Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s the first day of summer, and it’s also car show season! Perhaps you’ve even been to a few already. Tonight (June 21) is particularly special for us. Over at Brew City Grill in Mequon, it’s Saab/Volvo/Spyker/Koenigsegg night!
Join them from 6pm-10pm to experience the enthusiasm. Concours will be providing some Saab merchandise from our accessories department, and Brew City will provide beer and food specials!
Interested in seeing car shows all summer long? Looking for your favorite franchise? Check out this link: http://www.wiscollectorcar.com/car-shows/car-show-calendar.html
There you’ll find the calendar listing local car shows across the area and even into Illinois. Many provide food specials and even dj’s to add to the atmosphere. Let us know your favorites and share your experiences on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/concoursmotors.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
A Look Into the Future!
It’s time to take a look ahead…into the FUTURE!
We’re prepping here at Concours for all of the new additions and revamps coming from each of the franchises we represent, and if you’ve heard the news, we hope you’re excited for the future as well! Here are the latest updates for our store:
- BMW is bringing out a new 5-series 2-wheel drive this month and an all-wheel-drive in the fall. We should also be getting new Hybrid X-6 and Hybrid 7-series vehicles soon, and we expect anytime to receive the refreshed X-5 and refreshed 3 coupe and convertible! Look for a new X-3 next year.
- Mazda will be bringing out the Mazda2 late this summer. A gas version will be available first, and for all you diesel drivers, expect a version you’ll love to arrive a little later.
- The Mercedes E cab is available now! We also have an E-550 here for showing—we won’t be getting very many of these, so we encourage you to stop in soon! We’ve also been told that the R class will be refreshed and the CLS revamped, so be on the lookout for those. If you’ve heard that the SLS is already out, you’re right; we just unfortunately do not have any available yet.
- Regarding Porsche, the Panamara has been quite a popular vehicle! Expect a version with a V-6 to arrive in a few weeks! Pricing will be in the mid 70s, with mid 80s pricing including a few extra options. We’ll also see a new Cayenne at the end of the month, followed with a hybrid later in the year and a diesel next year. (Check out the blog on our GM Jim Clark’s trip to Germany to see and experience the new Cayenne first-hand earlier this year!) Porsche will also be releasing the GT2 RS, a 620-hp 911, costing around $245,000. They are also releasing a Speedster 911 for around $204,000 late this year. As you might expect, the GT2 RS and Speedster 911 will be in limited production, so speak up early, as it will be difficult to get our hands on them! In Spring 2011, look for a GTS Carrerra coupe starting around $103,000 (convertible will start at $112,900) as well as a Cayman Derivative starting at $65,000.
- What a ride Saab has had recently! Thankfully, the franchise will get to live on, with a new 9-3X wagon already available. We will see a 9-5 around July (with a 9-5 wagon expected next spring), the 9-4 SUV late this year or early next year, and an all-new 9-3 coming in 2012. Within the next 2 years, we should see the Saab line completely revamped!
- Volkswagen will be bringing out the new Jetta this September and the new Touareg later this year. They’ve also opened a new plant in Tennessee that will release the new, compact NCS next year and the new mid-size NMS next spring. And the New Beetle? Look for that in 2012! Want to get a first-hand look at the NCS that NOBODY has been able to see yet? Tune in tomorrow morning to “Live! With Regis and Kelly” to see the official reveal.
Have any questions? Interested in test-driving and/or purchasing any of the vehicles? Give us a call! You can reach our main store at 414-290-1400 and our BMW store at 414-290-4200.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Check out the New E-Class!
Have you heard about the all-new 2011 Mercedes-Benz E350? It was unveiled at a special showing of Sex and the City 2. The event was sponsored by Concours and held at the iPic Theatre in Bayshore Town Center. The Mercedes shown at the premiere was a replica of the one that Carrie drove in the movie. 
Two of the people in attendance were our marketing rep, Katie Heup and one of our Mercedes salespeople, Dierk Schulz. An after-party was held at MOCT (pronounced “most”) in the 5th ward, and the place was decorated in a Moroccan theme in keeping with the movie location! There were also Mercedes-Benz and Chanel-themed door prizes.
Dierk tells me that the 2011 E350 is an all-new 4-seater convertible. There had been a version available in the mid-1980s, and now it has officially been brought back! It’s intended as a successor to the CLK.
Here in our showroom, we do not currently have an E350 available to drive, but we have an E550. We’d love to show it to you!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Go, Speed Racer, Go!
Unusual doors keep opening here at Concours since starting the blog. Interesting stories from both past and present continue to pop up as we look for new and exciting topics. The most recent involves our owner, Karl Wuesthoff, and his latest racing adventure.
