Yes, the monastery and university town of St. Gallen is one of the highest cantonal capitals in Switzerland. This may come as a surprise, as one would expect it to be a decidedly mountainous canton. But at 674 meters above sea level, elsewhere on this planet it is indeed already a mountainous location. And you could feel it quite clearly on Sunday, October 26, 2025: it was windy and it was cold.
The rain lashed down and in fact all those who want to delay their classic season as much as possible had little reason to mourn the day invested in St. Gallen because they would have missed out on another colorful autumn ride. It should be said, however, that coming from the Upper Lake Zurich region, for example, the trip to the city of Gallus could have been a colorful journey despite the rain, albeit a rather blurry one due to the large amount of water on the windows. But that was probably too complicated and too many answers to questions that nobody asked. Because St. Gallen was worth a trip, whatever the weather.
Almost like social media
How was that? With social media, the users also create the content, and in St. Gallen it is partly similar, because instead of a large special exhibition, there is a visitor parking lot in front of and between the halls. And no matter how hard you try to scout out the dealers' offerings as soon as possible, the cars parked here will never let you pass by unmoved.
As a result, entry has to wait a little longer and a walk between the rows is unavoidable. Although only a few people arrived openly, that didn't stop a few die-hards from doing it anyway. After all, if there's no soft top, there's nothing else to do, as the crew of a Bugatti 35 with Zurich license plates proved. The sign suggested that they hadn't come from just around the corner, but the open-top Bugatti showed that they simply didn't have a better car available to visit St. Gallen.
With awe (and a little irony), we leave the further description of the parking lot to the pictures and turn to the offer.
Densely occupied and well stocked
From the outside, you might have some doubts that you wouldn't feel a little lost in the large OLMA halls after paying the CHF 12 entrance fee. However, the organizer Renate Hürlimann made the best possible arrangements and the mixture of a little space between the stands and the numerous traders and vendors ensured a good atmosphere.
It was pleasing to see some private stands that did not offer their products at all OTMs and the like throughout the season, but instead had a unique presence in St. Gallen, with the corresponding effect for hunters and collectors of discovering something unique. With two editors on site, this was also actively used internally at Zwischengas. Yes, the desire to collect is a serious illness and, unfortunately, it can hardly be cured.
In a brief conversation with two or three professionals on site, including goodtimer.ch with Marcel Widler and the Mad-Boys (their own declaration, please!) from Mad-Motors with Jonas Stahel and Martin Rudolf, it became quite clear that they were satisfied with the turnout.
For Widler, it was more or less a homecoming: "Welcome to our front garden!" For Mad Motors, it was an opportunity to ask the audience what makes a good classic car. Using the example of a rather lousy TR4, they posed this provocative question.
But the clubs were also very positive: Stefan Wyss, the delegate for the two-wheeler faction of the classic car umbrella organization SHVF, which enjoyed the privilege of being hosted by the Oldtimer Club Ostschweiz, was delighted with the large number of visitors.
The Eastern Switzerland club is celebrating its 50th anniversary and brought what are probably the oldest cars at the fair to St. Gallen, including a 1912 Philos with a 9 hp Ballot engine. But racing cars, a bare chassis and even the glorious 8-cylinder Maserati 8CM from 1933, refurbished and maintained by Garage Buschor, were also on display.
In addition to the dealer offerings, occasional vendors and club appearances, there was a sale of classics that included something suitable for many budgets.
What is not known is whether it is more the fathers who are fulfilling their childhood dream with a moped, or whether these "bag money evaporators" are truly the entry of a new generation into the hobby.
If not, some model dealers had this or that toy car that you could confidently give to the little ones.
Not everything is simply "sausage"
So the question remains, what would a St. Gallen Olmabrat sausage WITH mustard taste like? This answer must of course remain open, as it would have been inappropriate to even ask. Mustard is left out of the equation in Eastern Switzerland and that's that, there are no discussions about it, especially not with the people of Zurich. Despite this considerable drawback for out-of-towners, the visit to St. Gallen should have been an all-round positive experience for everyone. After all, the people of Eastern Switzerland are otherwise very, very good hosts. Some visitors even came from neighboring countries - or even from Ticino!
With its rather uncomplicated and direct approach, this fair also shows a third way in which the subject of classical music fairs can be handled. It is not a high-priced showcase for the beautiful and expensive, even if nothing less than the company's own Ferrari 330 GTO was delegated to St. Gallen from the Romanshorn car factory.
But it's also not a parts market with a wild hodgepodge between high-end scrap and new-old-stock NOS and lots of rummage boxes. The dose that was presented to the visitors at the end of the final event, before the real winter break - the weather also encouraged us that classic car driving is now finished for 2025 - was just right in the OLMA halls. Except for the mustard.
