Trade fair parking

Daniel Reinhard
10/31/2023

Messe-Parken (© Daniel Reinhard)

It is understandable that cars are parked in tight spaces at a trade fair like the " Auto e Moto d'Epoca" in Bologna . After all, more cars have to be parked in the hall than there is actually space for. It doesn't matter if you can no longer see certain vehicles, but at least they were there once.

And who hasn't had to get into their car through the tailgate, or at least from the passenger side, because the parking garage with all the disproportionately large SUVs has to be parked so tightly that it is no longer possible to get in properly. Well, the rims are also being maltreated more and more frequently, as you really struggle with all the kerbs at the entrances and exits. Why do cars have to get even bigger and heavier when there is neither the space nor the statics for parking garages?

Just because the manufacturers offer these vehicles doesn't mean that you have to buy them. There are still a few halfway decent models ...

It will be particularly bad with the electric SUVs, which weigh 2.5 tons or more and have to be accelerated and braked. Presumably, the charging cables will now also have to be lengthened slowly but surely, because they have to be pulled around three other cars to the charging station, as there is no getting through between several cars ...

Share this article with your friends!

Modern small series cars as classic pearls of the future?

Bruno von Rotz
10/30/2023

BMW 3.0 CSL 2023 © Loic Kernen - Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Actually, special bodies more or less died in the sixties. But not completely, and even today cars are still being produced in very small numbers that differ significantly from the donor vehicle. They fit (or fit in) with the trend of car-savvy investors paying a lot of money for rare and special cars.

Two examples:

As a 2021 Nissan GT-R50, 18 cars were created with the help of Italdesign, which cost EUR 990,000.

Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign 2021 © Vecchio - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

Those who also asked for a hydraulically controlled rear wing paid EUR 60,000 more. The 11th of the 18 cars will be offered in Munich on November 25, 2023 for EUR 950,000 to 1.15 million.

BMW is also getting in on the small series game. The Munich-based company launched an extensively modified BMW M4 with 553 hp and manual transmission (!) as the 3.0 CSL, which was announced with a sales price of around EUR 750,000. There are to be 50 of them, to mark the 50th anniversary of the M division. And they are painted in the classic BMW motorsport colors that already adorned the original 3.0 CSL in the early seventies.

Cockpit des BMW 3.0 CSL 2023 © Loic Kernen - Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

RM/Sotheby's can offer the 44th of these 50 cars, estimated at EUR 800,000 to 1.2 million.

If the two cars were to be resold close to the minimum, the first owner would hardly have made any money. However, he didn't drive either, because in both cases less than 200 kilometers were covered. So these were pure investments.

The question is how good these cars will be in storage after five or ten years, how expensive they will be to maintain and how the value of the car will develop. You will be able to observe the current assessment of the scene on November 25, 2023 in Munich ...

Share this article with your friends!

Spare parts and where they belong (car connoisseur quiz)

Bruno von Rotz
10/29/2023

Ersatzteile (Auswahl)

Many classic car owners are familiar with the issue of spare parts. When a component gives up the ghost or has become unusable due to damage, you need a replacement. Nowadays, the Internet helps you find even the rarest parts. After all, you know what you're looking for.

We have turned the tables. For our latest car connoisseur quiz, we have collected recognizable spare parts and now we want you to identify which car they belong to.

However, it won't be quite as easy as with the seats (Porsche 911) or the rear light (Mazda MX-5) in the picture above. Perhaps the chassis of the Lamborghini Countach will be a more difficult nut to crack?
Ten pictures with ten spare parts and one of five vehicle types to choose from have to be correctly matched in our new car connoisseur quiz.

Do you want to give it a try?

Click here for the latest car connoisseur quiz on the subject of "spare parts". We wish you lots of fun!

Share this article with your friends!

Herbie and the Thorndyke Special

Bruno von Rotz
10/28/2023

Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 - Herbie und der Thorndyke Special - VW Käfer und Apollo 3500 GT (© Bruno von Rotz)

The movie "The Love Bug" or "Ein toller Käfer" made two cars famous or even more famous, the VW Beetle and the Apollo 3500 GT. In the movie it was a VW Beetle 1200 from 1960 in white and an Apollo 3500 GT from 1963 in yellow, which was the "Thorndyke Special", the most important opponent of Herbie, as the Beetle was called.

It looked something like this in the supporting movie:

Since then, hardly anyone is likely to have seen the two main characters together again, but at the classic car show Auto e Moto d'Epoca, they are back on the starting grid side by side, and the fact that the Beetle misses its vintage by a year and that the Thorndyke Special is an Apollo 3500 GT from 1967 instead of 1963, the first to be built by Vanguard, does not detract from the joy of movie fans.

Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 - Herbie und der Thorndyke Special - VW Käfer und Apollo 3500 GT (© Bruno von Rotz)

In any case, both cars look pretty authentic, the color schemes and the presentation are just right. A beautiful arrangement.

Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 - VW Käfer von 1961 als Herbie (© Bruno von Rotz)

And if you walk one hall further, you can also find "Herbie" as a "Rat Car", built in 1967. After all, Herbie looked something like this in some of the film scenes in which he had to starve.

Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 - Herbie alias VW Käfer 1967 als "Rat Car" (© Bruno von Rotz)

By the way, Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 is still open to the public until Sunday, October 29, 2023. We will soon be publishing a detailed and, as always, illustrated review.

Share this article with your friends!

Panda, Panda

Bruno von Rotz
10/27/2023

Verschiedene Varianten des Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

As far as we know, the angular Turin vintage car Fiat Panda (first generation: 1980 to 2003) has not made it into its own movie, unlike the Opel Manta with the film "Manta, Manta". However, we were able to see for ourselves that the small car originally designed by Giorgio Giugiaro enjoys cult status and is a popular classic at the classic car fair Auto e Moto d'Epoca, which is now being held in Bologna instead of Padua.

Bewunderter Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

The practical compact car was on display several times. Although we were only able to see one example of the very early version with the asymmetrical radiator grille (pictured above), there were quite a few of the later model variants.

Cabriolet-Variante zum Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

Even knowledgeable Italian sheet metal artists have worked on its predecessor model, as they once did. The Panda was available as a convertible ...

Cabriolet-Limousine-Variante zum Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

... but also as a convertible saloon.

Restaurierter Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

It was even shown as an example of a successful restoration on the Stellantis Fiat FCA Heritage stand.

Allrad-Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

And several examples of the all-wheel drive versions, which are likely to bring up the rear of most modern SUVs in snow or rough terrain, were on offer.

Nachträglich elektrifizierter Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

And if you are not happy with the 4-stroke engine in the Panda, you can apparently have the "great box", as the car was once called in advertising, electrified. But we think that would be a shame.

Rallye-Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

We like the presentation as a rally car with Sahara-crossing ambitions even better.

Verkaufsbereiter Fiat Panda an der Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2023 (© Bruno von Rotz)

And by the way, the Auto e Moto d'Epoca in Bologna is still open to the public until Sunday, October 29, 2023. We will of course be publishing a comprehensive review, but we can already reveal that it is well worth a visit.

Share this article with your friends!

Creating instead of gawking

Paul Krüger
10/26/2023

Opel Astra Caravan von Siku aus der Serie "Unfallwagen" – © Amac Garbe

It's familiar: there's been a major accident in the opposite lane and there's a traffic jam in your own lane. This is because far too many drivers have to at least marvel at and sometimes even take photos of the pile-up. Because this is not only annoying, but above all morally questionable, the Dresden-based photographer Amac Garbe has created his "Accident Cars" series.

Since 2009, he has been transforming Siku toy cars into wrecks that are as badly damaged as they are extremely realistic. This is not only interesting from a model-making point of view, as the thick-walled cast zinc bodies are subject to completely different forces than the large thin sheet metal models with their crumple zones and sometimes require extensive use of tools to achieve a correct damage pattern.

Above all, however, it is a protest against the tabloid press' accident reporting, which likes to overstep the boundaries of good taste and calls all kinds of self-proclaimed sensationalist reporters onto the scene. Garbe's photographs, on the other hand, allow us to be fascinated with a clear conscience by the brutal aesthetics of a completely destroyed car - guaranteed without traffic jams or personal injury.

VW Passat Variant von Siku aus der Serie "Unfallwagen" – © Amac Garbe

Share this article with your friends!

Quality makes you forget

Paul Krüger
10/25/2023

Werbeanzeige von 1985 für den Toyota Corolla

Not so long ago, both topics were already discussed here: both that it pays to buy quality and the old advertisements in which the special qualities of a car were advertised. Nevertheless, we would like to present this particularly humorous combination of the two.

In 1985, Toyota Germanyproudly announced that, according to official ADAC statistics, Corolla drivers were the rarest customers of the "Yellow Angels". It's easy to forget where the breakdown accessories are in the car. Perhaps they should have told us how and where the warning geometry is best positioned. Because it's not just Toyota drivers who still have difficulties with this...

Werbeanzeige von 1985 für den Toyota Corolla

Share this article with your friends!

