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.

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!

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!

R-O-C-K at Concours Motors, USA!

I propose a bet—you had no idea there was a rockstar in our midst here at Concours. (And for those of you that know who’s writing this, I’m not referring to myself!) That rockstar is Dan Kolasinski, our own Mercedes Service Manager and former bass player. Had it not been for the Beatles, most of us probably wouldn’t know Dan personally today.

Okay, so that’s a little over-dramatic, but truth be told, Dan’s band made it pretty darn far…

Back in the late 60s, Dan was in a band called Music Monster with his drummer friend, Brian Pierottie. The band was pretty popular on the south side of Milwaukee; they were basically the go-to band for all of the CYO dances at local schools.

In 1967, they entered a Battle of the Bands contest. They didn’t win, but they managed to come in 5th out of roughly 80 bands! Two days after the contest, they got a call from Eddie Matthies, Sr. He owned a couple of bars and restaurants in town…and he was a producer to boot. He liked what he saw at the battle and wanted Dan and Brian to audition for a band he was creating. He was looking for the best of the best, and the intention was to cut a record and go national.

Dan and Brian made the cut, along with Jim Gorton on rhythm guitar, Dan Delker on lead guitar, and Eddie Matthies, Jr. on the Hammond B3 organ, complete with a Leslie. Most of the guys were in their late teens, while Eddie was only 13! To round off the sound, all of them sang, creating 5-part harmonies on EVERY song. The group was officially called The New Look.

Eddie Matthies, Sr. had established a deal to record in Nashville, so he bought a Greyhound bus with “The New Look” written on the side to take the band and an entire crew down there, as well as brand new, top-of-the-line equipment (speakers, amps, etc.). In the spring of ’68, they recorded an album over their Easter break from school!

They recorded two songs specifically to be sold on 45s. The “A” side was called “East of the Dawn (In the Year of Our Love),” and the “B” side was “What Did You Take Me For?” Both songs were written by professional songwriters, namely Dan Folger and Kathy Childress.

Just before the record was officially released that spring, they opened for The Rascals in Milwaukee. There were 3 opening bands, and The New Look was to be the last one, and their new single was hyped up at the gig. It turns out, too, that The Rascals were running late. They didn’t show up for the rain-soaked practice, and the show was to start around 7pm. As 6pm approached, they were nowhere in sight, and Dan’s band wondered if they might have to play more songs than planned!

But of course, The Rascals showed up, and Felix Cavaliere (keyboards) ran up to Dan, saying he heard he had some really good speakers, and could he use them? Dan said yes on the condition that Felix give him an autograph.

That summer, The New Look played with the Box Tops down in Nashville, and they also played at the very first Summerfest in 1968. At that time, Summerfest was held just north of the War Memorial. The band opened for Andy Kim that year (of “Rock Me Gently” and “Sugar Sugar” fame), and even played as his back-up band!

The New Look’s record made the Top 5 here in Milwaukee and Nashville that June and was starting to climb the charts in the Boston area, where it made the Top 10 that August.

And then the Beatles released “Hey Jude.” Of course, there was no way they would beat them out—if they had, we definitely wouldn’t know Dan at Concours! Shortly afterward, the band slowly broke up. The lead guitarist, Dan Delker, fell in with that underground Led Zeppelin crowd, and no longer wanted to do “bubblegum” Top 40 radio hits. They replaced him with a guitarist named Keith who could play and sing like Jimi Hendrix! But when Brian, the drummer, started to go with the underground crowd, too, Keith went with him.

I’ve personally heard “East of the Dawn (In the Year of Our Love)” and I have to say it’s incredible to hear—not just the song itself, but the quality of the sound and the amazing harmonies. If Dan ever lets you, I recommend taking a listen!

Dan Kolasinski, 1960s rockstar. Who knew?

Coming Soon: The New 2011 Porsche Cayenne!

Over the weekend of May 7-9, our GM Jim Clark attended a Porsche event in Leipzig, Germany. It was a quick but exciting, event-filled trip, during which the 2011 Porsche Cayenne was revealed!

Jim left for Germany at 4:30pm on Thursday, May 6, and arrived at 2pm on Friday via Dusseldorf. He reached his hotel room to find one of the weirdest goodie bags ever created; it was filled with a coat, shirt, stocking hat, scarf, LED light to mount on your head, Wellington rubber boots, and a letter instructing the attendees to wear each of those items that night. (Wonder if Jim got any pictures…!)

