The ultimate events calendar enumerates major automotive events in Europe becoming a tradition at Egzostive. I you are looking for the 2023 Calendar, click the article below:
November update:
The 2022 list started with many cancellations, despite the glimpse of hope last Autumn. Brussels Motor Show, Geneva, Antwerp Classic, InterClassics Maastricht already cancelled, others (Retromobile) postponed. January was dead, and so was February. March proved to be very dense, as the first A-listers (Retromobile and Techno Classica) finally took place, albeit with a reduced steam. April continued with some major shows, and in may the classic race season started. By June, the weather became suitable for the open air Concours events that lasted until end of October. The Autumn saw the return of traditional indoor car shows, as the Paris car show and InterClassics Brussels took place. If we made it to a show on this list, you will find our reports further below.
The European automotive events calendar 2022
NEC Performance & Tuning Car Show – (cancelled), Birmingham, UK – Official website
Brussels Motor Show – (CANCELLED) – Brussels, Belgium – Official website
This is one of the best international car shows in Europe and the only one still held in Europe last year. Sadly the cancellation reached the Autosalon again while the sales are now relocated to the dealerships.
GP Ice Race – (CANCELLED), Zell am See, Austria – Official website.
Antwerp Classics – (Cancelled), Antwerp, Belgium – Official Website
This event is affiliated to the organisers of the Techno Classica, but the size is considerably smaller, and the concept is fundamentally different (my favourite stage was the one dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Ferrari in 2017).
This event’s greatest strength lies in the active participation of car clubs, showcasing a couple of really impressive stages of avid owners’ clubs, with excellent dioramas and exciting classics. Unfortunately, the 2022 event was cancelled short before the date.
Festival Automobile International – (Cancelled), Paris, France – Official website
This event usually anticipates the Retromobile, one of the best classic car shows in the world. It was forst postponed and, but by April the organisers gave up .
Autoretro – (CANCELLED), Roeselare, Belgium – Official Website
Paris Auction Week – the auctions of Artcurial, Bonhams and Sotheby’s (listed strictly in alphabetical order).
These Auctions usually take place during the week of Rétromobile. In 2020, we still managed to see all three: Artcurial is the show’s official auctioneer, while Bonhams and Sotheby’s bunk is in the city centre.
Each auction is a car show in its own right. According to the websites, the auctions are set to happen at the original time, except Artcurial that took place at and during Retromobile.
Retromobile – 16-20 March, – Paris, France – Official website
One of the A-listers, in our books, the best classic car show in most years that we attended.
To catch up with memories, Egzostive covered the 2020 event most exhaustively. By postponing the event, Retromobile 2022 detached from the two major auctions of Bonhams and Sotheby’s that already took place in February. In the end, Retromobile proved to be the first major car event actually happening in Europe. You can read our review here:
Essen Techno Classica, 23-27 March, Essen, Germany – Official website
The Techno Classica is also one of the most important automotive events in the continent, which means pretty much the world. The exhibition claims to be the number 1 of classic car fairs, and this show also delivers.
In the past two years, the Techno Classica was cancelled, but this year, the show finally took place. Read our first impressions with links to the detailed reports here:
Retro Classics Stuttgart, 21-24 April, Stuttgart, Germany – Official Website
One of Europe’s flagship classic car events is back to a usual March timeslot. In 2020, it was one of the last car shows held before the Pandemic struck in. One speciality of the organisers is to find dates coinciding with other major events (the Techno Classica event series or the Interclassic series). The coincidence is not their fault this year: Retromobile postponed its date to the same week, so they took the sensible choice and postponed to April, where it finally took place.
Klassikwelt Bodensee – 6-8 May, Fridriechshafen, Germany – Official website
Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, 20-22 May, Cernobbio, Italy – Official website
The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is one of the most well-known beauty contests of historic cars. It is undoubtedly the most traditional event, held for the first time in 1929. Since its revival in the 1990s, the Concorso has developed into a benchmark of European Concours events.
Spa Classic – 20-22 May, Spa, Belgium – Official website
The Spa event is part of the classic racing series run by the French Peter Auto series.
