The 2018 InterClassics Brussels opened its doors Friday morning, and this article should provide a brief summary of first impressions on what visitors can expect. For those not so familiar with the event, it is held now for the fourth time (the official website is available under this link). However, the organizers are far from being beginners, their main event, the InterClassics Maastricht is the most important classic car event in the Netherlands and celebrated its 25th anniversary this January. Even as a newcomer, InterClassics Brussels quickly established itself, thanks to the very active classic car culture of the region. I wrote a summary of the memorable moments of last year’s edition, that was among my favourite events in 2017.
This year’s event offers two thematic exhibitions and lots of classic cars, and it makes good use of 4 halls of the Brussels Expo. This is no match for the largest shows, like Techno Classica or Retromobile but still, better get prepared for at least a good half a day of interesting, marvelous sometimes jaw-dropping cars, and a memorable amount of show elements. In fact, if you are really into cars, you might want to revisit next day.
The first theme commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Brussels World Expo ‘58. Sixty years ago, the World Expo was held in Brussels, attracting some 42 million visitors, and imprinted as one of the most memorable events in Belgium’s post-war history.
Also as it also marked the birth of Belgium’s foremost landmark, the Atomium. 60 years later, InterClassics Brussels 2018 takes a look back at the Expo 58, by a special exposition summoning a unique collection of cars from the year 1958 in Hall 5.
The stage is laid out as a road, and the cars are surrounded by decoration to summon the moments of everyday life of the 50’s. The cars are showing a great variety, in category, brands, and purpose, that shows again that the beauty of the Benelux classic car scene lies in the variety of brands.
In the crossroads of Europe, many car nations are represented, in all categories, from mass-market cars like Opel, VW and Renault….
…through affordable and luxury exotics like coupés, cabriolets and roadsters as Karmann Ghia, Alfa Giulietta, Lancia Aurelia and Mercedes SL up to the high-end luxury brands like Rolls Royce.
The second thematic is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the first Porsche production car, the 356. The very first Porsche was registered on 8 June 1948; the 356 ‘No. 1’ Roadster was built by Ferry Porsche.
Ferdinand was one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century he and his work inspired many product lines from agricultural tractors to race cars. Porsche relied intensively on Volkswagen parts in the production process such as the air-cooled Boxster engine, and the mechanical parts including the engine, the shock absorber, and the chassis were all built by Volkswagen, while initially, coachbuilders were also commissioned to create new versions.
The Porsche 356 remained in production until 1965, and between 1948 and 1965, 76,313 models of the Porsche 356 were built. Along with the model, Porsche’s anniversary year will be celebrated by an exceptional collection of Porsche 356s on display in Hall 6.
The press releases did not exaggerate, the anniversary stage showcases an impressive set of 356 versions, from A, B, SL, roadsters and even the furious 550 Spyder.
The corner is reinforced by Autoworld’s contribution and a small Porsche Classic car network stage. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
As usual, Porsche models constitute the very backbone of every classic car show, InterClassics is no exception.
Restoration specialists, racers, classic car dealership bring an immense amount of Porsches. It was evermore surprising the absence of transaxle models. That might be explained by the fact that I hardly saw any car under 40.000 asking price (even those were part of a larger collection). The four halls are filled with prime stuff.
Nevertheless, the beauty of Benelux is the variety and polyvalence, it would not be enough to flash a 911 to show up, when you are up against major auction houses and collectors.
A Gallardo, even a Veyron will not attract undivided attention, when you can admire Iso Rivoltas and Facel Vegas.
Even modern pieces are carefully selected, like the Lancia Hyena, or Aston Martins.
Some of the specialists showcase project cars to illustrate the level and detail of their restoration work. Last year, my personal favourite was the monster engine built for the speed record chaser Sunbeam 1000HP (one of the two it needed to operate), this year the Collectors took back bit, but that does not mean, that visitors would have to leave disappointed.
I believe the above impressions could serve as a good intro for those who did not decide yet whether to attend or not. I have to stress again, that this article showed only a fraction of the show. In the next part, I will present some if the favourite elements with a closer look on them.
