This year’s spring edition of the Autotron classic car show was held on April 8 and 9. The weather conditions were ideal for such an event, many visitors showed up in their own classic ride. Let’s stroll around, inside and outside the main building.
The starting point is this 1952 Ford F-3 flatbed truck.
1983 Mercedes-Benz 280 GE, a genuine G-Fire Department-Wagen.
1964 Opel Kadett A Luxus.
1978 Ford Taunus 1.6 liter 2-door sedan.
1982 Ford Sierra 1.3 liter, the Taunus and its 1982 successor were Ford’s European mid-size family cars back then.
This 1987 Toyota Carina II 1.6 liter was in the same segment as the Ford Sierra.
1970 Opel Blitz flatbed truck with dropsides, it has a 60 hp Peugeot diesel engine.
1986 Mercedes-Benz W126 hearse. Very airy. Not that it helps.
A famous German trio. The 1983 Opel Kadett D Caravan (wagon) clearly had a hard life, but it survived.
1984 Citroën Mehari Azur.
1984 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Quadrifoglio Oro with the 95 hp 1.5 ti engine.
1985 Ford Fiesta 1.0 (957 cc, actually).
Here’s the 75 hp Ford 16v Zetec-S 1.25 liter engine of a 1996 Ford Fiesta Ghia.
1982 Audi 100 GL, 1.6 liter engine.
The Little Legend that saved Peugeot from a bankruptcy in the early eighties. A 1987 Peugeot 205, € 950 asking price.
1982 Volvo 340 DL Automatic. This car model was developed by DAF; but then Volvo came along and took over the DAF car production in the mid-seventies and it ended up as the Volvo 343, introduced in 1976.
1961 Opel Rekord P2.
1975 Land Rover 109″ with a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder diesel engine.
1970 Fiat 128.
1970 Saab 96 V4.
1984 Renault 5 Alpine Turbo, 112 hp from its 1.4 liter engine.
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.
1976 Ford Thunderbird.
1964 Mercedes-Benz 190.
1972 Citroën DS.
1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner.
1971 Morris (Minor) 8cwt Van.
1956 Citroën Traction Avant.
1954 Ford FK (Ford Köln) 3500 with a 3.9 liter V8.
1964 Porsche 356 C.
And the last one for today, a 1973 Volvo 164 E Automatic.
Wow, some very nice cars and I love the amount of just regular, everyday iron on display. Is it a carshow, or a “for sale” show or a mixture of both?
I really like the Taunus, and then the unexpected bonus of an early Sierra successor right afterwards in the same hue was great. The Sierra was such a change for Ford of Europe compared to its boxy predecessor. (Although I love the Taunus and boxy Granada shapes of the era).
It’s interesting how the front end of the Audi 100 just looks kind of “clumpy”, for lack of a better word. There are a lot of little elements that all kind of present a mish mash or a tacked on look. Compared to the Taunus and the Sierra, their fronts are much more integrated and the separate parts “flow” better. What a change next year’s model would be.
If that Opel Kadett was a Senator or even better, a Jaguar, that picture with the Benz and BMW would look like a “Giant Test” from Car Magazine UK! (The Jaguar would of course have won due to its sublime ride and handling, never mind the tow truck that would have been needed at one point of the test)
It’s a mixture of both. The vehicles inside the main building are all for sale, the cars in the brick parking lot (neatly lined up) are owned by visitors of the show, yet several of them were “te koop” (for sale). In the end, almost everything is for sale, if the price is right…
Buying, selling -importing and exporting included- and owning old cars is big business here. Mainly European and American vehicles, the market for classic Japanese cars is much smaller, as you can also see in the pictures.
+1
Love both the earlier curvy and later boxy Cortina/Taunus and Granada of that era. I am pondering about “re-creating” the front end by getting a new Mustang and replacing the horse emblem in the big black grille with a blue oval.
The T-bird manages to have pristine urethane covers behind the 5mph bumpers. The Caprice isn’t so fortunate.
So much good stuff here.
Having owned a Thunderbird a year older than the white ’76 seen here, it makes me curious about general reaction to a car with this much physical presence, especially when in proximity to the less outsized, and more familiar, European fare on display.
The Citroen Traction-Avant just oozes intrigue and adventure.