While the flagship event is the bi-annual Le Mans Classics (see a bit later), the roaring circus visits Spa every year, and so do we for the past few years. Our first impressions are summarised in this article (with the detailed reports linked):
Oldtimer Messe Tulln – 21-22 Mai, Tulln, Austria – Official website
Nürburgring Classics – 20-21 May 2021, Nürburgring, Germany – Official website
AMTS – Automobile and Tuning Show – 27-29 May, Budapest, Hungary – Official website
This event makes a similar impression as the Essen Motor Show, covering classics, motorsport and tuning with an emphasis on entertainment and a stronger focus on hostesses than any other show this year. The organisers boast hundreds of hostesses and offer a Miss AMTS feature event.
Amsterdam Motor Show, (????) seems postponed, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Official website
I visited the AutoRAI in 2015, which left a lovely impression. However, it was discontinued, and a new car show event launched a few years ago. For now, the website is inconclusive about the date (the counter is still set to April), but the website indicates a June date. The organisers proved to be unresponsive to approaches.
Days of elegance – InterClassics – 18-19 June, Chateau de St Gerlach, Netherlands – Official website
This open air event of InterClassics made its debut this year. We were there, and would surely love to see this becoming a tradition.
InterClassics Days of elegance is a premiere we’d like see becoming a tradition
1000 Miglia – 15-18 June, Brescia – Rome, Italy – Official website
Concours d’Elégance Suisse, 18-19 June, Chateau de Coppet, Switzerland, – Official website
Spa Summer Classic, 24-26 June 2021, Spa, Belgium – Official website
This event is held annually at Spa-Francorchamps. Although Spa Summer Classics is not as clear-cut as the Spa Classic mentioned earlier, it is still worth visiting. The event combines the regional classic car series to race at this legendary circuit. Last year, the event was not rendered public but remained restricted to participants.
The London Classic Car Show, 25-27 June, London, UK – Official website
Le Mans Classics, 30 June -3 July 2021, Le Mans, France – Official website
Le Mans Classics is a biennial flagship event of the brilliant Peter Auto classic racing series. It was due in 2020, but it has been postponed to 2021, pushing out the Hungaroring Classics and Chantilly to 2022. According to the 2022 calendar published by Peter Auto, both Le Mans Classics and Chantilly is set to happen as well, but after the summer break.
Goodwood Festival of Speed – 23-26 June, Goodwood, UK – Official website
London Motor & Tech Show – Date to be announced, London, UK – Official website
Eifel Rallye Festival, 21-23 July, Daun, Germany – Official website
Spettacolo Sportivo – 1-3 July, Zandvoort, Netherlands – Official website
This event was on our wish list for the 110th anniversary of Alfa Romeo. Unfortunately, it was cancelled in 2020 due to the confinement, and the 2021 event took place on short notice in August. This year, the date came also on short notice, maybe a few weeks in advance.
Classic Days – 5-7 August 2021, Düsseldorf, Germany – Official website
Another lesser-known event that promises a great program, and the reports confirmed that it’s a must-see. The core programme is a classic car meeting, that moved out of the usual lakeside castle to a park near Düsseldorf, becoming a major classic car jamboree.
AVD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix, 12-14 August, Nürburgring, Germany – Official website
It seems like a great event from the official photos, definitely worth a visit.
Silverstone Classics, 26-28 August, Silverstone, UK – Official website
One of the UK’s largest classic car events is held at the legendary Silverstone race track. Personally, I have been looking at Silverstone Classics for quite some time. Still, people out there drive on the wrong side of the street without even noticing! : ).
The photos on the website seem spectacular (and after a few classic car races, we can tell : ) ), both in terms of scenery and cars attending on and off track. Visitors get to see classic sports cars and race cars in their natural environment, i.e. on the race track.
Concours d’Elegance Paleis Soestdijk 2022, 26-28 August, Silverstone, UK – Official website
This is a open air castle new event that appeared on our radar quite recently. If we would manage to attend we will surely post about it.
Salon Privé – 1-4 September, Blenheim Palace, UK – Official website
The Salon Privé might not be that well-known outside the UK, but the event has a distinctively classy and aristocratic flair, covering both classic and supercar shows.
Concours of Elegance – 2-4 September, Hampton Court Palace, UK – Official website
An interesting concept to arrange a similar event to the same week not far away. This might actually work, as tourists can group the two occasions for a visit to the region (we certainly would, had there been no Brexit).
