Just a few days before the start of the 24th Bockhorn Classic Car Market, which will take place from June 13 to 15, the weather gods finally showed some understanding. Up to and including Tuesday, it had been raining, or rather pouring. And if you know that most of the market takes place on a meadow, you can imagine what would have happened if it had rained any longer.
But this gave the water a chance to seep away. The sun and wind did the rest to dry the turf on the site. It only dripped a little on Sunday night, but by then most of it was already over. Bockhorn was spared the showers that swept across northern Germany.
Magnet with price damper
With glorious sunshine on Friday and Saturday, the market acted like a magnet, although there is now only a three-day ticket on Friday, which costs 30 euros per adult and noticeably reduces the number of visitors on the first day of the market. On Saturday, the ticket then only cost 15 euros and the market was bursting at the seams.
Almost 7000 owners of classic cars came to the meeting; however, Thilo Ahlers, the organizer, had not yet calculated the exact number of visitors on Monday after the market.
International
The crowd is now a mixed bag, all kinds of languages are mixed together, the vehicles bear license plates from the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and probably a few more - the area is too big to take in all the impressions in detail.
Diversity in color and form
It is striking how colorful the market is, how many beautiful photo motifs there are. Colorless vehicles in gray and black, the rule for new cars, are the absolute exception in Bockhorn. Secondly, it is striking how many exotic cars now find their way to Bockhorn.
It feels like the line-up is becoming more diverse every year. Whereas in the past it often seemed that the field of participants at this meeting consisted mainly of Volkswagen, Opel and Mercedes-Benz models, today there are plenty of exotics.
Jensen CV-8, Wolseley 14-56, Maserati Khamsin and even a Facel Vega found their way to the Frisian peninsula.
There were also an enormous number of US cars, tuning cars, commercial vehicles, tractors and, of course, motorcycles, mopeds and mopeds.
It is also striking how many young people come to Bockhorn with their vehicles. It is very pleasing to see that the classic car hobby is not just for the silverbacks.
Inflation?
However, there were also shadows. Food and drink prices have risen significantly in recent years. In the economic crisis that has gripped Germany for years, this is the wrong signal, especially as Friesland is a structurally weak region.
And: the traffic jams are too long; the flow of vehicles from the entrance to the market site to the parking lots is constantly coming to a standstill - a good hour of standstill and alternating walking pace is too much, and on Saturday morning it took even longer in some cases.
Some engines start to boil, the drivers sweat in their beloved treasures - also out of concern about a blown cylinder head gasket. And last but not least, the time wasted in the traffic jam is then wasted visiting the market. The classic car market in Bockhorn is far too beautiful for that.
P.S. The extensive picture gallery with more than 200 photos allows you to experience the diversity of the Bockhorn classic car market in more than 1000 words.
