The first proper automotive Concours d’Elegance took place on France’s Brittany coast all the way back in 1921. In the little town of Dinard, a group of at least 50 cars, all of which were more valuable than what a family of five could earn in their lifetimes, was a fairly ambitious event for the time. Now, there are numerous concours events per year all around the world. Thanks to Hagerty, one of America's all-time great Concours shows is still running strong, muscle cars and all. Greenwich Concours d’Elegance: Naturally One of America’s Premier Automotive Events HagertyIt’s only natural that Connecticut’s Gold Coast hosts one of America’s most exciting Concours shows, every year on the final weekend of May. Sitting in an enclave long a haven for New York City’s rich and well-to-do, Greenwich is in a particularly favorable place to attract a caliber of car most never see. In a world where multi-million-dollar sports cars, grand tourers, and other riff-raff gets locked behind gates, this is one of the only times normal folks will even so much as look in their direction.The event was founded as something of a grass roots movement in 1996, to bring the best and brightest car collections in America’s most affluent zip code to one location. The event began as a single-day affair, something that New Yorkers could devote a Metro-North ticket and a day's trip to enjoy, then be home by dinner. Because it grew so popular, the Greenwich show became a two-day festival split between American and International cars on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Now, it’s a three-day extravaganza that captivates the masses over the course of a three-day weekend.Since 2023, Saturday's Concours d’Sport serves as an apéritif on Saturday for the main event the following day. Typically, the Concours d’Sport is exactly as advertised, specializing in performance-oriented fare like sports cars, exotic supercars, muscle cars, race cars, and sports bikes. The day has an entirely different feel than the Concours d'Elegance, a textbook tribute to high-class automotive design on a scale you have to see to believe. A Weekend Event Full of Titans Greenwich Concours d'Elegance Car CollectionThe Greenwich Concours d’Elegance event was acquired by Hagerty from its founders, Greenwich residents Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom. Under their leadership, and with the Wennerstrom’s daughter Mary still on the executive board, Hagerty added the Friday Grand Tour as a marquee event for the weekend. Now, in the 2020s, the event draws thousands across the two main show days, and the judges this year had some real work cut out for them.On Saturday, the coveted "Best of Show" award for the 2026 Concours d'Sport was awarded to a 1957 Maserati 450S racer, complete with the original 4.5-liter quad-cam V8. The car challenged Ferrari in that year’s World Sports Car Championship, with greats like Jim Hall, Masten Gregory, and even Carol Shelby himself behind the wheel. Even high-end recreations of this racer sell for as much as $800,000 or more, so the genuine article, like this one, is an easy eight-figure sale every day of the week.Not to be outdone, Sunday's Concours d'Elegance Best of Show award went to something equally amazing, but in a polar opposite way. Presented by Peter Sach's, a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with one-of-one open coachwork from Zagato. The straight-eight-equipped elegant monster won the 1933 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, after being bought new by the legendary Italian racer Tazio Nuvolari. Between the two, the big winners at this year’s Greenwich Concourse are some of the most valuable automobiles of any kind in the world. But not everything at the show is that inaccessible. 1967 Pontiac GTO: An Unforgettable Driving Experience Benny Kirk/Hot CarsOne of the best things Hagerty’s added to the Greenwich Concours experience is the Ride & Drive event. Located in the parking lot of Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, Hagerty brought an ensemble cast of classic cars folks can sign up to ride shotgun in, or even drive if they're feeling courageous.Straight from Hagerty’s Learning Garage, a host of cars that included an early-70s Dodge Challenger TA and a vintage Plymouth Fury drop-top was flanked by modern offerings from Lotus, BMW, Polestar, and Rivian. But among all the different classics and modern future classics, a 1967 Pontiac GTO coupe was calling my name. Shoutout to the 1971 Ford Bronco parked in front of us, but the GTO’s been one of my favorite muscle cars since I was old enough to understand what that meant.People who lusted after these cars when they were new, nearly 60 years ago, will never get the opportunity to drive one. Yet here I was, like a spring chicken in my late-20s, getting the chance to do something most old-timers could only dream of. As I made a 360-degree circuit around the car, it gave me a chance to remember why these GTOs are so special. 1967 was firmly in the era of Coke bottle styling, a time when muscle cars were more aggressive and oozing with machismo than ever before. Making the Most out of a Pontiac V8 Benny Kirk/Hot Cars Under the hood of a ‘67 GTO, you could’ve had one of three variations of the 400-cubic-inch Pontiac V8. The base configuration made 335 gross horsepower, but the special High Output variant with high-lift cams and a de-restricted free-flow intake bumped the base figure of 335 horsepower up to 360. Paired with a standard three-speed manual or a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic automatic gearbox, the GTO was a remarkably configurable muscle car.The variant I drove was a High Output 400 paired with the Turbo-Hydramatic. Sure, it’s not the most desirable setup out there. That title goes to examples with the optional Muncie four-on-the-floor manual gearbox, but at least it means a random fan won’t stop by and burn out the clutch in his overconfidence. Even still, the dual gate shifter in this example allowed you to row through the three gears a bit like a manual, or to use it as a normal automatic if you prefer.Dubbed the “his and hers” shifter, the much-beloved Hurst Performance unit might’ve had a questionable name scheme. But out on the backroads of Greenwich, it really did add layers of fun to the driving experience. Speaking of the drive, it revealed some truths about old muscle cars I wasn’t prepared to accept. Straight Lines Only? I Think Not Benny Kirk/Hot CarsI’ve heard the stories about muscle cars being no fun to drive, I’ve heard that in any context other than point-to-point straight line speed, they’re pretty terrible to drive. I'll admit, I was ready to trash this GTO as soon as we hit the back roads around Greenwich. But with independent front suspension and a four-link rear axle, GM cars riding on the A-body in those years were at least removed from the horse and cart underneath.With coil springs at all four corners, plus the option of front disc brakes and four-piston calipers, the GTO’s biggest folly around corners isn’t suspension geometry. Instead, it’s the body roll. In truth, it was pretty funny watching the body lean so heavily into corners. Without modern hardware, you really do captain a schooner as much as you drive an old GTO. Obviously, the car was fun as heck doing low-RPM pulls down the straightaways. But we all knew that to be the case without even driving one.The best part of the drive was feeling the tires hold on for dear life through corners, even when the body wants to fling you down an embankment. I left with the feeling that, given a slightly lighter car, or a few more sway bars, this would be a really fun car to fling around corners, not just cruise in. As it turned out, the Ride and Drive was the highlight of my trip to Greenwich. Unlike any supercar at the show, you could at least drive this GTO. It goes without saying, it wouldn't have happened at all if not for Hagerty. Unlike any supercar at the show, you could at least drive this beautiful American brick.Source: Hagerty