As you may already know, the Wuesthoffs have been very involved in the sport of racing for decades. Karl and Lee Wuesthoff both short course off-road for about 5-6 years (Lee continued for another 5 years on his own). They won many races and a number of class championships between the two of them. They also participated in Micky Thompson’s stadium racing series in the 80s, and raced the very last off-road race at Riverside in California, in which Lee finished 2nd in class 1 (unlimited buggies).
And just this past May, Karl participated in the first Vintage Baja 1000 down in Mexico! This event was coordinated by N.O.R.R.A., the same people who put on the original Baja 1000 as well as 4 or 5 subsequent events before SCORE took over. He had received a call from a long-time friend, off-road racer, and bank stock trader Chris Raffo from Chicago. Chris was looking for a driver to help pilot his SCORE class 3 1978 Chevy Blazer full race truck with full-time 4x4 and 550hp.
The race began in rally format in Mexicali near the US border. It involved long off-road stages up to 180 miles each and connecting transit stages that were 20-40 miles each, and it lasted 3 days! The first stop was the Bay of L.A. on the Sea of Cortez, followed by Loreto, and ending in La Paz. The racers slept under the stars in the Bay of L.A.; there were absolutely no hotels, but there was plenty of cold beer…
“The terrain was amazing,” Karl said, “from endless dry lake beds to 6 to 8-foot wide goat trails, up mountains with 1000-foot drops and no guard rail or real road, tricky rock crawling, deep sands, and tens of thousands of acres of dense Saguaro cactus forests!”
Karl was excited because the event was “a virtual who’s who of off-road racing.” Famous names included Parnelli Jones, Walker Evans, Rodd Hall, Bob Gorden (Robbie’s dad), Malcom Smith, and Bruce Meyers of Meyers Manx, the inventor of the dune buggy. (A little Concours trivia: Concours was a Manx dealer for a couple of years!)
Karl was able to swap stories and rub shoulders with many of the other participants, all of whom were total enthusiasts. “The comaraderie was awesome,” he said. Everyone helped everyone else, even teaming up to fix a flat for Parnelli when his jack broke. There was also a volunteer support crew of 6 people and 3 trucks to help keep vehicles fueled and to fix or “MacGyver” broken equipment.
In the end, Karl and Chris came in 25th overall out of over 100 entrants and won their class! So be sure to stop and say congratulations if you see Karl!
If you have any racing stories of your own, we’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment on the blog or visit our Facebook page!
As you may already know, the Wuesthoffs have been very involved in the sport of racing for decades. Karl and Lee Wuesthoff both short course off-road for about 5-6 years (Lee continued for another 5 years on his own). They won many races and a number of class championships between the two of them. They also participated in Micky Thompson’s stadium racing series in the 80s, and raced the very last off-road race at Riverside in California, in which Lee finished 2nd in class 1 (unlimited buggies).
And just this past May, Karl participated in the first Vintage Baja 1000 down in Mexico! This event was coordinated by N.O.R.R.A., the same people who put on the original Baja 1000 as well as 4 or 5 subsequent events before SCORE took over. He had received a call from a long-time friend, off-road racer, and bank stock trader Chris Raffo from Chicago. Chris was looking for a driver to help pilot his SCORE class 3 1978 Chevy Blazer full race truck with full-time 4x4 and 550hp.
The race began in rally format in Mexicali near the US border. It involved long off-road stages up to 180 miles each and connecting transit stages that were 20-40 miles each, and it lasted 3 days! The first stop was the Bay of L.A. on the Sea of Cortez, followed by Loreto, and ending in La Paz. The racers slept under the stars in the Bay of L.A.; there were absolutely no hotels, but there was plenty of cold beer…
“The terrain was amazing,” Karl said, “from endless dry lake beds to 6 to 8-foot wide goat trails, up mountains with 1000-foot drops and no guard rail or real road, tricky rock crawling, deep sands, and tens of thousands of acres of dense Saguaro cactus forests!”
Karl was excited because the event was “a virtual who’s who of off-road racing.” Famous names included Parnelli Jones, Walker Evans, Rodd Hall, Bob Gorden (Robbie’s dad), Malcom Smith, and Bruce Meyers of Meyers Manx, the inventor of the dune buggy. (A little Concours trivia: Concours was a Manx dealer for a couple of years!)
Karl was able to swap stories and rub shoulders with many of the other participants, all of whom were total enthusiasts. “The comaraderie was awesome,” he said. Everyone helped everyone else, even teaming up to fix a flat for Parnelli when his jack broke. There was also a volunteer support crew of 6 people and 3 trucks to help keep vehicles fueled and to fix or “MacGyver” broken equipment.
In the end, Karl and Chris came in 25th overall out of over 100 entrants and won their class! So be sure to stop and say congratulations if you see Karl!
If you have any racing stories of your own, we’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment on the blog or visit our Facebook page!
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