Classic US landyachts -owned as hobby vehicles- are popular (see my comment above) and fully accepted and appreciated.
Indeed they are. And they don’t even have to be a ’59 Eldorado to turn many heads. Gas consumption aside, a big old barge from the 1970s will give you great fun for VW Polo money. These cars are the marshmallows of the automotive landscape. You know it’s less healthy than broccoli and less stylish than Chateau Latour, but it’s hard to stop once you’ve started. You may not get appreciation from absolutely everybody, but everyone can relate to these cars because they’ve seen them in movies. And your kid will fell like the king of the world when you pick him up from school and park among soccer mums in black SUVs (yep, plenty of these in wealthy Luxemburg too).
I’ve always thought that the Opel Rekord P2 had one of the strangest grins to appear on a car. I can’t decide whether it’s beautiful or hideous.
It certainly does look better than its predecessor, known in Germany as “Bauern-Buick” (peasant’s Buick).
Love this. Euro shows with everyday old iron bring us enthusiasts together across oceans. Gotta mention the fender finders on the T-Bird. Guess the bladed fenders don’t do the trick for the worried owner!
The Rekord had proportions that seemed “highpockets” to Americans of its day, as if designed in Detroit, then sectioned down the middle and glued back together.
I want to take that Little Kadett A home with me.
That Skyliner already had the world’s longest rear end; now it’s got the universe’s longest rear end.
I want the Kadett D. The little beat up wagon is my kinda car
Love the Carina for the oddball factor. And I’ve never seen a Sierra with a gray front grill clip, so you learn something new every day it seems.
The very early base model. The next model up (‘L’) had the same grilled front but body coloured. Haven’t seen a grey grille one for many years.
Love the Morry thou van, I drove a new 74 Austin Minor van for a short time, yes BLMC badged them both ways and even put the Austin crinkle bar grille and horn button on to remind you. The Ford ambo would be my pick great base for an RV.
I don’t think that G Wagon would be approved by any member of the Klein family other than Jim himself 😀
Damn! Those vintage Dutch license plates look a LOT like vintage Portuguese plates. Wonder how they are ordered?
Here the order come from second set of numbers, then first set of numbers, then the letter set changed. Before 1992 the letters weren’t in alphabetical order. Then in 1992 the letters went to the end of the plate and started to also get ordered (E.g. 99-98-AA, then 99-99-AA, then 00-00-AB)
My two boys would be all over the Fire Department G-Wagen! I’d like it too but otherwise not gonna happen,,,Of course to Johannes a G-Wagen Fire Dept vehicle is just like a 1983 Chevy K-5 Blazer Fire Department vehicle is to us…
Wait a minute here, it says “Feuerwehr” on its door, which means it’s an import. Not from very far away, but still…
A G-Wagen Fire Department vehicle is as exotic to me as it is to you. Now the military 290 GD on the other hand…one of them happened to pass me on the freeway just last week.
Glad you tuned the car-nut radar of your kids well enough!
The equivalent to the G wagon here would be a Land Rover Defender or a ’98 Nissan Patrol.
I love how the opening picture shows three distinctively different approaches of how to build an automobile. While you couldn’t buy all three at the same time you could buy the Mercedes and the Citroen and a few years later the Chevrolet and Citroen.
Thanks for sharing all the great pictures!
I really like the affection shown for our north American gunboats.
here, that 74 caprice probably wouldn’t even make it in a show without a lotta work, there it is out with the best of them !
The Ford Taunus looks exactly like the Fords used by the Korea Highway Patrol during the late 70s/early 80s. I always thought they were built by Hyundai under license, but perhaps they were imports. Also appreciate the humorous comment about the “airy” Mercedes.
Love all that French iron, especially the DS and the Traction Avant. The color combo on the Rekord P2 is fantastic!
Two observations:
*The lines of the Ford Skyliners of 1957-’59 were stretched enough in the back to accommodate the foldaway steel top…the continental kits just exaggerated the tail-heavy appearance of otherwise acceptable-looking cars. I’ve owned a ’58 (my favorite) and a ’59, and trust me – these were halo cars…cruising cars for Friday night at the local town place to be seen. They were NOT family haulers. The rear seat backrest was almost bolt upright, to allow for a vertical rear bulkhead and enough room to squeeze the top into. The rear seat also was placed almost 3″ more forward in the body than its counterpart in the soft-top Sunliners for the same reason. Forget about seating adults back there for a long trip. Open the trunk lid, same thing – one had a 2′ by about a 3′ box in which to store stuff. Otherwise, forget about dropping the top. Great idea, sensational on the sales floor, but not a practical car.
