In fact, the longer 2022 went on, the more normality became noticeable. Normality can mean many things. Auction prices fluctuated again like the speedometer needle of a 1950s Triumph sports car, visitors flocked to trade fairs as they used to, events took place and were fully booked. Yes, it was almost like 3 or 4 years ago, almost. Of course, the world is constantly changing, in 2022 there was a war in Eastern Europe, energy supply problems and the consequences of weakened global trade and supply chains were felt. So our perspective on some things changes, but old cars remain old cars.
For me, however, the year 2022 will go down as the year in which many car manufacturers broke with tradition, showed little interest in their past achievements and even preferred to sweep them under the carpet. No more big appearances at trade fairs, old cars at most in the context of new announcements, if they fitted in at all. A pity, because electric mobility also has its history and what makes the soul of an electric car if not the tradition and essence of the brand that builds it?
Of course, there were also exceptions, which should definitely be mentioned here. We are always delighted when Volkswagen or Renault, for example, invite us to photograph and drive cars from their collections, as there are always vehicles that we would otherwise never see.
But thanks to friends, fellow enthusiasts, acquaintances and business partners, there was no shortage of other opportunities to take portraits of great cars, such as the Porsche 911 Turbo convertible, the Triumph 2.5 PI Estate, the Healey Silverstone (pictured above) or the VW Beetle RSi. It is precisely this variety that makes our editorial job so special.
Unfortunately, even 365 days - that's all the year had to offer - were not enough to describe and drive all the cars we had in mind. But next year will have 365 days again, so hopefully we'll be able to shorten our bucket list by a few entries.
And what else? We at Zwischengas are delighted that we passed the 100,000 registered readers mark a few days ago and that we grew again by 25 to 35 percent (depending on the metric) in 2022. But we are even happier about the many reader comments along our articles. A lot of knowledge and experience comes together in this way and it is bundled and preserved, a really great thing. Keep up the good work and thank you very much!
