The 56th Motor Show took place at the Essen Exhibition Center from December 29 to 8. As always, 500 stands presented a mixture of automotive trade, tuning and lifestyle, accessories and exhibitions relating to the automobile. The automotive spectrum ranged from classic cars more than a hundred years old to the latest super sports cars. More than 200,000 visitors did not want to miss out.
There was a special show on the subject of "40 years of DTM", a presentation of Italian automobiles and the "Japan Mile" already familiar from the previous year. The arena in Hall 4 was dedicated to the "AvD Drift Championship"; Hall 5 once again hosted the "TuningXperience". And last but not least, there was the "Classic and Prestige Salon", the exhibition within the exhibition, so to speak. It took place for the 42nd time and was organized by SIHA for the penultimate time. Even though the focus of the trade fair has shifted more and more towards tuning over the years, a visit was also interesting for fans of classic cars. Naturally, we also focus more on this angle.
So let's start the tour with the "Classic and Prestige Salon" in Halls 1 and 2. 17,000 square meters were once again available here, although Hall 2 was not fully occupied by classic cars. Rare vehicles were once again on display at the SIHA pavilion. The four Ferraris on display - including a Ferrari 296 GTS and an SF 90 Spider - were joined by a Lamborghini Countach LP 5000 Quattrovalvole. British cars were represented by the rare Bentley Continental GT (The Le Mans Collection) and the Morgan Plus 8 GTR, of which only nine were built. A Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and the modern Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series Petronas P One bridged a span of seven decades.
Next door you could discover some cars modified by the famous "SGS Styling Garage". In addition to the Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC Marbella convertibles, there was also a Ferrari Testarossa Spider and a Porsche 928 S Cabriolet, which had also been modified by tuner Gemballa. Finally, there was also an S-Class of the W 140 model, extended by 60 cm, with the look of the W 220 series. The Foose Pantera, which had already been shown in Schwetzingen, was also impressive. This is a one-off built in 1975, which is visually very similar to the Bertone Carabo, but is based on an accident-damaged 1972 De Tomaso Pantera. In contrast to the Carabo, the Foose Pantera is also open.
Classic cars for sale
Of course, it was also possible to buy cars in Essen, whereby the proportion of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz vehicles, often lined up in a row, seemed to predominate. The idea of "Clubsport Automobile" to show all body styles of the BMW E36 series (except the Baur Cabriolet) exclusively in M3 specification and in the color Dakargelb was certainly original.
Naturally, there was not as much on offer as at a pure classic car show; some of the vehicles had already been on offer the previous year. An Artega GT from 2009 was now more expensive; the Citroën 5 HP - perhaps the oldest car on offer - was now cheaper. A BMW 327 Coupé from 1939 was offered at the same price as shortly before at Interclassics Brussels. We had also already seen a replica of the 300 SL gullwing based on a Mercedes-Benz SLK 320. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was on offer for 309,900 euros, but you could also have found something in a lower price range. For example, a red CLK 230 Kompressor with low mileage was on offer for 9900 euros, and for 15,000 euros you could have picked up a BMW 318i Cabriolet with 72,500 kilometers on the clock.
Also of interest was an Audi A6 V6 Quattro for 17,900 euros, which had only run 41,600 kilometers. The large stand of "JB Design" with its cages offered not only super sports cars, "rebuilds" of Porsche 911s (i.e. made to look older with parts from previous models) and powerful pickup trucks, but also a VW 1303 Cabriolet with a two-liter Type 4 engine and Weber twin carburetors. Could the asking price of €59,500 be achieved?
Clubs and museums
The Sinsheim Museum of Technology showed examples of its current exhibition "Fascination Tuning: VW vs. Opel" as well as a Maybach special racing car from 1920 and an American LaFrance racing car from 1908. The students of the Ruhr University Bochum were again represented with their racing cars.
Brand clubs and interest groups were again underrepresented. However, the "Mercedes-Fan World" stand in Hall 3 was once again full of surprises. Particularly striking was the "Big Foot" from Schulz Tuning from 1992, a coupé from the 124 series on the chassis of a G-Class. The 1977 Mercedes-Benz 350 SL on display, which was not exactly discreetly converted by Koenig Specials, is still likely to be polarizing. And finally, a Mercedes-AMG One from the "National Car Museum The Loh Collection" was on display; another example was on show at the Nürburgring GmbH stand.
The special exhibition "40 years of DTM" was also located in the immediate vicinity, with numerous exhibits providing information about the eventful history of this racing series. Cars such as the Vogelsang-BMW M3, a Ford-Zakspeed Capri and racing cars from Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz were not missing.
Extreme and electric
Let's skip the "AvD Drift Championship" arena in Hall 4 and move on to the "Tuning and Lifestyle" area in Halls 5 to 7, where a visit to "JP Performance" was a must, with two cars in particular worthy of mention. One was the matt/glossy black Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC "Turbo Zwoelf" with a V12 engine. The extremely wide car looked somewhat martial. On the other hand, there was a Volvo 850 estate that had been converted to electric drive and - now presented as the "Volto 850 EV" - was very well received by the public.
The Elroq model from Škoda, which has thus returned to the EMS as a car manufacturer, was also fully electrically powered. Cars with electric drive were also on show at another stand, where the new Chinese sports car BYD Yangwang U9 was on display. But back to tuning.
First of all, there were Japanese sports cars from various tuning companies, which complemented the "Japan Mile". The exhibition of tuned private vehicles in Hall 5 was once again a focal point of the EMS. The audience here seemed to the reporter to be not only younger, but also quite international. There were several extremely modified VW Beetles on display, as well as a Mercedes-Benz 230 SL and a Porsche 356 with very low ground clearance. Please refer to the photos in the picture section.
Whether you should subject a classic or modern classic car - for example a Mercedes-Benz 190 E from the "Avantgarde Rosso" special series - to such a tuning treatment is a matter for everyone to decide for themselves. However, the craftsmanship of the exhibits is beyond question. The cuddly Nissan Pao, which the author would like to see in its original condition together with other "Kei Cars" in a special exhibition, was certainly a pleasing sight.
Conclusion
This year's Essen Motor Show once again demonstrated the breadth of automotive passion. Although it also appealed to lovers of classic cars, tuning enthusiasts in particular got their money's worth in Essen. The target group of the EMS is therefore significantly younger than at classic car fairs. What a tattoo studio or advertising stand for table dancing has to do with a motor show is not entirely clear to this reporter, but may be negligible compared to earlier times. The proportion of cars from the Far East and electric cars has continued to grow. It will be interesting to see what course the "Classic and Prestige Salon" will take when it is no longer organized by SIHA from 2026.
