The 2018 Techno Classica was held some time ago already, but it’s an excellent topic to kick off another blog section that will feature classic car shows.
The Techno Classica is also one of the most important automotive events in the continent (more information at the official site). It also finishes on the podium on my personal automotive events top list.
The exhibition claims to be the number 1 of classic car fairs, which this might not mean that much, as about half a dozen car shows have made a similarly bold claims. But this show also delivers both in terms of quantity and quality….
To give an idea, it takes a full day to walk through without really dropping the anchor anywhere. Even if there are plenty of reasons to stop…
Apart from the show’s sheer size, the real value added is the factory presence that makes the top-tier events (such as Retromobile, Goodwood Revival, Stuttgart’s Retro Classics and Maastricht Interclassics) reach far beyond the traditional second-hand car fairs.
Techno Classica’s strongest asset is the most prominent participation of Car Manufacturers at the factory (or at least importer) level. Their contribution encompasses factory museums, historical parts divisions, often supported by current models.
Factory stands not only enhance the reputation among collectors but also attract the general public, beyond the connoisseurs of classic cars. Considering the nearly 200.000 visitors, manufacturers increasingly recognize the advertising potential of top-tier classic car shows. Essentially, Techno Classica resembles now a lot to the Frankfurt Motor Show but with classic cars.
The size of the Techno Classica is truly impressive. 1250 exhibitors from over 30 countries are showcasing their very best, and the exhibition can hardly be covered on foot in a single day: 21 halls and their open air surrounding on 120,000 square meters offer plenty of sights.
Another strength of Techno Classica is the active participation by top-tier and medium-sized private collectors, who usually cater an elegant show with 5-10 extraordinary cars.
These include names such as Classic Remise (I usually try to visit them en route to Essen, its really worth the stopover), Axel Schuette or HK Engineering.
Even if in total, the stages are not at the level of Retromobile…
When they showcase a Bugatti EB110, a Porsche 935 Moby Dyck or a Formula-1 car driven by Michael Schumacher, you know you are up for a great time. To be fair, there is still another show (Retromobile in Paris) that tend to give Essen a run for the money for the best show title.
Essen also features a massive auction hall, run by a selected official Auctioneer who usually showcases several dozen cars with values sometimes exceeding a million euro.
In this area, Retromobile tend to surpass Techno Classica with Arcturial’s record-breaking auctions, but still, the Coys hall itself offers more impressive historical cars than many of us have seen in our entire life, before visiting a top-tier classic car show. And in 2019, a second auctioneer joined the show, as Sotheby’s occupied the cellar of Hall 1.
Another exciting subculture consists of a car clubs dealing with historical brands or even a single model. There at least a dozen clubs present in the vast halls.
Techno Classica always impresses with both its size and impressive quality. Its constant performance makes it the king of classic car events. Nevertheless, it is much more difficult to rank this event in comparison with the other major competing events, in particular, Retromobile, which is slightly smaller but excels in many ways. I believe the ranking also changes every year, as the top-tier shows try to outcompete each other. To have a complete picture, I recommend to have a look at the landing page of the 2019 event, the last great one held since the Coronavirus struck the world. The 2022 edition seemed the lack all the most important ingredient to become the king of classic car shows, but the 2023 event showed promising signs of recovery. Unfortunately, the 2024 Techno Classica was closer to the 2022 event with the complete absence of manufacturers.
