The 17th Retro Classics car show in Germany, billed as being Europe’s largest classic car trade fair, will be taking place next month from Thursday, March 2 to Sunday, March 5, and with a number of new spectacles promised it’s shaping up to be the biggest and best yet.
The sprawling event takes place across 11 jam-packed halls of the Messe Stuttgart, which is helpfully located a short walk from Stuttgart airport, each with its own distinct theme and unique set of vehicles.
Highlights include halls dedicated to Porsche, with an official presence from the manufacturer and its Stuttgart- based Museum, American cars with a special Mustang exhibition
hosted by Asch Motorsport GmbH, Mercedes-Benz and all of its affiliated partners, a vehicles for sale area and an Autojumble. Finally, outside there will be further vehicles for sale in addition to the various classics belonging to the attending visitors.
In addition to all of this, and new for 2017, will be a hall dedicated to Italian cars and lifestyle, with rare exhibits from the Collezione Umberto Panini Motor Museum and the Museo Stanguellini.
DIFFERENT COUNTRY, SAME HOBBY
Much like here in the UK, interest in historic vehicles in Germany is growing, with over ten per cent more vehicles with historical license plates in 2016 than
there were in 2015, resulting in a total of 388,000 historic vehicles on Germany’s roads – a similar figure to the one quoted by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) of 512,499, but not strictly comparable based on respective age differences; a car is defined as being ‘historic’ once it reaches 40 years old, whereas the FBHVC’s figure is based on roadworthy cars over 30 years old.
Incidentally, the top three cars among that German total is perhaps unsurprisingly the Volkswagen Beetle, followed by the Mercedes-Benz W123 and SL R107 cars.
TWO EXTRA SHOWS
Following Retro Classics in March there will be two sister events; the first being an augural event in Cologne, taking place across three days from Friday, November 24 to Sunday, Number 26 shortly after the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, while the second event comes the following month (December 8-10) and is the second outing for an event based in Nuremberg after a successful debut late last year.
Further details on these events can be found online at Retro Classics, including ticket prices, which booked in advance start from as little as 18 Euros (around £15) for an adult day pass.
