Last weekend saw the debut of InterClassics’ open-air event. The Days of Elegance brings the familiar concept of chateaux Concours to the Netherlands, building on the organisers’ long experience with classic car shows.
This Sunday, we saw friendly faces at an event with quite a few familiar cars, following a concept we cherished at other shows. Despite the familiarity, Days of Elegance is far from redundant. This event earned now a permanent place on our annual bucket list, as it occupies a pretty good timeslot, still before the summer holidays but already in the no mans land of indoor car shows.
We also left with lasting memories, enriched with photos of many cars still on our bucket list. The event also ticked all the boxes from art exhibitions to dealership tents, specialists and traders. The ticket prices were a bit steep (starting at 50 euros), but the show delivered quite some impressions.
Days of Elegance was hosted in the small town of Valkenburg (Netherlands), about a 15-minutes drive from Maastricht. The venue was provided by Château St. Pierre Gerlach. The grandeur of the castle, surrounded by authentic buildings, parks, gardens and a vineyard, provided a most appropriate setting for the Days of Elegance show.
The main square of the exhibition featured specialists, dealers and four special stages dedicated to Concours categories (pre-war classics, post-war classics, modern era supercars and classic race cars).
The Concours segments were surrounded by tents of the traders and specialists, while the wider area hosted a few special programmes.
These included an art fair and the section dedicated to luxury brands of the VW Group in the outer garden.
Even the VIP parking offered quite a spectacle, with high-end cars, like a Veyron, elegant classics and even two modern-day Alfa 8c specimen. Some of the owners were kind enough to give a demonstration too.
The show’s programme was laid out evenly on two days, covering a GT tour, a Saturday night event and the Concours award ceremony. While we could certainly live with a longer timespan (including a weekday), the agenda reflected the considerable experience of the organisers with classic car events.
In the following article, we will come back with more details, the winners of the Concours and our personal favourites and some closing remarks.
10 best dream cars at Days of Elegance: our personal favourites