Well, it wasn’t long before they figured out what this was all for—they ended up on a scavenger hunt while walking through a cow pasture. Thank you, Porsche, for thinking ahead and providing boots. The hunt directed everyone to the far end of the local racetrack as they migrated across a field following a Porsche to the Point, or as they call it, the “diamond.” Everyone gathered in bleacher seats as the main presentation finally began!

“The new Cayenne looks even sexier than before,” says Jim, “with re-sculpted body lines that make the vehicle look smaller even though it is larger.” For the first time, it is offered in a pretty yellow. After the initial presentation, the attendees were allowed a look inside. The interior console is new and the features more closely resemble the new Panamera.

Day One ended with dinner and speeches from the current CEO Michael Macht as well as the current leader of Marketing and Sales, Bernhard Maier. They all returned to their hotel rooms at 2am, but Porsche had arranged for a 6:30am wake-up call! The attendees would have breakfast and be on a bus by 7:30.

Porsche directed a little test on Day 2 “to make sure we were paying attention,” Jim mentioned—a tech session competition between 15 groups. The reward for completing the session (which of course included everyone!) was a factory tour where they saw the new 2011 Cayennes and Panameras being assembled, the same vehicles that we will be receiving in about 3 months!

After that, it was time to drive and experience the new cars first-hand. Everyone was paired up and given new Cayennes to drive—on the Autobahn! “It is amazing how nice this sport utility rides at 220km/hr,” Jim says. For those of you playing along at home, that’s 136mph without risking a speeding ticket.

Lunch that day was followed by yet another driving excursion back on the racetrack. This time they drove Cayenne Turbos on a track that includes corners from tracks all over the world. Jim claims he was adept at all but one tight s-turn called the Mobil S. (So he says, but I suppose we’ll take his word for it. He is the GM, after all…) Jim’s partner, though, was able to handle the Mobil S. “He put the whole truck into a side slide, all the time knowing this truck could handle it,” he says.

The last adventure was off-track four-wheeling which included a side hill drive at 30-degrees and “hill-climb testing the new hill assist feature on an 80-degree grade climb.”

The night was capped off with a reception, dinner, and entertainment. Jim was able to visit with other Porsche enthusiasts from other dealerships across the world, including the USA, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

And he says the food was phenomenal, by the way.

Finally, it was time to start the long journey home. The trip was made even longer by a 2½-hour delay in Dusseldorf due to the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano that is still erupting. A flight eventually took Jim and the other passengers north of Iceland and into Greenland. “The sky was clear and the view of the ice flows and snow in Greenland was spectacular.”

It may have been a fast trip into a different time zone, but the experiences and the vehicle were well worth it! Just 3 months and you’ll be able to get your own hands on it. Keep in touch with us for the ultimate reveal of the 2011 Porsche Cayennes here at Concours!

Jaws: The Saga Continues, or Concours' Believe It Or Not!

Just when you think you know someone, you find out he used to run a shark-hunting business—and he lost his hand BEFORE he ever hunted his first shark, and now he works for Concours!

That man is our own Michael Scaffidi. He’s taught me that if you ask the right questions of someone, you’ll discover the hidden stories that you would never expect to hear. When we asked our employees to answer some bio questions to be posted on the new Concours website, http://www.concoursmotors.com/, Michael mentioned in a quick blurb that the only time he wasn’t in Milwaukee was during his brief stint in the Florida keys running a shark-hunting business in the 70s! Fortunately, he was willing to take some time to tell me the story, and he’s allowing me to share it on our blog!

Back in his early days, Michael was pretty big into sports and had been off to spring training in LaCrosse, WI. When he returned, his dad got him a job working at Continental Can, just down the road from where Concours is now. Continental Can made beer cans, and Michael worked the line. On his 3rd day on the job, a large piece of sheet metal crashed on top of him, leaving scars and cutting off his hand! I almost didn’t believe him—Michael has two hands and they’re both real, but he explained that it took 2 years and 7 operations to reattach his hand.

Not surprisingly, Michael was in a bit of a funk afterward. He found it difficult to go back to school, and he couldn’t be involved in sports. So he and some friends took a 3-week vacation down to the Florida Keys, setting up in a campground. They went fishing, and ended up catching sharks!

He returned home and tried to go back to college, but 3 weeks vacation wasn’t enough to help. So with $97, a backpack, a sleeping bag, and a tent, Michael hitchhiked back down to the Florida Keys. He got a job cleaning a bar floor, saved up some money, and in 2 months’ time, bought a pick-up truck and a boat and started his shark-hunting business.

He would shark-hunt on his own, but he would also take clients out. He would meet them in the bars in the evenings, and ask if they wanted to have one of the best experiences of their lives. Then he’d take them out fishing and hunting the next day.

