This year, two editions of Flanders Collection Cars will take place. One in Antwerp and the first one in Ghent. We have already visited the Ghent edition and we would like to take you with us on the exhibition floor with this report.
Three exhibition halls are filled with a total of 165 exhibitors. As at most indoor classic car fairs, the same recipe is used here.
Naturally there is a wide range of classic cars on offer, but we also see quite a few automobilia stands. We also feel that there are many books and documentation dealers, as well as sellers of tools for working on your classic car yourself.
Don’t expect to see very special cars like the ones you can admire at Retromobile, Techno Classica and Interclassics. Ghent keeps it a bit more modest. That has its advantages because we saw a wide range of ‘affordable’ cars. And we also noticed that in the number of ‘sold’ signs.
We went on Sunday, so it was the last day. When we arrived around 10:00 a.m., it was still quiet. However, around noon, there were a lot of people present.
So the marketing did its job. This, in combination with the dry weather, meant that many visitors had brought their own classic car.
Besides the classic Porsche 911, a number of Opels, Audis and other nice cars, this Auto Union 1000 Super above really stood out. It is a precursor of Audi with the already recognisable rings, and yet it is a car that we don’t see very often.
Themes
There were also two themes in Ghent. On the poster we could see the Mercedes ‘Red Pig’. This car actually represents the start of AMG in 1967. The second theme was about Lancia and their return to motorsport.
AMG
The story begins in the 1960s. The two engineers Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher were working on the 300 SE racing engine in the development department of Daimler-Benz. At that moment, Daimler-Benz decided to close the department. However, both Hans and Werner had racing in their blood and they continued to develop the engine on their own in Werner Aufrecht’s home.
In 1965, Manfred Schiek, a colleague from Daimler, joined the team to compete in the German Touring Car Championship with the 300 SE engine developed by Aufrecht and Melcher. He won no less than ten times!
Aufrecht had the vision of offering ‘ordinary’ cars for the road, but adapted to their successful racing car. To realise this, they set up a company called ‘Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach Ingenieurbüro, Konstruktion und Versuch zur Entwicklung von Rennmotoren’. Put the first three letters together and you get the legendary AMG.
The model on display was a replica and, in our opinion, the main theme was not given enough attention.
Lancia returns to motor racing
In October 2024, Lancia announced that it would return to the world of rallying. There are, of course, big shoes to fill with cars such as the Stratos, the 037 and the Delta, which racked up one victory after another from the mid-70s to the early 90s.
Because of Lancia’s return to motorsport, special attention was paid to the brand. A total of six competition models were on display in the central part of the first hall.
We saw a Stratos Alitalia, a Fulvia, a 037 in Martini colours and a few Delta Integrales
Correctly priced classic cars
There was a wide range of affordable classic cars on offer. These ranged from a Renault Dauphine to a Triumph GT6+, but also a Citroën Mehari or a Peugeot 204. All of the above cars had very reasonable asking prices.
Specials
And we who thought that barn finds were gradually becoming passé. In the last hall we came across a Peugeot 202 UH that had been rolled out of a very old barn. The asking price was €4980, which seemed reasonable to me. However, this is not something you can just buy because it still needed a lot of work.
Better materials
Naturally, there were not only very cheap cars, we also saw a few Ferraris, Porsches and exclusive AMGs. But also Jaguars and BMWs and a number of Corvettes.
Exclusive
In my opinion, the most exclusive car at the show was this 1954 Kaiser Darrin. Only 435 were ever produced and this one had only ever had one owner. The price was steep, but you do get a very exclusive car in return.
Clubs
As at most indoor car events, several clubs were present here as well. Above you can see the stand of the Ford Taunus club, for example.
Automotive Art
No indoor classic car event is complete without some kind of art on display. And this was no different.
Conclusion
The Ghent Classic car show was a success. There was a large turnout of visitors who just came to have a look, but there were also quite a few buyers.
The selection was certainly okay, although I think they could elaborate on their themes. In the publicity we saw very little about Lancia, even though they really did take up a nice spot on the show floor.
As part of Flanders Collection Cars, Ghent certainly holds its own. If you are curious to see how things will go in Antwerp, you can still purchase tickets at a reduced rate via this link.
If you would like to take a look at how things went in previous editions in Antwerp, you can read our report via this link.
