All the other things I missed

06/16/2026

Older Classics in Kemptthal, classic cars at the Rigi in Küssnacht—where the photo was taken, Old Wheels in Biel, a classic car meet in Eptingen, and—yes, the Mille Miglia would have rolled into Brescia again on Saturday.

I was—nowhere! Not even at the Packard meet, which also took place last weekend as a smaller club event. I was working, but not “out in the field.”

Luckily, though, there are friends who send me photos, who pop in here and there and elsewhere—none of them professionals. One of them even made a special trip from Augsburg; he's interested in cars that were assembled in Switzerland or at least cars that were manufactured locally in Europe, even though they were originally intended for production elsewhere. Take, for example, the Dodge 3700 GTs manufactured by Barreiros in Spain, a few of which actually made it to Switzerland, imported by AMAG. Well, my good colleague didn't come across one of those in Küssnacht, but he did find a Montage Suisse Vauxhall and many other interesting cars.

And a friend sent me two or three pictures from the classic car meet in Eptingen. She was selling vintage clothes and accessories there. It would certainly have been interesting to drive out to the Basel area.

All of these events would have been worth the trip. But the greenery is running wild around my house, the basement is overflowing, and a cylinder head gasket really needs to be replaced. The greenery and the gasket made it through the weekend unscathed. And then there's family life to tend to as well.

But that's how it is during the peak season for classic cars. And it speaks to an extremely vibrant scene. The fear that we might poach each other's visitors seems hardly to be coming true. But still, there remains the feeling of a boundless number of missed opportunities. I suppose one just has to live with that.

By the way, Bruno von Rotz visited Old Wheels in Biel; you can read his report here.

Photos: Konstantin B. and Geraldine G.