There are seven reasons to take a quick trip to Italy: Cappuccino, ...
... Vespa, ...
... Gelati, ...
... Shoes, ...
... Cinquecento, ...
... and Ferrari!
And finally, completely unexpectedly, at an advanced age, the new great love arrived.
Everything perfectly organized
But let's start from the beginning and go in order. Cloudy skies and a speed limit of 110 km/h "in caso di piove", but hardly anyone took the rules seriously. The destination was Padova, more precisely the "Auto e Moto d`Epoca" in Padova (Padua).
The journey to the "Fiera", the exhibition grounds, was rather tedious in the morning traffic, but after a long and intensive city tour everything was perfectly organized on site and after about fifteen minutes the car was parked and the accreditation was collected.
Italianità for the palate and the eye
The trade fair made a very pleasant impression right from the start. The crowds were kept to a minimum and the beloved cappuccino was available in every hall.
Vespas in all shapes and colors were represented, and there was freshly squeezed fruit juice everywhere.
The route continued through the hall, filled with speedometers and rev counters, camshafts, carburetors and technical drawings.
Works of art thanks to the rain
In the outdoor areas, the raindrops transformed the parked cars into small works of art, ....
... but many stayed hidden under their tents and blankets for a long time.
In addition to the artistically illuminated drive units, such as those of the De Tomaso Pantera, a relatively large number of unrestored or partially restored cars were on offer.
At Junghans, the Adler Super Trumpf from 1937 was on display. For once, it was not a perfectly restored car that decorated the watch company's stand, but this eagle in its wild "unpainted" state - a stark contrast to the fine watches surrounding the car.
Out of sheer fear that the rain might suddenly patter through the hall roof, immediate safety measures were taken, especially over the Lancia Aprilia.
La Polizia in style
The police showed their presence with their own stand and, of course, a matching emergency vehicle. For once not an Alfa Romeo but a Ferrari 250 GTE.
The smiles on the faces of the carabinieri show their enthusiasm for the twelve-cylinder.
Visitors in the halls and tents were eager to buy. The aerodynamic Fiat 508 S Ala d`Oro found its new owner after just a few hours.
In the case of the Maserati, prospective buyers first had to find out about the exact condition of the floor assembly before accepting the bid.
The DB5 Aston Martin à la James Bond with built-in bar for the typical martini (shaken, not stirred) was accidentally placed next to the coffee bar so that the illuminated sign was reflected in its side window.
Beautiful manufacturer presentations
At Alfa Romeo, they cleaned up as much as they could. The cars, whether old or new, had to represent their splendor in any case.
At Fiat, the youngest child showed that "The past has never been so present", the 124 Abarth Spider in traditional paintwork. However, the Mazda clone seems to be struggling to match its role model. Why didn't they build a typical Italian and have to get most of the design elements from Japan?
It was quite different at the Touring stand, where first a new book was presented, then a survey was conducted in black, which was a huge distraction from the white Ferrari Superleggera.
Mercedes came to Italy with the two world champions from the premier class, the W196 and the F1, which has been successful for three years. Is this a slight dig at Ferrari?
Back in Italy, Maserati presented Stirling Moss' spotless white Indy car 420 M 58, with which the Briton started the second of the two Indy races in Monza on June 29, 1958. He was joined by the 1968 Prototipo, the Simun Coupé.
Lamborghini showed its jubilarian, the Miura, right down to its deepest basic structure.
Interaction, sometimes like this, sometimes like that; gray on orange, or orange on gray - presentation is everything!
The new great love
So finally, the explanation about the new great love, no it wasn't initiated over a gelati at the Bulli,
but when someone suddenly said excitedly: "Have you seen the TZ2 yet?"
No, of course I hadn't. When I finally found it, it was already covered up again on its totally hidden stand.
In order not to cause too much of a stir, it was not presented on a silver platter, unfortunately it was very hidden for photographing.
But when I asked to finally see her in all her beauty, I immediately realized that she even beats her brother, the 33 Stradale.
It is perhaps the most exciting thing Italy has ever put on wheels ... and I always believed that the devil comes in fire and not in a red dress, in a red dress (lyrics from Lo & Leduc's song "Jung verdammt").
But the TZ2, which was only produced twelve times, probably came in both. For the author of these lines, the erotic beauty that Zagato put over the wheels can at least be described as simply brilliant.
The trip to "Auto e Moto d`Epoca in Padova" was worthwhile just for this brief moment of seeing "Zagato's last formal perfection".
In conclusion, we "zwischengasler" can only agree with the Italians!
For the sake of completeness, here are the most important dates:
The trade fair opened its doors from October 20 to 23, 2016. 90,000 square meters of exhibition space were available to 1600 exhibitors in 11 halls. Around 90,000 visitors were expected and were able to see around 4,500 cars on display.


























































































































































































































































































































































































