Fine Weather Brings out Classics Cars for Final Years’ Gathering 

At this time of year most people are swapping their summer for winter tyres, topping up the anti-freeze and preparing for wintry road conditions. But one group of automobile enthusiasts took what might be the last chance of the year to wash down their cherished classics, check tyre pressures and fire up the old V8 one last time before their winter hibernation.

It was a spur of the moment idea by Manny, a 1960′s Ford Thunderbird owner, who rang a few pals that share his passion for classic American cars to bring them together for drinks, a barbecue and a chat on a beautiful Bavarian afternoon in Kirchheim bei München.

One young man from Erding, Albert, was more than happy to share his story about how he came to own a beautiful 1972 Mercury Marquis. Albert fell in love with American cars after listening to stories his grandmother told him when he was a small boy. She told tales of how American soldiers based in Germany after the Second World War would give model cars and other paraphernalia to young children. ”It’s just something in my heart that makes me want to keep the car,” says Albert, referring to his bronze coloured Mercury with its seven litre, V8 power-plant that he’s owned for the past 3-years.

While cars arrived from all over Bavaria throughout the day, a radio played rock ‘n roll music of the fabulous fifties and the swinging sixties and seventies to give an extra feeling for the era these cars were made in.

Today we buy cars that share a much closer design than the imaginatively styled, hand-built cars of the past. We benefit from massive improvements in safety, reliability and fuel economy but we don’t see the same character in a robotic Ford Mondeo as we do when we lay our eyes on a Chevrolet Bel Air, the iconic Ford T-Bird or a sleek Corvette Sting Ray. These glamorous works of art don’t have fibreglass body panels, parking sensors and sophisticated keys that remember our seating position. They were made from sheets of steel and were considered technologically advanced if they had an electric radio aerial.

We should celebrate the advances and improvements we’ve made in modern motor cars but it’s also nice to look back nostalgically on the enchanting creations of the past when designers didn’t lose any sleep if their engines burnt enough fuel to power a space shuttle into orbit when only nipping down the shops for a pint of milk.

It’s wonderful that people still love and appreciate these machines enough to spend small fortunes on keeping them on the road for all of us to enjoy. It’s like having roaming automotive museums.

Don’t expect too many of these cars on the road for the next six months though. They will be tucked away, cosy, warm and sheltered from the wintry elements until next year when they will be re-awoken for another year of motoring fun and enjoyment.

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