"In a class of its own" was the motto of the organizers of Techno Classica in Essen, the Franssen and Eck families. And they were proved right, because when the accounts were closed on Sunday evening after five days of the trade fair (April 6 to 10, 2016), a new visitor record was set with 201,034 guests.
It was the 28th edition of what is now probably the world's largest classic and modern classic car trade fair and there was no shortage of superlatives either at the press conference at the start of the trade fair or in the 21 exhibition halls.
Bombastic manufacturer presentations
27 brands presented themselves in Essen with their classic car departments and their tradition. And once again, the show was served up with a big ladle.
Mercedes-Benz focused on luxurious convertibles, but also on the brand's sports cars and the more affordable and special open-top cars from the company's history.
Porsche commemorated the Tranxaxle sports car, which is unfortunately no longer available to buy today. Among other things, the 924 prototype and foam models of the 944 and 928 transaxle models were on display. The Porsche people also put a freshly restored yellow 911 ST 2.5 on the stand.
At BMW, in addition to the 100th anniversary of the entire company and corresponding models from the entire company history, the focus was on the 50th anniversary of the 02 series. One of the rare BMW 2002 ti Diana models, a 1600 Cabriolet and, of course, a 2002 Turbo were on display.
Mini commemorated 25 years of convertible history.
Alfa Romeo presented the new Giulia alongside several models from its museum collection, including a Giulia TI Super, a Giulia Sprint GTA and a 156 touring car from the 1990s.
Jaguar/Land Rover also had a large presence, not only to attract attention to the unnamed and consolidated classic department, but also to report on the series restoration of the early Land Rover models. Of course there were E-Types on display, but the Land and Range Rover variants took up considerably more space.
At Lamborghini, there was the freshly restored first Miura P400 SV on display, which stood there in the same poisonous green as at the Geneva Motor Show.
Volkswagen celebrated 40 years of the GTI, the Autostadt commemorated the history of the Group brands exclusively for once.
At Audi, the focus was on rarities and, as always, there was plenty to admire on the brightly lit stand, such as the Audi quattro Spyder, the Avus quattro, but also a relatively unknown DKW F9, which was built before the war as the actual forerunner of the later 3=6, and an electric car called the Slaby Beringer from 1924.
Skoda also showed some beautiful exhibits from the company's long history, while the GT took center stage at Opel. In addition to the GT Experimental from 1965, a production model was of course on display, as well as three performance-enhanced racing versions.
The manufacturers' stands were reminiscent of museum visits, except that you could explore a whole range of brands in one day.
Trade center
In addition to the manufacturers' presentations, the heart of the Techno Classica is the dealers, whether large or small. Around 2700 vehicles were for sale, many of which already had a "Sold" sign on them on the preview day. Dutchman Lennart Schouwenburg from Strada e Corsa summed up his reasons for attending the trade fair very well:
"We only present ourselves at one trade fair - and that is Techno-Classica. Here we not only meet our German clientele, but also many customers from France, England and the Benelux countries. As it is important to us that buyers of our cars make well-considered purchases, we don't focus so much on sales during the show - we are delighted when we still receive calls from customers we met at Techno-Classica six months after the show."
The effort put in by the dealers is considerable. And it is not a cheap pleasure. A lot has to happen to recoup the six-figure sums invested by large providers.
And in contrast to other trade fairs, the retailers in Essen bring their best goods with them. The range of vehicles on offer was correspondingly high-calibre, from the Ferrari 250 GT SWB, for which Axel Schuette also took the "Best of Show", to the Lagonda LG6 at Thiesen, which comes equipped with Pebble Beach honors, to the Lancia Stratos Group 4 works car, which could be discovered at Lutziger Classic Cars.
Of course, the proportion of the Stuttgart brands Mercedes-Benz and Porsche was also very high in Essen and one sometimes had the feeling that there was hardly a color/model combination that could not be bought at the Techno Classica. And when a whole handful of the 502 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evo IIs built appear together - spread across various halls - that is very impressive. Just as impressive as the prices for this car, which seem to be slowly approaching EUR 300,000.
In general, the price level seemed quite high again this year, but that obviously didn't stop interested parties from buying. And those who hesitated were often put off because someone else was quicker or more willing to spend money.
What was pleasing, however, was the overall very convincing mix of early and late vehicles, production cars and special bodies, racing and road cars.
Special exotics - the search for a needle in a haystack
Those looking for something special could also find what they were looking for at Techno Classica. For example, Hyman exhibited a magnificent Delahaye 135 Ghia from 1949 with a futuristic body.
Between red cars from Maranello, a completely restored silver Toyota Sports 800 could be discovered at a dealer. This sports car was never officially imported to this part of the world, so it has remained correspondingly rare.
Almost everyone knows the Jaguar XK 120, but the version with the Mistral plastic body is unlikely to have been a household name. Although the dark green roadster on display at the Lukas Hüni stand may not have met all aesthetic criteria, it was certainly competitive in racing and has retained its shape to this day.
The creators of the 1953 Tojeiro-Bristol sports car succeeded in creating a fast roadster with a much more attractive appearance. The result also impressed the makers at AC, who quickly developed the AC Ace from it.
However, the origin of this model series was available to buy in Essen if you wanted to spend just under 700,000 euros.
The Mille Miglia special show
The SIHA special show, which was dedicated to the 1955 Mille Miglia vintage in 2016, also featured genuine rarities. Of course, the winning Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was there, but there was also a Ferrari 750 Monza to admire, a Fiat 8V Zagato, a Maserati 300 S and A6GCS and a Porsche 550 Spyder.
Lovingly decorated club stands
Among the 1250 exhibitors, it is the clubs that enjoy the greatest popularity among visitors year after year. This is hardly surprising, as the 220 exhibiting clubs go to great lengths to create something special every year, even if it's just putting a VW 1600 TL in a bathtub or placing Borgward passenger cars in a play corner.
The lovingly decorated scenery behind a pre-war Wolseley alone was worth the trip to Essen.
Anyone who loves small cars or bread-and-butter cars from the fifties to the eighties certainly had plenty to see at the clubs at Techno Classica.
We would like to highlight the, as always, elaborate and vehicle-rich presentation of the Ford clubs, which, among other things, recreated the 1-2-3 finish of the Ford GT40 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, brought together a whole series of rare Ford Fiesta in the hall and also knew how to organize some other rarities from Ford's long history. Not to mention the popular Ford waffles.
Is too much unhealthy?
After rushing through the 127,000 square meters spread over 21 halls, you have to ask yourself whether you can handle so much variety at all. Hardly anyone is likely to be able to remember all the key exhibits after an exhausting day at the exhibition. And according to Franssen/Eck, the growth is far from over, as more exhibition space will be added in Essen in a few years' time.
