What began in 2018 entered its sixth round on June 15, 2025. The "Old Wheels Biel-Bienne" event has blossomed into one of the biggest events in Switzerland and attracts classic and vintage car fans from all over Switzerland and even from neighboring countries every year.
The city of Biel is located on the language border between German- and French-speaking Switzerland and, with the Tissot Arena, offers an infrastructure that makes a semi-covered car meeting possible.
So even if the weather was bad, you could watch the classic vehicles in the dry, but on June 15, 2025, the weather turned out to be much nicer than you might have expected, at least until the afternoon hours. At least until shortly after 15:00, when a severe thunderstorm hit the area around Biel and quickly put an end to the meeting.
Large number of vehicles
Long before lunchtime, the 500 signage boards prepared by the organizing committee with Stefan Mäder had already been distributed and car after car continued to arrive.
"That must be over 600 vehicles," estimated Mäder in conversation and he was very pleased with the turnout. A total of around 4500 visitors were counted.
Tractors instead of Monteverdi's
While last year a special Monteverdi show had generated a lot of interest, in 2025 it was probably the tractors on the forecourt that caused a stir.
Some of the rustic agricultural vehicles even offered rides for the public.
The luxury vehicles converted into car tractors, such as the Cadillac and the Chevrolet, also attracted many astonished looks.
And then there was the Puller with the huge SML engine to admire.
Something for the young ones
The audience was quite mixed, families with children, young car enthusiasts, but of course also many gray-haired people took the opportunity to look at the many assembled classics under the arena roof, but also on the paths in front of it.
In addition to the cars, there were also many two-wheelers to admire.
And for those who had never driven an old car before, "Young4Vintage" offered the opportunity to try out an old Beetle, a Porsche 944 or even a Monteverdi Highspeed behind the wheel.
Folk festival atmosphere
Under the arena roof, it was Ramba-Zamba, with a band, engine test runs, parts market and sponsor presentations.
There was also no shortage of food options, whether you were into burgers or burritos.
Everyday cars and rarities
Anyone strolling through the long rows of vehicles could admire former everyday cars such as the VW Beetle or the BMW Dreier, but also immerse themselves in the history of real rarities.
The arena featured a pre-war Cadillac that had been fitted with a Saurer diesel engine after the war.
A Healey Silverstone and a pre-war Lancia Astura were parked nearby.
Another eye-catcher was the VW Golf II in Kamei X1 tuning livery. In any case, there were plenty of tuned vehicles to see.
Anyway, the walk around the Tissot Arena turned out to be a voyage of discovery and you often heard people say things like "I used to have one of those" or "that was my dream when I was young".
When was the last time you saw an original Fiat Ritmo 125 TC Abarth or an IFA F 9?
Large classic car meetings involve considerable organizational effort and financial risk. So it's all the nicer when the classic car scene responds to the call. This was certainly the case in Biel on June 15, 2025 and one can hope that this was not the last "Old Wheels" meeting in the Tissot Arena.
P.S. You can get a good impression of the event from the photo gallery with over 100 pictures.
