Every year, we rank the best car events before the end of the year. As we usually attend about a dozen local and global car events, finding 10 memorable ones is easy. Ranking them, however, is much more challenging. None of us are full-time professional journalists. Thus, our priorities differ from those of professionals. We never cared about new car premieres, but seeing exciting cars of all epochs, shapes and forms or getting new impulses from fresh experiences is far more important. We also need enough wow factor to justify the hundreds of kilometres we travel to see them.
And travel we did, though the even years save a few miles for us: the biennial Chantilly is much closer to our HQ than Le Mans Classic, and the same applies to Paris Mondial (compared to Munich). We attended 11 car shows this year in addition to a couple of automotive pilgrimage sites like car museums, which is a decent result.
11 shows are about half of the principal shows Europe has to offer. Among the most important ones, we missed Geneva, but from the photos, we judged that it would not have made it to our podium. We also missed Essen Motor Show, partly because we were already served the Brussles Auto Show with a fairly identical profile and size. We also missed Retro Classic Stuttgart, InterClassics Maastricht, and some of the prominent Italian classic car shows. Some of these could have had a reasonable chance to make it to our podium, and we are now really interested in paying a visit to Bologna next year. Having said that, let’s have a look at our best-of-car-events list for 2024.
11. Prewar days finished last, but still a brilliant experience
In 2023, this exhibition formed part of a trio of car events in Flanders, and this trio could ensure wholesome and brilliant entertainment. Prewar Days alone, however, could only finish as last, as it only filled a single hall of the magnificent Kortrijk Xpo compound with a highly specialised selection of cars and artefacts.
If you are into prewar cars, Prewar Days is a unique European car show offering dozens of rare specimens from long-gone epochs. But this show might be a miss if you do not get particularly excited about prewar classics.
10. Flanders Collection Cars was our first, but not our last
After several years of folding the cards, Antwerp welcomed another regional classic car show. Flanders Collection Cars 2024 might bear a new name, but it attends the same venue as the established Antwerp Classic and primarily followed in the same footsteps but also coincided with Techno Classica.
Flanders Collection Cars was our first, but we would happily return next year. It was meant to be a replacement for the Antwerp Classic, but instead, it instead split Belgian classic car culture and Techno Classica. It was far from being a bad show, but there was not much more in the size and offering of this event than an 8th position on this list full of brilliant events.
9. Spa Classic is an excellent classic car race and event for petrolheads
In the past seven years, we have always attended this event and left with lasting memories. This year was no different, as the Spa Classic brought back all the virtues of past events (and now we almost literally copied our impressions from last year’s list).
As last year, we could give any rank for this event in the 10-5 range, but others offered more fresh impulses; hence, it is ranked at nr 9.
8. The International Racing Show
This show was a new item on our bucket list but definitely raised our interest. The show presented an impressive selection of classic race cars, and we would definitely like to attend again next year.
It might not be on par with the top-tier car shows, but it was some of the best mid size car show.
7. Antwerp Concours
This event was one of the best post-covid surprises, and we loved it ever since. The venue is a castle near Antwerp, and organisers deliver 100 dream cars of all epochs following preselected themes that refreshingly change every year.
Our fourth time at the Antwerp Concours d’Elegance proved to be well spent again. The nearly 100 cars selected by the organisers excelled without exception, even the visitor parking of the Concours could make it a standalone event. However, a show of this size could not be featured higher on this list, not to mention that another heavyweight concours was held near Paris this year.
6. Essen Techno Classica is losing its steam
The Techno Classica also used to be the most important classic car show on the continent, but upon its return after COVID, the 2022 show was a mere shadow of itself. Manufacturers gradually returned in 2023, but unfortunately, none of them attended Essen in 2024.
Deprived of the show’s most important asset, traders had to make up for the missing wow factor and they did offer plenty of sights with exciting, weird or historical cars. Yet they are no match to the finest of Retromobile. We left Paris with a clear impression of having found the best car show of the year, and Techno Classics could not convince us of the opposite.
5. Brussels Auto Show is no replacement for the Autosalon
This Brussels Motor Show used to be one of Europe’s best international car shows. When the organiser FEBIAC dropped the ball and announced the cancellation, new organisers took over the rights and launched a revamped Brussels Auto Show with a different concept.
Altogether we loved the new Brussels Auto Show. It entailed a severe dosage of wow factor using several familiar elements from last year’s Autosalon and other shows. From Supercars and dream cars, through classic and race cars to tuning, movie cars and military vehicles, this offered something for every taste, Except for new cars. The concept is fundamentally different: the new BAS feels more like a variety show for petrolheads instead of trade shows of the international magnitude of past Autosalons.
4. The Zoute Grand Prix is still a great event, even in its lowest form
This is where we start to see the quality rise, and this event barely missed the podium. We never made secret out of the fact that we love the Zoute Grand Prix. 2019, it proved to be a breath of fresh air after the usual indoor car shows and also our first real high-end Concours d’Elegance. While the concept evolved over the years, facing challenges like COVID-19, we are always left with lasting memories. The 2022 edition reached a peak, harvesting a Historic Motoring Award for the year’s best show. But since then, things have gone downhill.
Since last year, the event ditched its brilliant Concours d’Elegance, and this year, the Bonhams Auction and the Parado car show were housed in a single tent. This rendered it the smallest Zoute we saw. Nevertheless, Zoute is still a unique proposition if you are into high-end car shows. Despite fewer exhibitors, Zoute could still boast a dozen high-end car brands that seldom attend mainstream international car shows these days. Even a visit to the Paris Car Show would not make Zoute redundant.
3. Chantilly
Chantilly Arts & Elegance is one of Europe’s greatest concurs d’elegance, and this year’s edition certainly lived up to our expectations. The Show offered something for every petrolhead: timeless classics, expensive exotics, supercars and concepts. If anything we can bring up as a critical remark, this event only occurs every second year.
We really struggled to decide which event would go to the podium, but in the end, we gave it to Chantilly for its massive size, flawless organisation and impeccable luxurious lifestyle.
2. Paris Car Show: the return of the international car show
2024 was a mixed bag of events, and by September, we only found one that unreservedly met our A-list requirements. While Chantilly and Zoute had a lot to offer, they did not have the potential or the actual form to beat the best two events of 2024.
The Paris Car Show is organised every even year while in the odd years, the shift is taken over by the German International Automobile Exhibition IAA (currently residing in Munich). Historically, the Paris Car Show has been more compact than Frankfurt or Geneva, but it aims to go beyond the automotive and mobility, with special exhibitions following a dedicated theme. The show builds on the historical French tradition of the world fairs, and in French, it even calls itself the Automobile World Fair (Mondial Automobile).
This year’s Paris Car Show delivered well on all these fronts. It did not simply outshine Geneva but also delivered its best performance since COVID. There was no question that this event would feature well, and it’s only due to our personal preferences (our faible for classic cars) that we ranked another show higher.
1. The queen of Classic car shows became the king of car shows
Rétromobile was the first car show to reach the levels of its pre-COVID zenith. Compared to the half-hearted 2022 effort, the show returned to the same halls with similar exhibitor space as earlier, and everything we loved was there. It might have seemed too early to declare a winner in February, but we already had our favourite for 2024, and nothing could change that.
The show is a true spectacle playing on its traditional strengths: the three auctions are on board with their full might, and half a dozen brands exhibit, including MG, with genuinely extraordinary efforts. Some Museums built entire stages, while others contributed to thematic exhibitions. Yet the most fantastic show was delivered by the high-end traders who outbid each other to offer the most expansive and spectacular cars. Nothing signals better that we are now back to the age of car shows.
