In 2018, Bernd Link and Urs Ramseier had the idea of awarding a prize for services to the historic vehicle. The Swiss Classic World, the trade fair for historic vehicles in Lucerne, was initially intended to be the appropriate setting for this.
In the meantime, the award has taken on a life of its own. It no longer takes place in spring, but more appropriately in November as a review of the past season. The Swiss Classic Award has continued to evolve. However, the basic elements have been retained.
The main categories are nominated by the public or the jury. The winners are then also determined by the public via online voting. For the main prize, the Lifetime Award, on the other hand, the jury of specialists from the industry, services and media will determine the winner.
Voices from all parts of the country
On November 29, the winners were announced at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. Once again, the front stage of the Filmtheater served as a worthy venue for the award ceremony, followed by a standing dinner in the Road Traffic Hall.
With around 3500 valid votes cast, the Swiss Classic Award took a big step forward and the response was higher than ever before. It is very pleasing that both the nominees in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland managed to mobilize just as many votes as the German-speaking Swiss. The award thus lives up to its name as the Switzerland-wide classical music prize.
What was astonishing when the votes were counted was that it was not necessarily the digitally well-positioned candidates who received the most votes, but those with a good network of "real" contacts. There was therefore no bonus for the younger candidates, who tend to be more active on social media.
Practitioners with the most votes
By winning the Innovation category, Edi Schorno and his well-known specialist company from Küssnacht am Rigi showed that a solid foundation is a good prerequisite for reaching the very top. Schorno's work with the direct 3D printing of metal parts and the resulting possibilities were particularly highlighted at the award ceremony. For example, it is now possible to produce a carburetor housing 90 percent ready-made using 3D printing.
The Rookie Award was won by the young talent Leonard Riesen, Switzerland's youngest museum director, who attracted a lot of attention this year with the depot he opened at Murten railroad station. As the 18-year-old award winner announced on stage at the Swiss Museum of Transport, the exhibition on vehicle builders and pioneers of the Three Lakes region will be extended for another season with new objects on loan. As Riesen has also been a member of the Swiss Museum Association since this year, he can even count on objects from established, large Swiss museums, such as the Swiss Museum of Transport.
Christina Seeberger from Auto Engadina received the Door Opener Award. The young garage owner and former racing driver runs a specialist workshop for historic vehicles with her team in Zuoz, Graubünden. Christina Seeberger and partner Claudio Enz have already caused a stir with their victory in the 2023 Monte Carlo Historique Rally in their Lancia Fulvia. The dedicated entrepreneur provides a full range of services with her workshop and a car hotel and is also a great example for other young women to establish themselves in the classic car sector.
Motorsport and true passion
The organizers of the Lenzerheide Motor Classics, Hans Orsatti, Renald Egloff and Ernst Lüthi, were also visibly delighted to win the Historic Racing Award. In a speech of thanks that was greeted with applause, the three of them acknowledged the preparatory work of Georges Kaufmann, who had once suggested the resumption of a motorsport event on Lenzerheide. A hill climb was held here in 1951 and 1957, and since 2011 there has been a revival in the form of a circuit. Kaufmann and his two brothers came second with their Indianapolis Oerlikon event, beaten by Lenzerheide by just a few votes.
The Passion Award for French-speaking Switzerland was awarded by the voters to the Association des Vieilles Mécaniques à Baulmes in Vaud. The open-brand meeting is characterized by its raffle, with nothing less than an entire car as the main prize. The proceeds go to a good cause.
A meeting for classic vehicles of all kinds was also held in Ticino. In the far south, in Mendrisiotto, the Free Oldtimer Meeting Ticino brings enthusiasts together. The drive-in meeting without registration and registration fee covers the entire vehicle spectrum. The winners of the Passion Award Ticino - the largest delegation at the gala - had already arrived in the morning for the award ceremony and enjoyed their stay in Lucerne to the full - with true passion and Ticino joie de vivre.
The voters also showed a great deal of goodwill towards the winners of the Passion Award for German-speaking Switzerland. The Oldtimer Sunday Morning Meeting OSMT in Zug did not take place once this year. However, this did not stop the fans of this meeting, which attracts up to 1,300 vehicles to the Zug bull stables, from choosing it as this year's winner. Bernhard Taeschler and Thomas Kohler from ACS Mitte, under whose patronage the OSMT will be organized in future, accepted the prize in place of Robi Hümbeli, who was absent due to illness. They took to the stage with the assurance that one of the most popular classical music gatherings in German-speaking Switzerland would be back in full swing in 2025.
Activist and man of action
The Swiss Classic Lifetime Award is determined by the jury. This year, the choice of candidate was made very quickly, it was reported. Hans André Bichsel took to the stage as the main award winner of the 2024 gala event and received the "Beatrice" statuette.
Hans A. Bichsel had already campaigned for the classic vehicle at the beginning of the 1980s as a result of the looming tightening of registration regulations and the polemics surrounding the "forest dieback" phenomenon taken up by politicians. In September 1985, after three years of preparation and numerous consultations with brand clubs, importers and the trade, as well as the automobile club ACS and the touring club TCS, he founded the Swiss umbrella organization for historic motor vehicles SDHM. This also led to harsh criticism, but Hans A. Bichsel was unperturbed.
With numerous petitions, political support from individual members of parliament and skilful lobbying, Bichsel and his association managed to obtain privileges for the preservation and operation of historic vehicles and contemporary witnesses to the history of mobility instead of threatened driving bans for "old cars". The veteran status with the code 180 in the vehicle registration document and the correspondingly extended inspection intervals or the collector's plate for more than two vehicles are the merit of Hans André Bichsel.
In 2015, the SDHM and the Fédération Suisse des Véhicules Anciennes (FSVA) merged to form the umbrella organization SHVF Swiss Historic Vehicle Federation, which now represents the interests of historic vehicles in Switzerland as a holistic organization.
Bichsel is also responsible for the raid, first to Paris and now to many other places and in different formats.
The award winner was visibly moved and emphasized that he had never actually received an award of this kind before. It also became clear that the man has no intention of retiring. For 2025, Hans A. Bichsel plans to reissue the classic Raid Suisse-Paris.
The evening ended with many conversations between young and old after the award ceremony, another main reason for an event like this and a fitting end to the classical music season, with a stand-up dinner in the Strassenhalle.
