Rockabilly rattles out of an overdriven loudspeaker, young tattooed ladies under black tents sell carnival petticoats or old-fashioned neon signs and someone somewhere lets a V8 roar every second so that it is torture for the engine and surrounding eardrums. A VW New Beetle converted into a monster truck hints at the afternoon program. The tenth Burn Out Mollis, which took place on August 12 and 13, 2023 at the airfield on the edge of the Glarus Alps, presents itself from the very first minute as US car meetings are known in Europe.
The Burn Out Mollis is more of a folk festival than a car meeting. You won't find a repair kit for a Carter 2108 S or a radiator grille for a '49 Ford anywhere here. But you can get ink under your skin, metal through your fatty tissue or a few extra rivets through your trousers in several tents. But it's still all voluntary. You can still enter the grounds as an untattooed, unpierced horn-rimmed spectacle wearer in pleated pants and look at the cars you originally came to see. And if you leave the beer tent and body jewelry mile behind and head straight for the runway, you'll get your money's worth after all.
The cars were divided into two groups as soon as they entered the runway - modern US models were gathered on the southern half of the runway, historic vehicles on the north. As the south was predominantly populated by lowered Camaros, Mustangs and Corvettes from the new millennium, we oriented ourselves mainly to the north. They were all gathered here: Full-size Sedans, Compacts, Muscle Cars, Personal Luxury Cars, Pick-ups, Hot Rods, Customs, Conversion Vans. The excesses of an industry that was at its peak and in which nobody seemed to say a thoughtful "Yes, but ..." were on display here.
You only have to look at the rear lights of a 1958 Mercury to realize that in the golden age of US car manufacturing, neither engineers nor businessmen had the last word - only the stylists. It doesn't matter if the technical basis hasn't changed in 20 years, if the car looks as if you could drive it to the moon and back between breakfast and lunch.
While the styling continued to recede in the years that followed, the dimensions of the bodies continued to escalate, culminating in gigantic ships such as the 1972 Plymouth Gran Fury with its razor look and the 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, from whose hood entire small cars are squeezed today.
In keeping with its popularity, the Ford Mustang was, of course, frequently represented, but at least it presented itself in a variety of ways as an early fastback, hardtop and convertible, as a later Fox body and in various Shelby derivatives. Of the pony car competition at the time, the Dodge Challenger and its E-body brother, the Plymouth Barracuda, could be admired unusually often in both covered and open versions.
Of course, the range of cars on display did not end with the heyday of the US automotive industry. There were also tinny representatives from the so-called "Malaise Era", whose edgy, compact bodies struggled to hold their own against the gleaming chrome splendor of their predecessors. Two Chevrolet Malibu from the late seventies found their way to Mollis, as did a 1981 Mercury Grand Marquis.
With the return of power to US carmaking in the mid-nineties, the northern half of the airfield comes to an end. The Dodge Viper RT/10 and Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 lead the way to the successful rebirth of muscle cars in the new millennium. Then the journey continues to the south, which marks the end of Zwischengas' area of responsibility.
Fortunately, the first impression did not prove to be true. With the variety of cars, Burn Out Mollis stood out from most other US car meetings, where highjackers, airbrush paintwork and extra-wide rear tires are more the rule than the exception.
Now just roll your sleeves down again quickly so that nobody notices the missing tattoos before heading back to the exit. Then maybe we'll see you next year.
