Although this is a large event by Spanish standards, it was quite clear from looking at the website that the list of exhibitors was nothing like as extensive as you would find at the NEC Classic Car Show, or Retromobile or TechnoClassica, but what it did promise was an insight into the classic car scene of another country, so I figured it was quite likely I would get to see some models which are unlikely to appear at the NEC. The event is confined to one very large exhibition hall, and comprises displays from local and national Car Clubs, a massive autojumble and a number of stands from dealers with cars for sale. There was a further display outside the main hall, and to add further interest, Certio, a local specialist had a mobile test centre where they were carrying out the ITV (Inspeccion tecnica de vehiculos), the Spanish version of the MoT test. This did not appear to be anything like as rigorous as the MoT, with checks on lights, wipers, brakes, a cursory glance under the bonnet and a torch shone under the back end of the car being all that was required before a new windscreen sticker was affixed. As far as i could tell, every presented car seemed to pass! What it did mean, of course, is that I got the chance to see plenty more old and rare cars.
ABARTH
I don’t think I have ever seen so many of the 600-based 1000TC Abarth cars as were present at this event. Many of them were not original Abarths, so given the relatively plentiful supply of 600 donor cars, perhaps if should not surprise me that there were so many of these cars on show! .
The largest stand area was allocated to the Alfa Romeo of Catalunya Club’s stand, and they had lots of lovely cars which made a fitting finale to a year of splendid Alfa displays marking the centenary of the Arese marque.
Two of the cars were pre-war, with an RL Tourer from the 1920s and a 6C1750 from the 1930s, The latter was sporting a slightly different bodystyle compared to the more common Touring and Zagato styles.
The DB5 is appreciated, and highly valued everywhere in the world these days, and Barcelona proved to be no exception.
There were a number of the Big Healey cars on show, for sale, with models from the early 100 to the late 3000 cars all available
Oldest Bentley was this 3.5 litre sports tourer.
Sole BMW at the event was this 327 Coupe.
The iconic 35b, and sporting stickers to suggest it had recently competed in the Circuit des Remparts in Angouleme. Yellow is not the most obvious or common colour for one of Ettore’s finer creations, it has to be said.
There were quite a lot of Classic Cadillacs on show, some for sale, and some displayed by the Cadillac Club. All of them were just massive, whether it be a 1950s or a 1970s model
Two examples of the Camaro on show: a brand new car and this 1969 model.
Lone car on the Citroen Car Club stand was this GS Pallas, a car that is now rare even on French home soil.
A 1930 sports tourer from a time long before Daimler had been confined to producing badge-engineered Jaguars
A sports tourer from the 1920s.
You could reasonably expect to see a Meister van like this at a classic German event, but I was more surprised to find one here.
All the Ferraris at the event were for sale. I did not look at the prices of all of them, but I can tell you that a Daytona like this one is not significantly cheaper in Spain than it would be in the UK, and I suspect some buyers might find the white paint not to their taste. It is certainly not the most common hue for this elegant and desirable car.
Strictly speaking, this is a Simca-Fiat, as it was badged as a Simca, made under licence from Fiat, which is how the French marque did indeed start. Beautifully restored, I thought this was one of the nicest cars at the event.
This Taunus 12M dates from the mid 1950s and was Ford Germany’s equivalent of the Focus of today.
A little known Spanish marque that has, for the past 20 years, been producing modern pastiche recreations of classic-style sports cars. I was somewhat surprised to find that the motive power for this one is the Fiat Punto 1.2 engine!
The Lele was a stylish GT coupe made in the 1970s in small quantities, and this car is chassis number 1 of the type.
Most of the Jaguars on show were for sale. Numerically, there were probably more of the XK cars than any other, with a mixture of XK140 and XK150 models, such as these.
One of the first cars I came to in he exhibition hall was this very striking orange Miura.
Both these rallying icons – and they were said to be genuine ex-rally cars – were for sale.
A Continental Mark IV, from the late 1970s, before the first round of “down-sizing” which saw American cars get smaller (for a while!).
One of the more surprising vehicles at the event was this Marcos, in left hand drive form.
The Merak does not have the best reputation for durability, but a sorted car would be a lot of fun. This looked like it could be such a vehicle
The official Mercedes Espana Club was graced with 4 SL cars, ranging from the 1955 300SL Gullwing to the very latest SLS AMG. All deeply desirable!
The MG Car Club had a couple of MGBs on their stand.
There were a couple of different marques present who produced a small number of micro cars, which started to gain some popularity until the Seat 600 took the market by storm. These cars came from a company called Buscuter and were badged as Pegasin and Zapatelli, respectively.
Although there were a number of classic Mini at the event, the only that appears to have attracted my camera was this Van model
This Super 8 represented quality American automotive engineering from the 1930s.
This is a 201, Peugeot’s little known small family car of the late 1920s, and the first model with the now long running numbering scheme with a “0” in the middle of the model number. This one had clearly been repainted by someone with more enthusiasm than skill, though whoever had restored the inside had done a far better job!
There were a fair number of Porsche on show, mostly a mix of 356 and 911 cars.
One of the oldest cars at the event was this 1911 model.
There were a couple of examples of the Silver Cloud, with both a Series 1 and Series 3 car on show.
As Spain’s only native manufacturer, it was no surprise to find that there were a lot of classic Seats on display, and indeed, these were always likely to be among the more unusual cars that you are less likely to come across elsewhere.
The 600 was really the car that put Spain on wheels, and there was a strong showing of these much loved cars. The 600 Club had a central stand at one end of the hall, and they were displaying a number of regular and Abarth models. They also had an 800 on show. Unlike the 600, which was closely based on its Fiat progenitor, the 800 was a uniquely Spanish offering, with 4 doors and an extended wheelbase. These cars are rarely seen on Spanish roads now.
SIATA
Another Spanish rarity was this, the Siata. There was a van version of this vehicle undergoing its ITV test, which looked to be ripe for restoration, whereas this vehicle looked like it had already received the treatment.
The Aronde was a big selling family car from Simca in the 1950s and early 1960s. This is from relatively late in the model’s life.
There were no badges on this, and no signs to tell anyone.
Parked up outside the main exhibition hall was a display of rally cars from the past 40 years, with some familiar and some less familiar cars on show.