The international meeting of plastic cars entitled "Fantastic Plastic" took place in Switzerland for the seventh time. Once again, over a hundred rare cars came together, but some things were still different on May 19, 2019.
New location and new mode
For the first time, Markus Tanner and Marco Brühlmann organized the annual meeting, which previously took place at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. Tanner and Brühlmann looked for a meeting place near them and found one at the Coop shopping center in Rickenbach in the canton of Thurgau.
A spacious parking lot left enough room for all the plastic cars to assemble and, once they had found it, there was no crowding at the entrance.
The cars were efficiently distributed across the parking area, with the dry but not entirely sunny weather helping to ensure that participants arrived in droves rather than hordes.
Once they had arrived, the drivers and co-drivers had nothing else to do but look at the various cars and chat with other participants. In between, the Coop restaurant provided refreshments.
What suited one person may have been a little boring for another, as the previous Fantastic Plastic meetings had always provided variety with excursions and guided tours.
In the new mode, the cars took center stage and it was a constant coming and going.
It should also be mentioned that participation was free and there was plenty of parking available even for non-plastic car owners. This was also taken advantage of and visitors were able to admire a Citroën Traction Avant or a DKW 3=6.
Over 120 plastic cars
Despite the uncertain weather conditions, many plastic car owners responded to the organizers' call. Shortly after midday, more than 120 cars could already be counted and a few more were likely to have arrived by the evening.
Impressive variety
The breadth of the range on offer was particularly impressive.
Of course there were British-made cars, but there were also vehicles from France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and, of course, the United States.
From buggies to supercars
Whether VW-based buggies or supercars of the caliber of a Lotus Exige, a Wiesmann or Tesla Roadster, they all came.
Many Chevrolet Corvettes from almost all model series also arrived in Rickenbach, as did the attractive Renault Alpines, albeit with a smaller line-up than in other years.
British dominance
The event was of course dominated by the British sports car brands Lotus and TVR, which are still well known today, but there were also many plastic sports cars from less familiar manufacturers such as Tornado, Bond, Reliant, Jensen, Trident and Marco.
Not everyone noticed the most exclusive car at first glance, because the Ogle Triplex GTS looks like an early Reliant Scimitar from the front.
However, the rear is completely independent and was developed by Ogle for the glass company Triplex. The Shooting Brake remained a one-off.
Complete Matra selection
Matra and its successor companies Matra-Simca and Talbot-Matra were able to show almost their entire range of products on site. From the Matra-Bonnet Jet to the Matra 530, the Matra-Simca Bagheera and the Talbot-Matra Murena, they could all be admired, some even in multiple versions.
If a Renault Espace (built by Matra) and a Rancho had been added, the collection together with the Avantime would have been truly complete.
The Matra sports cars were joined by other French specialties from MEGA that you don't see every day.
Two-stroke and four-stroke
Several two-stroke vehicles are certainly worth mentioning as special rarities.
There was not only a DKW Monza from the fifties, but also a Puma DKW GT Malzoni from Brazil on the course, as well as a Saab Sonett with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine from the late sixties.
The majority, however, were of course powered by four-stroke engines, with two exceptions, namely a Mercedes-Benz camper van with a diesel engine and a Tesla Rodaster with electric power.
What other car meeting can boast a similar variety?
