This was our first visit to Waregem, and we left with very positive impressions. We saw dozens of events in Belgium but were still surprised to see another petrolhead paradise.
One of the reasons we’ve never seen this event was that it usually coincides with the Essen Motor Show. This time, however, we opted for a super dense car weekend to include all four (we didn’t quite make it, though). In parallel to Essen’s inaugural weekend, the finest of Belgium was gathering in the area of West-Flanders, where three events took place at the same time: a show specialised on prewar cars in Kortrijk, another exhibition with post-war cars in Waregem, while a classic rally was happening in the wider area of Ypres.
Although Waregem hosts a car show for the seventh time, there is a risk in organising two events next to each other (not to mention covering the period of the Essen Motor Show). From their website, we learned that the event took up, particularly in 2022 when Classic Event Waregem was organised for the first time under the banner of the current organisers. Thus, after five previous editions as Waregem Oldtimer Event, they have brought fresh momentum with themed zones, a fixed walking route and some peripheral activities such as a free rally leading to the fair and car valuation services.
Granted, the event is relatively small, occupying the single market hall of Waregem, but the organisers managed to pull off one of the most efficient uses of exhibitor space we saw, in the best sense of the word.
The compact exhibition hall is laid out as a labyrinth, as the corridors were wrapped in elegant black veil. With a combination of art and timeless classics, this renders Classic Event Waregem into an art exhibition following a clear choreography.
True to this, the walk starts with art fair exhibits (in both directions from the ticket control). Half a dozen art booths offered a comprehensive variety of art pieces, like paintings, clothing and accessories.
The line-up offered a bit for fans of every classic car genre, several nations with grand automotive heritage are represented. We saw cars from all epochs, even from the first half of the 20th century, despite the Prewacars event next door.
After a selection of fairly recent cars (mainly from Italy), we turned left by a lineup of Italian classics to reach the corner of Belgian restoration specialist Arie Jean, sporting an impressive selection of Bugatti cars and accessories.
The largest car is actually not a Bugatti, but a Chevrolet race car transporter that was delivering the Bugatti race cars to the Grand Prix races with speed and style. The ramp was open like they were about to unload a Type 35 that was still highly original.
On the other hand, the black one is a recreation by Argentinian prewar specialist Pur Sang.
Jumping a few stages (because a modern-day Bentley Continental paired with a Blower or a Stingray Corvette is a common sight around here… 🙂 ), we wanted to highlight the green 1938 Lagonda.
The Porsche corner that followed offered something for all, from the Volksschlepper tractor to the Le Mans racer 906.
This brings us to the central topic of the event, the 100th anniversary of Le Mans. This is the central theme of the entire 2023, with many events and Museums honouring it.
Classic Event Waregem joined the celebrations with a central stage showcasing cars that raced at Le Mans, along with a few decorations invoking the classic pits at Le Mans.
This hall featured several Le Mans racers, like an E type, a Stutz Blackhawk, a red Bugatti and a prewar Delage.
This segment also hosted a Citroen DS converted into a trailer, conveniently called “the Rig”, designed by Jerry Hathaway (that we had seen at the Zoute Concours d’Elegance 2021).
Moving along the path, we saw many interesting cars, but now let’s jump to a selection of Alfa Romeos (a track version SZ, a Junior Zagato and a GTV ), followed by a BMW 320 Turbo.
In the next corner, one of our favourites of the show awaited a fire truck converted from a Maserati Quattroporte I. This car was designed to be a track service car, true to its Italian style.
So there you have it: we walked you through the entire expo, which felt much more than expected. Classic Event Waregem worked well as an exhibition, with a well-laid out choreography. Even with its sister events, the Flemish Trio is no match for the big car shows. Still, the two car shows and the Rallye offer convincing arguments to attend, even from a greater distance.
