With the indoor show season well underway, C&SC’s deputy editor Malcolm Thorne has been busy taking in the sights at this year’s Retro Classics in Stuttgart, which opened its doors on Thursday and runs until Sunday 5 March.
As you’d expect in the home town of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, both marques are much in evidence at the huge German event, but there are also plenty of less commonplace vehicles on display – ranging from veterans to the latest supercars, and from Italian microcars to American musclecars.
Some of our favourites from this eclectic mix include a Ford Model T roadster, an immaculate early Fiat X1/9 in period lime green, a truly gargantuan Pontiac Bonneville and a sublime Facel Vega Facel II.
As if that’s not enough variety, some tantalising oddities grace the show halls – including a bizarre hot rod Lamborghini tractor, and a vast mobile home powered by a rear-mounted V8 from the contemporary BMW 501 ‘Baroque Angel’.
Among the other eccentricities are a Porsche 356 that’s been decorated with shards of broken mirror and which now resembles something from a 1970s disco, plus a Triumph Spitfire van (yes, you read that correctly).
No less flamboyant is an Italian Mini that brings a whole new meaning to pinstriping, while there’s also a Fiat that was presented new to Pope John XXIII.
If you find the idea of working on your classic’s electrics a daunting prospect, an undressed Mercedes R129 SL on one of the club stands would be the stuff of nightmares: the interior trim of this technological wonder has been cleverly removed to reveal the astonishing complexity of its seemingly endless wiring loom.