Antwerp Concours – 11 September, Antwerpen, Belgium – Official website
This event was one of the best surprises of 2021. The venue is a castle near Antwerp, and organisers delivered 100 dream cars of all epochs. We were genuinely impressed by last year’s event.
InterClassics Classic Car Show Maastricht – Cancelled, Maastricht, the Netherlands – Official website
The InterClassics Maastricht is a well-established classic car event of the Benelux region. With some changes on the website, the event acquired the name Classic Car Show Maastricht
It is usually one of the first car events on the calendar, but as a precaution, InterClassics Maastricht was postponed to September. The central theme of this year’s event was to be (again) the Dutch Grand Prix Classics. Apparently, they will still have unused firecrackers as the 2022 event was again cancelled.
Concours d’Elegance de Chantilly – 24-25 September, Château de Chantilly, France – Official website
Chantilly is a high-end Concours d’elegance organised by Peter Auto. The photos we saw from the 2019 edition truly impressed, with the only downside of the extremely hot weather.
The October date will take care of the climate, while it proved to be the least covid affected month of last year. At the same time, the previous conflict with the flagship Le Mans Classic event is solved.
Goodwood Revival – 16-18 September, Goodwood, UK – Official website
Another legendary event in a legendary site. In addition to the Festival of Speed, Revival is one of the events we would like to visit one day. Unfortunately, with Brexit, this is getting even more unlikely.
Zoute Grand Prix, 5-9 October, Knokke-Heist, Belgium, – Official website
This excellent Concours d’elegance takes place in October by the Belgian coast. The event looks back to a decade of success with a continually growing audience growing beyond 250.000 visitors in 2018.
The Zoute Grand Prix comprises five events held throughout the four days at various locations: the Zoute Top Marques show (last year called Prado Zoute), the Zoute Rally, the Zoute Sale by Bonhams Auction, the Zoute Concours d’elegance and the closing Zoute GT Tour.
Some of these events are public, others might require additional investment. The 2019 event guaranteed a full day of activities with a comprehensive set of programmes. For us, this was the best car event of 2021, hands down.
Rallye Legend – 13-16 October, San Marino, Italy – Official website
Auto-moto d’epoca – 20-23 October, Padua Italy – Official website
Paris Motor Show, 17 – 23 October 2022, Paris, France – Official website
The Paris Car Show is organised every even year (the last one held in 2018), in the odd years the shift is taken over by the German International Automobile Exhibition IAA.
The Paris and the Frankfurt Car shows differ in many ways, the Paris Show is more compact, and aims to go beyond the automotive and mobility, with special exhibitions following a dedicated theme.
Interclassics Brussels, 18-20 November, Brussels, Belgium – Official website
The Interclassics Brussels is a relatively recent event, will be held for the seventh time this year. However, the organisers are far from being beginners.
Their main event, the Interclassics Maastricht is the most important classic car event in the Netherlands with some three decades of history. Even as a newcomer, Interclassics Brussels quickly established itself, thanks to the region’s very active classic car culture.
The last few events were quite impressive. In 2019, I think it surpassed the Maastricht event, the 2021 InterClassics Brussels was one of the few major classic car events actually held. The 2002 edition was good as always, albeit limited to 3 halls.
Milano AutoClassica, 18-20 November, Milano, Italy – Official website
Another event on my bucket list, as a stable candidate for a visit.
Essen Motor Show, 3-11 December, Essen, Germany – Official website
I like to summarise the Essen Motor Show as a European SEMA meets classic car show. It can not be compared to the international car shows, even if a few dealerships exhibit. For a full-blooded international car show, wait a few weeks and go to Brussels. But it’s safe to say that EMS will leave quite a few lasting memories on other fronts, with a clear aim to please everybody by offering everything on all fronts.
2018, I could witness VW’s electric Pikes Peak stormer ID R and Porsche’s 919 Nürburgring dominator, I watched the drift championship training session, I marvelled all forms of beauty and was paralysed by shock and awe in the taverns of tuning.
EMS is organised every year, and with an eventual cancellation of the Techno Classica, the EMS could step in as a backup plan. The 2021 event however could not come close to the Techno Classica, even if we could see quite a few spectacular cars. This year the competition is more open.
