Johanna betermi
TEXT: AUTORETRO BARCELONA / PHOTOS: LA ESCUDERÍA
The 35th edition of Auto Retro Barcelona, which will be held from October 18 to 21, will not leave anyone indifferent. Several factors will make this an issue to be lived and remembered. To the traditional commercial exhibition we add this year a program of parallel activities marked by action, spectacle and recognition of companies and brands that contributed to the industrial development of the city of Barcelona in the 50s.
About 50.000 square meters de Fira de Barcelona-Montjuïc, distributed between palaces 1 and 2 and the Plaza del Universo, will be the surface of this macro stage dedicated to the classic motor. More than 250 exhibitors from Spain and various European countries, more than half a thousand classic vehicles (cars and motorcycles) and thousands of references in parts, accessories, accessories, advertising vintage objects, etc. They will make up the basic elements of the show's commercial space, a platform for visibility and opportunities for this business and economic sector.
The classic car segment will have the participation of the firms in this edition Bentley and Ferrari Classiche, which presents its authentication services for Catalonia, which join Porsche and Mercedes with tradition already in this Show. The presence of independent restaurateurs and marketers will guarantee the availability of units from firms with such tradition as Aston Martin, Hispano Suiza, Jaguar, Bugatti, Rolls Royce or such popular products as Seat, Renault, Citroën, etc.
Meanwhile the world of two wheels It will be excellently represented by the main companies in this segment with pre-war and classic units from brands such as Harley Davidson, Montesa, Ossa, Ducati, Lambretta, Vespa, Norton, Bultaco, Honda, Lube, etc.
The commercial offer of AutoRetro is completed with the Automobilia area and the space Car & Bike Corral, dedicated to the sale and purchase between individuals of vehicles, automobiles and motorcycles, prior to 1990, a section that this year is growing due to the increase in the demand for participation.
Auto Retro Barcelona 2018: Moving Show and Contest of Elegance
The main novelties of this edition are in the program of activities and seek a greater interaction of the event itself with fans and collectors, because, as Héctor Ribas director of AutoRetro recognizes, “this Show has to be an integrating tool of all the options that are move in this segment of the engine. Companies and professionals have their space and we want passion and fans to have it too ”. For this reason, this year two initiatives are launched that directly involve people who enjoy the classic motor: the Moving Show and the Elegance Contest.
Both one and the other guarantee a lot of spectacularity and uniqueness. El Moving show will take place in Hall 1 of Fira. On an exhibition circuit we will see cars and motorcycles that are living automotive history. The action will be put on by historic firefighting and military vehicles; We will stage a car chase in 30s Chicago with a 1101 Packard Eight 1934 Series and a 63 Pierce-Arrow Type 1931. We will have microcars; a unique selection from Bultaco with the record-holder at the helm; replicas of competition sports cars from the 80s and 90s (BMW M3, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Celica ...); a selection of Ferrari; the 1928 Graham-Paige of the traveling Zapp family; the classics from the Montjuïc Legends Series; and a selection of all the models and finishes of the legendary Seat 600, among many other proposals. We will set up a paddock where the vehicles will be prepared to go out on the track.
The Elegance contest will bring together more than twenty classic collector cars, a range of select and exclusive vehicles with which we will honor the pioneers of AutoRetro. The contest will be held on Thursday, the 18th, with a parade of participants in the Moving Show circuit. All vehicles will remain on display in the Triangle space of the palace 2 throughout the entire event, this being a unique opportunity to see very glamorous units assembled from brands such as Packard, Rolls Royce, Rugby, Hispano Suiza, Delahaye, Pierce-Arrow, Mercedes Benz, Ford, BMW, etc.
Barcelona, 1953. Back to the past.
We will make a particular trip to Barcelona in 1953 to claim the entrepreneurial nature of the automotive industry in this city. Three independent exhibitions on SEAT 1400, biscuit And the Mymsa motorcycles will put us in a position, since 1953 was a reference year for all the brands represented. These exhibitions will be one more proof of the contribution of the fans to the Show, since all the units belong to individuals.
Jaime Sánchez, who is passionate about Seat and treasures a very complete collection of the brand's classics, will contribute to this edition of AutoRetro with a selection of seven units of the model 1400, the first that the brand assembled in Barcelona in 1953, with Italian components. The 1400 was the Spanish luxury car at the time and enthusiasm from the start. Its production lasted for 11 years.
