Over the long weekend from February 2 to 4, two major trade fairs took place at the same time: the Rétromobile in Paris and the Classic Motorshow in Bremen. "Well, where do you go now?", some of you may have asked yourself in view of this difficult decision. In most cases, it was probably simply the distance to one or other of the venues that made the decision.
The German Hanseatic city is a good deal further away from a Swiss perspective, but still worth the trip. You can have bad luck with the transport infrastructure in both cases. Last year the French railroad staff went on strike, this year the German farmers. But luckily this time the huge numbers of tractors were only on the bridges that crossed the highway, so all the angry farmers got an honest round of applause from those of us driving past.
The Bremen Classic Motorshow was at its best in 2024. Incredible crowds stormed the halls at 8:30 a.m. on the first day. A total of 45,740 visitors came to Bremen, making the 2024 edition the second most successful Classic Motorshow of all time - just behind last year's.
The upper and lower end of mobility
So what was there to see? Of course, the two special shows "Lancia - performance, luxury, passion" and the "Class 4 mopeds - a shot glass full of dynamism" must be mentioned first.
At Lancia, for example, the Lambda and Astura models stood for the two decades before the Second World War. The Lambda, launched in 1923, in particular, shows why Lancia was also known as the "brand of engineers". Equipped with independent front suspension and hydraulic shock absorbers, the Lambda was also one of the first production vehicles with a self-supporting body.
The two rally models Stratos and 037 were also on the stand in civilian "Stradale" versions. Only 207 examples of the 037, which is repeatedly described as Walter Röhrl's favorite car, were built for homologation purposes for road use and 50 for competition use. The all-wheel drive Lancia Delta was produced much more frequently. Its Group A version is still considered the most successful rally car of all time and won the World Rally Championship six times in a row with different drivers.
For many of us, the stars of the second special exhibition were the entry into non-muscle-powered mobility: in the 1970s, 50 cc mopeds and the class 4 driving license meant the first great freedom and miles of adventure on two wheels. The historic mopeds were not only presented visually in Bremen, but also acoustically. As with the Lancia special show, there were several guided tours with an expert narrator.
Anniversaries and world tours
To mark the 60th anniversary of the first production car with a Wankel engine (NSU Spider), a few Hercules Wankel motorcycles were also on display in the entrance area. To kick off the Golf anniversary year, the VW brand presented the first generation of the bestseller on the Weser, thus commemorating the start of the Wolfsburg revolution in 1974.
In honor of Wolfram Block's 100th birthday, his Lloyd 600 was on display in the exhibition hall. Block travelled the world in this car from 7 January 1956 to 29 May 1957, covering 53,300 kilometers on his own wheels. A further 35,800 kilometers were added for the ship passages. The little Lloyd drew its 19 hp from a two-cylinder four-stroke engine with air cooling and 596 cc. It accelerated to its top speed of 100 km/h in 60 seconds.
The Lloyd in the picture was registered in Bremen in 1956 - still with American occupation license plates. With the license plate change in 1957, the car was given the license plate HB-DH 854, with which it is still on the road today. The vehicle, including the original luggage and travel diary, was taken over from Wolfram Block's original owner in 1996.
Roof indicators and short-term parker
Why should you actually visit a classic car show? You don't have to have big buying intentions to feel comfortable in the exhibition halls. No, it's the like-minded people and, above all, the many spontaneous conversations that always arise. You see things that you didn't even know existed. For example, a Volvo PV 444 from 1951 with a roof attachment reminiscent of the onboard camera on the air scoop of a Formula 1 car. What's that? The blinker! However, this arrangement was only permitted for one year before it was banned again. Initially, the constantly burning, bright blue center light was still missing. This was only added when it was realized that without a reference point, it was impossible to tell in the dark night which direction the flashing car wanted to turn.
A unique selling point of the Bremen Classic Motorshow is the conversion of the car park into a car dealership, if you will. This is because on the three days of the show, it is not the cars of the visitors who have traveled here, but all the classic vehicles offered for sale by private sellers. From Porsches to Döschwo and from 450 SLC cabs to Saab 96s, everything can be negotiated on site. The unusual consequence in the event of success: you drive out of the parking garage with a car that you didn't drive in with. We will save ourselves a list at this point and simply refer you to the picture gallery.
