"Look Dad, how cool, it's all Porsche!" The young visitor knows exactly what he is looking at on the many tables with an impressive collection of 1/43rd scale Porsche model cars. The toddler, aged six or seven, doesn't need to bend down very far to see the models up close - he can almost see them at eye level.
"This one is great," he points resolutely to a model of the Porsche 962 in the colors of Coca Cola. The question is whether his enthusiasm comes from the racing car or from recognizing the logo of the US drinks manufacturer.
The boy is far too young to know about the racing successes of the Coca-Cola 962 with Bob Akin in the US IMSA GTP Championship in the mid-1980s. But his judgment stands and his enthusiasm is only tempered by his father, who, after hearing the asking price, cautiously suggests to his son that he might be better off choosing a model car that belongs more in the 'toy' category.
Arriving in the Porsche
The first visitors arrive even before the scheduled opening at 10.00 am. The parking lot at the Porsche Classic Center and the neighboring Porsche Centrum Gelderland quickly fills up with beautiful Porsche vehicles: early Turbos, great transaxle models and beautiful Targa, open, of course, thanks to the summer weather. But there are also other beautiful cars, including two Mercedes 190 SLs and a magnificent Citroën SM. There are enthusiasts here, that much is clear.
International
In the building, not only the large exhibition space, but also several rooms in the workshop area are filled with tables for exhibitors. Participants from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and even Sweden offer their collector's items here: Not only model cars, but also books, brochures, press kits, technical documents, manuals, posters, stickers, pins, badges, coffee cups, wine glasses, steering wheels, bags, suitcases... And then we are probably forgetting dozens of other objects. But whether body parts have their place at a collectors' market is open to debate.
Be that as it may, Porsche has a lot to make a collector's heart beat faster. "It's an almost inexhaustible subject," says Belgian Tim Havermans, an enthusiastic collector for many years and the driving force behind the 'Loveforporsche' website. He offers the coveted early issues of the Porsche in-house magazine 'Christophorus', which often cost several hundred euros. But you can also find books, rare old brochures and even documents about the annual Porsche tennis tournament on his table.
Refreshingly uncommercial
Elsewhere, we find Gerrit Boer, a collector who specializes in motorsport history, with a focus on Dutch drivers. "There are many Dutch racing drivers who were successful with Porsche, so that's a good topic," he says. Boer offers duplicates from his collection: Books, autograph cards, model cars and posters. He shows posters with Gijs van Lennep and, from the recent past, Porsche posters produced after the successes of the Dutch team Ban Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur with the RS Spyder in 2008.
Boer is delighted with the organization of the collectors' fair: "There is no charge for the tables, there is coffee and tea for the exhibitors throughout the day and we even received a great packed lunch!" His table neighbor Leon Zijlmans agrees: "It's all very well organized, you really feel welcome here!" Zijlmans collects Porsche brochures and advertising postcards, of which he owns several thousand. A few years ago, he even published his own book on the subject. "I find new objects here too. In addition, such an exchange also serves to maintain contacts," he says.
Books from the publisher
German Rüdiger Mayer has come a long way: together with his partner, he came from the Stuttgart region to promote their book 'Schnell x Essen - Das Rennkochbuch' (Fast x Food - The Racing Cookbook) with recipes and racing anecdotes from Porsche luminary Jürgen Barth. Mayer and his partner promoted the book in style with cooking aprons, a silver chandelier and a magnum bottle of Moet & Chandon on a table covered in white linen. "We sold quite well and met lots of interesting people," they reported at the end.
Another book was being promoted at the next table: Under the title '911 Millennium', photographer René Staud produced an illustrated book in the impressive size of 56 x 44 cm. The photos on glossy paper are images of the different 911 variations that Staud photographed in the studio during his four-decade career as a photographer. The retail price of the book is just as impressive as its size: 1,911 euros. But for that you really get something special.
Small and large
The meticulously detailed dioramas in aluminum frames behind glass with 1:43 scale model cars by Jürgen Pfeffer from Cologne are something completely different. Pfeffer, who works as an architect, calls his creations "three-dimensional theme boxes". He has parked his Porsche, a dark blue 993, in front of the entrance to the Porsche Classic Center. He has already covered 650,000 kilometers in the car. "With matching numbers, a world record," he says.
Individual 1:43 scale Porsche model cars, a collection of several hundred, are lined up on tables right next to the entrance. It is the collection of Ulli Upietz, who died earlier this year and who founded the Porsche Model Car Club at the end of the 1970s, from which the current Porsche Model Club Europe emerged. "In a sense, this is also a tribute to Ulli," says Andreas Bunte, a specialist model car dealer who assists with sales. "Many collectors have found a model for their own collection here today." However, there are still hundreds of models left, mainly of Porsche racing cars. Bunte is now offering these in his store in the German town of Mülheim an der Ruhr.
Next year again
At the end of the fair, both the host Mark Wegh, owner of the Porsche Classic Center and the Porsche Centrum Gelderland, and Henk Koop, Chairman of the Porsche Model Club Europe, gave an enthusiastic summary. "This should become an annual tradition," emphasizes Wegh. "Nobody has to pay anything, I just really enjoy it myself and I met a lot of customers today who also really enjoyed it." Has he found anything else for his own collection? "No, not really, but I already have a lot," he laughs.
"With 300 linear meters of exhibition tables, compared to 160 meters last year, the range was considerably larger." Organizer Koop estimates that the number of visitors was at least twice as high as last year. "And that's despite the summer weather," he emphasizes. "One visitor even came from the USA. He had heard about our event during the collectors' fair in Los Angeles and as he was in Europe this week anyway, he simply stayed a few days longer. All in all, I am very satisfied, I have received almost exclusively positive feedback. That's how it should be. So I'll definitely be back next year!"
