The InterClassics opened its gates this morning and will be awaiting visitors until Sunday. For those who are not familiar with Belgium’s prime classic car show, I recommend having a peek at the intro to my first article on the 2017 edition.
Blast from the past: the Big Five at the 2017 Interclassics Brussels
The event takes place at the premises of the Brussels Expo area (metro station Heysel, with an also generous amount of parking places from the other side). The opening hours start at 10:00 and finish at 18:00 (today exceptionally until 21.00). For more information, visit their official website.
Great Italian designers
Every InterClassics has a central thematic dedicated to a particular brand or topic, usually with a particular anniversary. Under this years “Great Italian designers” thematic, InterClassics pays tribute to five legendary car designers.
In the main hall in Palais 5, a unique collection of classic cars designed by Pininfarina, Bertone, Zagato, Touring and Ghia will be on display.
A total of fifteen classic cars bring the history of these great Italian designers to life. The organisers aimed to present the most typical, exclusive and iconic models such as Ghia’s Otto Vu, Pininfarina’s Cisitalia and Bertone’s Miura. For a complete report I recommend to read the latest post on the Italians:
Particular attention is paid to Zagato, who is celebrating his 100th birthday this year. The thematic show is also reinforced by a few cars from Autoworld’s current Zagato exhibition.
The 100th anniversary of Bentley
In addition to the main theme, the 100th anniversary of Bentley is also in the spotlights in the next hall, as the exhibition’s second theme.
With the century of Bentley: 100 extraordinary years stage, InterClassics contributes to the celebrating, but the entire Palais 5 was filled with many impressive classics from the British brand.
In cooperation with Bentley Belgium, an exceptional collection of around fifteen prized specimens from the 100-year history of the brand are presented in Palais 6.
The stage goes far beyond what Bentley conjured earlier this year at the Rétromobile Paris, so there will be a more detailed report on the centennial cars in a few days.
From 100-year-old Bentley to the 60th birthday of the Mini: British anniversaries and brands
Auction by Noble
In addition to the recurring stage of Bonhams, Noble Auctions had a premier at InterClassics . For this special occasion, Noble Auctions showcases classics and exceptional rarities to put on display throughout the event.
The auction will take place on Saturday in Hall 7 when this exclusive selection will be put under the hammer.
UPDATE: the comprehensive report on the Noble stage is published:
Your last chance to bid for the InterClassics auction lasts for a few more days
Stages worth going for
The selection encompasses all epochs, categories and conditions. There are pre-war classics and car from this millennia, tiny microcars and parade limousines in mint condition along with a few project cars decorated as barn finds.
Belgium and the wider region enjoys a booming classic car sector, but the factory stages are seldom here. These are the crown jewels of the prime German and French cars shows, at InterClassics , only Porsche came with a representative stage via its local Classic centre.
This part of the hall is also reinforced by the stage of Autoworld, making advertisement for its So British exhibition.
In addition, there are many thematic stages on all sort of topics, from classic circuits to model clubs.
And then, there are dozens of traders with all kind of specialisation from a single brad to certain epochs or categories, like Formula-1 cars or pre-war single-seaters.
So these are the first impressions, following a thorough walk in the 4 halls of the show. In the coming days, there will be more detailed articles on specific topics, embedded in this article, so it is worth checking back in a few days.
UPDATE: there is a final post on all the impressions that could not fit into the thematic posts.
Another jaw-dropping car spotting experience at InterClassics
FOR SIMILAR EVENTS, CHECK OUT MY ULTIMATE AUTOMOTIVE EVENTS CALENDAR:
The ultimate European automotive events calendar for 2019 – DECEMBER UPDATE
