank you for the history Philip, never went to a MASCDACS event but did hear about them back in the 1970's when members would stop by the shop I worked at, must have been a great group of car people. Bob

Edited September 11, 2019 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[Walt G]

I would go into the "Chowder" meetings with Austin, we usually would drive in to Manhattan in his Mk III Lincoln . David Hebb of Locust Valley , NY who worked for MG then British Leyland ( as it was called at the time) would also be there as would a lot of people who were also members of IMPA ( International Motor Press Association - that group met monthly at Mama Leone's restaurant) like Carlos Escodero , Alec Ullman, etc. Alec fell into an elevator shaft once at a meeting because the doors opened to the elevator and there wasn't an elevator  car there.He didn't get hurt but we had to figure out a way to get him up out of the "hole" he fell into.  The Chowder meetings in the 1970s took place in the Balesco room which actually was in the office building next door to Sardi's building which is where the "Chowder" said they met. Sardi's was closed for a month or so sometime in the 1970s , or at least the Balesco room was not able to be used so Austin, David Hebb and I walked east from Sardi's to try to locate a place to have the next months meeting in and we wound up in Frank's Place which was a few blocks away on the north side of the street. That place was used for the next meeting and not without some trepidation after Austin passed a comment about the possible affiliation of the management of that place with organized crime. But that is a story for another time , and perhaps not in print! I recall the ride home, Austin had someplace to go so I got a ride home with David Hebb in the Triumph TR 7 which was new to the market at that time and he was given to use by British Leyland to use. David was a good but very very fast driver !

Edited September 11, 2019 by Walt G
spelling mistake (see edit history)

[PFitz]

And don't eat the dinner rolls,.... 😁

 

Paul

[Ed Luddy]

Leave the gun, take the cannoli

[philip roitman]

20 hours ago, PFitz said:

And don't eat the dinner rolls,.... 😁

 

Paul

Indeed! Dinner rolls are meant to be thrown at boring speakers. 

[John_Mereness]

I have co-run a concours since 1992 (having been involved since 1981), and founded our not-for-profit and Board of Directors in 2006 - Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance (formerly known as Ault Park Concours d'Elegance) www.ohioconcours.com - we are the second oldest continually running Concours in the United States with Pebble Beach being first and Concours of America being third.

 

Here is why I have a great Admiration - this is what it takes to "lean" run our Concours:

15 - Board of Directors

1 - full time Executive Director

1 - 3/4 time Administrative Assistant

1 - part-time Business Manager

1 - CPA firm

40 - Steering & Events Planning Committee members

40-50 Car Selection Committee members

1 - Advertising/Marketing Firm

1 - PR Firm

2 - Advising Attorneys

400 day of show volunteers

1 - Honorary Head Judge

1- Administrative Judge

40 day of show Judges (and another 30 or 40 Hagerty Junior Judges)

200+ gracious Car Owners each year

10+ Artists

Countless GENEROUS Sponsors

And, I am sure I have forgotten to list countless others.

 

And, we run the largest Hagerty Junior Judging team of any Concours - because we want kids involved (and because they let us and we can do it) !

 

.

 

Edited September 14, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

Thank you John, most people have no idea what goes on the year before an event like this takes place. Is there an upsurge in concourse attendance nation wide? Personally I'd rather go to one or two quality events that the weekly run of the mill events. How are cars picked for all the different concourse events, do they have to debut at one over the others. With all cars being perfect, judging at an event like Pebble Beach must be quite a job. 

 

Bob 

[John_Mereness]

18 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

Thank you John, most people have no idea what goes on the year before an event like this takes place. Is there an upsurge in concourse attendance nation wide? Personally I'd rather go to one or two quality events that the weekly run of the mill events. How are cars picked for all the different concourse events, do they have to debut at one over the others. With all cars being perfect, judging at an event like Pebble Beach must be quite a job. 

 

Bob 

We have had an upsurge of attendance and I attribute it to such as earlier cars not being shown via other venues, plus such as quality of cars and ...  While we do have plenty of earlier cars, whatever our feature is that will probably be one of the finest displays of X ever assembled (only Pebble Beach and Amelia Island are doing same or better).  This year we did Mid-Century Modern and it was great, though one of our other features was MG and while it was not huge number of cars it was probably the finest assembly of Pre-War MG's ever in a single place.  And, we are a highly populated exotic sports car area too.   This year though we faced two obstacles - our advertising firm seemed a little too nuts and bolts mechanical  on the social media (aka lacking passion) matched to bad weather - knocked down that younger attendance we were seeing and knocked it down quite substantially verses the past 3-4 years we were seeing a substantial upsurge in younger - and of course bottom line is that effects our charitable contributions. 

 

Sidenote:  All the cars are not perfect - most are rare though and equally rarely ever seen.

 

Glad you mentioned Judging - I edited my above comment to include them - I knew I was missing something in the above list

Edited September 14, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

John, if you ever decide to feature cars that have been in the hobby for 60 plus years please give ne a call. Bob