Michael would catch up to 500-lb sharks—hammerheads, nurse sharks, and bull sharks, and this business was actually quite profitable. He would sell the meat for $0.20/lb to local crab and lobster fishermen to use as bait in their businesses, and he would get the jaws clean and sell them to tourists for $50-75 bucks as he walked through the local campgrounds.

Catching sharks is quite an ordeal, as he explained. There’s no simple rod and reel involved. Instead, a cable that is around 100 feet long is stretched across the ocean floor and anchored on each side either by a coral reef or 6 cinder blocks. Steel chains with hooks are attached along the cable itself. Someone would have to dive down, unclip the line, and let it come to the surface so it could be baited. Then that person would dive down again and reattach it. You set it up in the morning, go fishing for fish, then return at the end of the day to see if you’ve caught any sharks.

If you have, someone must dive down and unclip the cable. At this point, the shark has been unable to swim for a long time and has become lethargic, so the danger isn’t as great. But Michael says as the cable rises, you’ll see a large black cloud coming up from under the surface and you start “freaking out!”

Once the shark is caught, it’s pulled onto the boat. Michael’s boat was 17 feet long, and many sharks would be lying with their heads and tails hanging off either edge! The boat could also be 4 inches from sinking due to the weight of the shark, the people, and the equipment!

With such excitement and all the profit, what would make Michael give up his business? A real-life scene out of Jaws, that’s what…

On what turned out to be his last fishing day, only he and a friend had gone out on the boat to hunt. Michael swam down to unclip the cable and see if they had caught anything. The water that day was particularly murky, and it was difficult to find the cable. They figured it was due to the current.

When Michael surfaced, he was a significant distance from the boat and the buoy that should have marked the cable on a better day. He looked up to see his friend standing up in the boat, waving frantically for Michael to swim back. It turns out that the water was murky because there was a 15-20 foot hammerhead caught on the line, still swimming, dragging the cinder blocks around behind it! And now, it was coming for Michael.

He swam as fast as he could toward the boat, but when he got there, he was too exhausted to pull himself in, and his friend couldn’t risk losing sight of the shark. So Michael just hung there and waited.

Well, you know how it ends because obviously Michael is alive to tell the story today! His friend got the shark, and Michael said that was it! He returned to working at the bar for a little bit, and finally he came home to Milwaukee, and now he’s part of the team at Concours—a rather calm living compared to shark hunting. Apparently, we’ll have to wait and see if there will ever be a sequel…

Concours Mythbusters!

You know that at Concours, we offer our customers 6 different franchises to choose from—BMW, Mazda, Mercedes, Porsche, Saab, and Volkswagen. With such a variety of imports, it’s natural to expect that our pricing would be higher across the board for all franchises—but it’s not true! So it’s time for a little Concours Mythbusters!

Myth: You’ll pay a premium price for every car on our lot because we’re a high-line dealer.
Truth: We pride ourselves on our competitive pricing. Of course, like any dealer, we set out to make a profit on all sales, but each brand is different and has its own distinct customer base. The individual markets determine their own pricing, and that establishes our pricing, meaning that we remain competitive in all brands. Find a Mercedes at one price somewhere else and you’ll find the same or a very similar price here. Find a Mazda at one price somewhere else, and you’ll also find the same or a very similar price here. So what makes us different then? That’s where our service level can speak volumes. We hold ourselves to high standards that come at very affordable prices, which makes your buying experience with us a unique one.

Myth: If you want high-quality service, you must purchase a recognized luxury vehicle.
Truth: A rose is a rose is a rose. We want to make sure you’re happy and satisfied when you walk out the door and drive off of our lot. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you drive, or how much you spend. We’ll take care of you and we’ll get the job done right—just look at our high CSI scores! You know that our motto is “Where Service Makes the Difference,” and that doesn’t just mean maintenance. From your first step into the dealership, we set out to create a quality car-buying experience for you!

The ultimate truth is that we are an imports dealer. In fact, we’re one of the oldest in the state, having been around for 55 years, and that’s a definite benefit for you. It means that whether you’re buying a $15,000 car from us or a $100,000 car, you can trust in our time-tested experience in the business.

We provide franchises that we believe in and that will appeal to a wide range of different customers with different personalities and different needs! It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in a new car, a pre-owned car, or a certified pre-owned car. Whatever you’re looking for, we offer a great selection, and we’ve got it at the right price. Just remember that we’ll throw in the quality service and personal attention that you’ve always expected from us, and more, all for free.