Northville Concours d’Elegance
Inspiring the next gen with this youth centered judging event, David Kibbey and his team bring you the coveted Northville Concours d’Elegance year 3.
A couple of years ago we stopped at our friends at Lingenfelter’s Holiday Toy Drive. Ken made a point to plan an introduction with the team that was starting the Northville Concours d’Elegance. I tucked that away on our list of things to do while we were there covering the fundraiser. After the event, we were introduced to David, Chase, and Drew. 3 high school sophomores from Catholic Central who have been professionally judging, with David starting at 10 years old.
Fast forward to that summer and we linked up again with the crew for the joint ECC Cars and Coffee event. Adam brought his vette for some last summer cruising and they told us more about their Northville Concours d’Elegance. We had to table it that year but a couple weeks ago we were able to have Adam pair as a mentor judge with the next gen involved.
A lot of us grew up in the Livingston county area and are pretty familiar with the Northville Historic Mill Race. They describe it as “A living museum, the Village was built on land donated to the City of Northville by the Ford Motor Company. Once the site of a grist mill, the Village is home to a church, gazebo, school, rustic wooden bridge, blacksmith shop, general store, interurban train station and several homes reminiscent of an era gone by.” This has been the home of Northville Concours d’Elegance for the last 3 years, pairing the elegance of our historic automotive rides appropriately.
David reached out to ask Adam to be a mentor for the young judges and assigned him the post war era vehicles. Adam partnered with Nigel Matthews, Global Brand Ambassador for Hagerty and David’s own mentor. Nigel has literally created the criteria for judging, he sits as chairmen of the International Chief Judge Advisory Group to attest to his commitment in fairness. So naturally, Adam took it as a huge opportunity to learn alongside the youth judges.
The third year of the show was a huge success, great turnout for spectators and vehicles competing in each class. We have always been really impressed with Kibbey and his crew, they are heading off to college this year but have the next Northville Concours d’Elegance scheduled for July 11-13. Mark your calendars and check out northvilleconcours.com for all the updates!
