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Chronicle: AutoRetro Barcelona 2017

TEXT: AUTO RETRO / PHOTOS: AUTO RETRO AND ARCHIVE

AutoRetro It was held from November 16 to 19 at Fira de Barcelona and registered the visit of 48.000 people. The desire for the classic was lived in every corner of the 50.000 square meters that this edition occupied in Hall 2, where the commercial activity was located; pavilion 1 where the classic car park was located; and the Plaza del Universo, a space in which outdoor activities were centralized.

In 2017, the Barcelona Classics Show, the dean of all those held throughout Spain, brought together more than 250 exhibitors, showed half a thousand cars and motorcycles from all periods and concentrated around 1.000 private vehicles on the classic car park. in rotation throughout the four days.

AutoRetro opened this issue with a journey Preview for collectors and professionals of the classic motor that allowed to generate the first sales in a relaxed atmosphere and aimed at favoring a better commercial activity. The return of the commercial exhibition to Hall 2 of Fira has been welcomed with great satisfaction by the visiting public, since the design of this space allowed the exhibition to be divided more efficiently and therefore the visit of fans.

Historic cars from brands such as Porsche, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Hispano Suiza, Seat, Citroën, etc. were marketed at the Barcelona Motor Show. and Montesa, Vespa, Lambretta, BMW, Lube, Norton, Ossa, Harley Davidson, Henderson, Derbi, Bultaco, Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles, among many other firms. This year, the Granada-based company Hurtan, dedicated to the artisan manufacture of classic design cars, inspired by vehicles from the 40s and 50s, joined the commercial offer, and the automobilia area brought together professionals from spare parts, accessories, complements and library.

The intense program of activities allowed to live very emotional moments with the tributes that were given to the bodybuilder Peter Sierra, the pilots who participated in the golden age of the 24 Hours of Montjuïc, the Elizalde factory, the Siata Española brand, the pilot Ramón Torras, the Costa Brava rally and the “Subida al Montseny” test.

Tribute to Pedro Serra

The Barcelona International Classic Vehicle Show remembered the Catalan Pedro Serra, considered the best Spanish bodybuilder of all time. Serra's personal stamp, creative and professional, was coined in models of firms such as Pegaso, Rolls Royce, Biscuter, Renault, Citroën, Dodge, Ford and BMW, but, above all, in SEAT.

A public event and an exhibition With a dozen of the vehicles they could be seen in AutoRetro: the Dodge Boulevard prototype, recently rescued from thirty years of neglect and the Dodge Boulevard MM30, the sportiest of the range, both considered the culmination of their production; one of the seven Pegaso Z102 Cabrioes that were commissioned by the engineer Wifredo Ricart, CEO of ENASA, and which led to its international recognition; three SEAT 1400s, one of them in the pre-restoration process, the result of the close and fruitful collaboration that the bodybuilder developed with the Martorell firm; and a selection of creative proposals such as a Renault 4/4 cabrio; a Citroën Dyane Coupé, an MG Crazy and a Pegasin Biscuter ...

Seat 600 and Elizalde, among others

Thirty pilots of the 24 hours of Montjuïc, Eleven of them, winners of this mythical endurance test, met in the framework of AutoRetro to review experiences accumulated in the best years of this competition, between 1975 and 1981.

We celebrate the "end of the party" of 60th anniversary of the SEAT 600 which has been commemorated throughout the year. The popular utility vehicle was the protagonist of the SEAT institutional exhibition with four models that represented important moments in the production process of this popular car that lasted between 1957 and 1973: the series N (the first), D (convertible), E (1970) and L (the last generation); and the Club 600 Barcelona 2017 calls a concentration that brought together some 150 units.

We relive the Rally Costa Brava with the pilots Salvador Serviá and Luis Moya; we remember the Elizalde factory with the presentation of the book on this company, the work of the historian Manuel Garriga, and the motorcycle racer Ramón Torras; we review the production in Spain of Siata; and we talked about the "Ascent to Montseny" with the journalist Josep Casanovas and the pilot Juan Fernández.

AutoRetro's exhibition offer included the programming of various monographic exhibitions such as the Barcelona Firefighters, which also held an exhibition with a steam pump from 1896; of Military Vehicles of the Association of Historic and High Performance Vehicles; of tractors from the collection of the Museu del Tractor d'Época de Castellbisbal; from the Paris Dakar; and from Ferrari, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the brand.

The program of activities included a series of actions that engage visitors of the Hall. Thus the company Valentín Motors made the complete assembly of a Porsche engine aircooled live. The experiment was carried out on a 930/66 engine belonging to a 911 1988 turbo that develops 300 hp.

We also have a slot track and a scale 4 × 4 off road circuit; we started up the Montjuic Legend Series, a program of parades with classic vehicles through the old layout of the urban circuit; and we start Start your Engines-start your engines, an evocative proposal that allowed us to feel the passion for the engine through its sounds.

What do you think?

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Written by The Escudería

LA ESCUDERÍA is the main website in Spanish dedicated to Classic Cars. We give all kinds of machinery to move by itself: From cars to tractors, from motorcycles to buses and trucks preferably powered by fossil fuels...

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