Watching classic cars in the city

Bruno von Rotz
10/24/2023

It's finally fall, the leaves are yellow and the temperatures have dropped significantly. Nevertheless, you can still sit outside, the sun is still a little warm. So at the weekend I once again sat in a roadside café and watched the hustle and bustle on the arterial road. Anyone who doesn't believe that classic cars only play a minor role in modern road traffic will soon be proven wrong. Cars that are more than 30 years old only pass by sporadically, the majority of vehicles are less than 10 years old, just everyday cars.

At some point, you might see a Porsche 964 like the one in the picture, which is just over 30 years old and is perfectly fine in everyday traffic. Even after an hour or more, no pre-war car is visible for miles around, as if they were extinct.

Although there is still a significant number of cars from the 1920s or 1930s, hardly anyone drives them into town anymore if it is avoidable. With a Mercedes-Benz from the 1980s or a BMW from the same era, it's much easier, and it's not uncommon for classic car owners to have several cars. They simply choose the vehicle that makes the most sense for their purpose and more and more often it is the more modern car. It's no wonder that annual mileage is constantly falling, especially for very old classics. And those 300 or 500 km a year are not something you want to do in a traffic jam in the city, but rather on beautiful country roads ...

Share this article with your friends!

Classic cars converted to electric drive are increasingly frowned upon (Question of the week)

Bruno von Rotz
10/23/2023

Frage der Woche 246: Elektrifizierten Klassiker fahren?

With more and more modern electric cars on the road, specialists have long since started to retrofit old cars with electricity. The combustion engine and petrol tank are being removed and batteries and electric motors installed in their place. Even some car manufacturers are getting in on the act. For many classic car enthusiasts, the soul of the car is lost with such a conversion. Do the advantages of being able to keep up with modern traffic almost silently and without exhaust fumes really outweigh the concerns about destroying cultural heritage?

We asked this "question of the week" four years ago and have now repeated it. It was: Would you drive an electrified classic/young car?

For almost four-fifths (77.9%) of all respondents (over 310), the answer in 2023 is clear: they would definitely not want to drive a classic combustion engine car that had been converted into an electric car.

Almost a tenth (9.9%) could imagine this scenario in the future if there were no longer an alternative.

A further tenth (10.3%) could already imagine driving an electrified classic today, while 1.9% would not choose any of the three answers.

It is interesting to compare this with the 2019 survey. Back then, 71.9% were strictly against it, 14.2% could imagine it in the future and 12.3% would have been ready for it back then.

In the last four years, the willingness to drive a classic car that has been converted into an electric car has therefore clearly decreased and the willingness to preserve mobile cultural assets with combustion engines has increased.

Here is the graphical analysis of the responses (the percentages in 2019 are in brackets)

Ergebnisse zur Frage der Woche 246: Elektrifizierten Klassiker fahren?

We have already asked a new "Question of the Week" , this time we want to know whether Zwischengas readers can imagine converting a car with an automatic transmission to manual transmission.

All evaluations of the previous "Questions of the Week" can still be found in the corresponding topic channel.

Share this article with your friends!

When a car changes sides

Daniel Glättli
10/22/2023

Ford Crown Victoria in der Inteceptor-Variante

The Ford Crown Victoria, usually affectionately known as the "Crown Vic", was the perfect patrol car for many in the USA. The big Ford was so well built and designed that it even won over the Moscow police. There are still a few Crown Victorias on patrol in North America today, although Ford discontinued production in 2011.

After serving as the police's favorite car, the decommissioned patrol cars later found a new career as cabs. In addition to six seats, the Crown Vics offer a very spacious trunk, which not only provides plenty of space for luggage, but is also suitable as a bullet trap.

Zivil-Version des Ford Crown Victoria

But that's not all. The royal Fords are robustly built; they can even cope with medium-sized collisions with ease. For dicey situations, the later "Interceptor" variants even had a fuel tank protected from bullets and a self-activating fire extinguishing system. The latter qualities probably led to the Ford Crown Victoria changing sides in its retirement. The former patrol car became a gangster car!

Organized gangs learned to love the old street cruiser. Many of them had already experienced the comfortable back seat for themselves. Behind the wheel, they probably now appreciate the power of the standard 5-liter V8 under the hood as well as the inconspicuous appearance, which helps them to disappear quickly and unnoticed. The Ford Crown Victoria is therefore not only the perfect patrol car and cab, but also an excellent getaway car.

Share this article with your friends!

Zwischengas has been publishing a daily blog post here since 2010

For more entries, please use the navigation by year and month.