Peter Volny has always been “car crazy.”
The founder of Concours in the Hills says he used to doodle racecars in his textbooks as a student in his native Australia. After a brief stint as a racecar driver, he built a thriving advertising business around promoting the automobile industry. “I’ve just loved cars my entire life and I’ve had a variety of fast cars, sports cars and exotics,” he says. “I’ve just always been passionate about it.”
That passion led him to create Concours in the Hills, an auto show benefitting local charities, in 2014. This year’s event will take place at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills on Saturday, February 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I started going to a show called Cars and Coffee, which was in a parking lot – a wonderful show with fabulous cars but I thought that cars look so much better on grass than in parking lots,” he says. “So I approached the mayor of Fountain Hills because I thought the park in Fountain Hills was a beautiful venue and she agreed and allowed me to start a show. She asked me, ‘How many cars do you think you can get?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m hoping for 100.’”
More than 200 rare, foreign and exotic cars parked in the grass that first year. In 2022, Volny had to close off registration at 1,013. “That’s all we could fit in,” he says.
“When it first started, it was really a question of me contacting people that I knew with the kind of cars that we wanted at the show,” he recalls. “Nobody knew about it. The first year, we had a couple thousand people who were passing by and stopped in during the course of the day.”
Nearly 30,000 people showed up in 2020 before widespread COVID cancellations thwarted large gatherings. After taking a break last year, Concours in the Hills is back and bigger than ever. “In 2014, I was reaching out to people I knew personally but now I get calls from people,” Volny says of the event’s evolution.
The free, family-friendly experience takes place on the gently rolling hills of Fountain Park. Volny encourages attendees to bring their kids and pets. “It’s just a fun event,” he says. “It’s not fancy, it’s not elitist at all.”
Cars are coming from as far away as Washington and Colorado, Volny says, and will draw spectators from across the Southwest. This year, Concours in the Hills is expanding its racecar repertoire to include noteworthy winning vehicles representing various types of racing. Other cars will be arranged by brand to encourage camaraderie among owners. “Whether you’ve got a Ferrari or a Mazda, it doesn’t matter.”
Two new sections are also being introduced this year: alternate fuel vehicles and limited-edition exotics. The most valuable vehicle in that section is more than $20 million, he says.
According to Volny, a traditional concours features formal judges who walk around and select superior cars. “They reach under the fender to see if there’s any dirt,” he says. Concours in the Hills is “low-key and accessible” in comparison. Though they do give awards for best import, best domestic, best racecar, best car club display and best of show, Volny emphasizes that the event is all about having fun.
Concours in the Hills is one of the largest car shows in the country and is the only major show on grass in Arizona. “Our location is beautiful,” Volny says. “In fact, I credit the location for the success of the show.”
In addition to hundreds of high-velocity and high-priced cars, Concours in the Hills will feature 10 military helicopters. “These are things you just don’t see,” Volny says. “I mean, how often do you get to walk around a helicopter?”
A raffle will also offer attendees to win the chance to do a helicopter tour around the Valley.
First and foremost, though, Concours in the Hills is a fundraiser. For the first four years, proceeds benefitted the Boys & Girls Club. Then, they transitioned to a cause near and dear to Volny’s heart. “I’m a childhood cancer survivor,” he says. Now, every dollar raised from the event goes to Phoenix Children’s.
“There are no paid employees whatsoever. We’re all volunteers that do this, so 100 cents out of every dollar goes to Phoenix Children’s,” he adds.
Volny encourages spectators to arrive around 8 or 9 a.m. to witness the bulk of the cars drive through the entrance. “At 10 a.m., we announce, ‘Drivers start your engines’ and a thousand cars fire up.”
Volny encourages attendees to donate to Phoenix Children’s if they are able. “Nobody makes a penny out of this,” he says. “It all goes to the hospital.”