*Tell me that no one at Opel AG looked at a 1960 Rambler Classic to copy its beltline. Those doors on the 1961 Rekord may as well have been unbolted from a Rambler and put on the Opel! 😉
Nice mix of vehicles. Looks as if it was a great show!
Thanks very much for this post, Johannes. It reminds me of my CC shows’ from Israel posts- a mix and match of classics, and everything for everyone.
Of all the cars, it’s the Sierra that actually caught my eye; Very, VERY original (right down to the wheel covers) and with the basic engine and trim- now that’s rare! I distinctly remember when it came out, what a shock it caused with its advanced shape at the time. And to expect such a car from Ford, no less…
The wheel covers on that base Sierra look like they came from an 87 and later facelift model. The wheel covers for that early base Sierra were like the dish shaped ones with two slots in the photo below. The wheel covers on the Ghia models had three slots and no grill slots. I would really like to visit the Netherlands again, especially the town in the southern part where the Belgian border runs all over it.
I always love an old Opel! I want the P2, I think Opel’s from that time had such fine cohesive styling. The Citroen DS looks in amazingly original condition, and the colour suits it so well. It looks like a 2 year old car.. The old Ford ambulance took my breath away, the worn paintwork has so much character. Thank you for taking us round a great show!
To me that’s a Cortina (and unicorn rare in 2wd form in the U.K.); did it have Taunus badging in Holland?
Yes, always badged Taunus. The Ford Taunus (named after a German mountain range) goes back to 1939, it was basically a synonym for Ford Germany in Cologne.
Oh man. My wife was laughing at how boring I was when I pointed out that I’d been a passenger in at least 15 of the cars on the list.
My favourite of them all has to be the Land Rover, as it was where it was I discovered that falling down a set of stone stairs was more comfortable than riding in a Landie 🙂
Two each their own. I’m jealous of your experiences — I’d love to take a spin in almost every car featured here!
I will also say that I’m surprised by the amount of Taunus appreciation here. Glad it’s not just me with that affliction.
61 Opel Rekord for the win, but some close competition.
I wonder if 70s domestic boats get more respect in Europe than they do in the USA/Canada.
It just seems that for 90% of in the domestic car scene (here) that if it has more than two doors or was made after 1971 it doesn’t exist.
Thankfully this site helps, as these machines make for great affordable classics – fuel consumption aside.
It was great seeing all these vehicles together. I also never understood why only 2-doors and rag tops were “cool”, I think pretty much any vehicle is interesting in its own right (or I wouldn’t be here, right?) The Sierra still looks futuristic and modern to me (possibly because they were new when I was a kid, and I’ve always wanted a Merkur XR4ti) and the Caprice could be any one of my neighbors’ cars when I was a kid, too-they all looked like that by the time they were 10 or so years old, and fair game for my friends and I as our first cars. It’s hard to believe there’s only a few years between the Chev and the Sierra, not the 25-year difference it would seem! And it is cool seeing a worn, rusty “normal” car at a show, instead of the row of identical resto-mod Camaros and Mustangs I see at shows by me. Great photos, thank you for sharing them!
The poles at the end of the T-Bird fenders remind me of the guides used to guide a boat onto a trailer when its in the water.
Great collection of vehicles – nice choice in starting out with the Ford F3. Always enjoy seeing a Volvo 340/343.
Probably a bit late to say this, but the F-3 in the first-gen F-Series wasn’t the predecessor to the one-ton F-350, but a heavy 3/4-ton pickup with single rear wheels. For 1953, the F-2 and F-3 were both replaced by the F-250, and the F-4 became the F-350. So despite the F-3 badge, this truck is at least an F-4, if not an F-5 or F-6. Still a beautiful specimen.
I just followed the seller’s sign…
I checked his website, it says the truck has a more recent 390 engine + rear axle.
Got to be the Alfasud. Just has.