With the collaboration of Classic Motor Club of Bages We will stage a sample of Biscuter, the vehicle that was born in France but found its reason for being in Barcelona in 1953. AutoNacional SA was the company and the workshop, with its initial headquarters in Valencia Street, from where the wishes materialized of a society eager for new solutions for family and commercial mobility. The Biscuter exhibition will bring together some units of AutoNacional's production: the popular “shoe” (tourism), the “blonde” (commercial), or the “Pegasin”, the latest model in the saga, a coupe model reminiscent of the Pegaso .
In Barcelona and, also, in 1953 the creation of Motors and Motorcycles SA, the workshop company founded by the brothers José and Jaime Aragall Martorell and which gave rise to the brand MYMSA, whose motorcycles flooded the Catalan roads. An exhibition of a dozen units and a discussion will remind us of the drive of this firm, which in the period 1954-58 sold more than 3.800 units of 125 and 175cc motorcycles. MYMSA also developed commercial tricycles.
These three monographic exhibitions are added to the classics of Firefighters of Barcelona and Manresa; military vehicles from World War II, Vietnam and Korea; and of the passenger transports of Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona-TMB, Sagalés and ARCA (Association for the Recovery and Conservation of Buses), the latter with units ranging from 1909 to 1985.
We will also have a star in the purest Hollywood style. It is a 12 Pierce-Arrow V1934 used in the American television series The Untouchables, which was produced at Desilu studios in the film mecca between 1959 and 1963. This Pierce-Arrow V12 was the vehicle that the series drove the gangster Frank Nitti (played by Bruce Gordon), Al Capone's deputy. It will arrive at AutoRetro, in original condition, without restoration, with all the glamor that the passage of the years prints.
Classic motorcycling: Ossa 250 cc monocoque by Santi Herrero
The two-wheel segment will be widely represented in this edition of AutoRetro, but it will undoubtedly have an undisputed star for its exceptional nature as a motorcycle, for the legend of its history and because its presence is a unique opportunity to see it live. We talk about the Ossa 250 cc monocoque who piloted the myth of sports motorcycling Santi Herrero and which currently belongs to Jaime Alguersuari.
The Ossa 250 from 1968 he was a marvel of design and technique. The work of the engineer Eduardo Giró, it was only piloted by Herrero and with it he achieved the greatest successes of his sporting career and contested his last race at the Isle of Man TT in 1970. The fantastic single cylinder rotary valve monocoque, with a chassis made of magnesium sheet , was Ossa's last contribution to the world of competition and the dream come true of an engineer, a pilot and a brand.
On the other hand, the Moto Club Bultaco Sport Classic and the Motorcycle Museum will celebrate with us the 60th anniversary of the creation of Bultaco (1958-2018) with various activities, all of them very dynamic. We will see the Bultaco Cazarrécords in action, a unique specimen in the world that broke five world records in 1960, which will cover the route of the Moving Show along with six other speed units of the firm, some of them very unique.
And we do not get off the motorcycle, because in this edition we will celebrate the 50 long years that one of the most popular motorcycles in the world already has: the Norton Commando. An extensive exhibition sponsored by the Norton Owners Club España will show us the road and sporting character of this motorcycle, which ceased production in 1977 to return to the market renewed in 2006.
The exhibition proposals related to the motorcycle world are completed with a sample of Spanish off-road motorcycles prior to 1980 and three very special motocross units: an Ossa Stiletto, a Bultaco Metisse, and a Montesa Cappra 33M.
Action and rallies in the Plaza del Universo
The Plaza del Universo will be the stage from where one of the classic regularity rallies with the greatest drive in Europe will begin to roll: the Spain Classic Raid. AutoRetro will host the formal start of this test in which more than a hundred vehicles will participate, which will travel, between October 20 and 27, the 2300 km of the overland route that will cross the Iberian Peninsula from north to south on its slope East. The technical verifications of the vehicles (voluntary) and the protocol departure will take place on the afternoon of Friday, October 19.
In the Plaza del Universo will be located the classic car park and rally area of clubs creating an open space dedicated to automotive history.
Dialogues with Jaime Alguersuari and Benjamín Grau
The ERMEvents stage in palace 2 will be the space that hosts the celebration of tributes and conferences that will value the trajectory of people and entities that promote activities related to the engine from different perspectives.
We will have relaxed talks with Jaime Alguersuari Tortajada (Friday 19 at 18:XNUMX p.m.), former motorcycle racer, photojournalist, editor and promoter of events, and Benjamin Grau (Saturday 20th at 17,30:24 pm), former motorcycling rider, eleven-time Spanish Speed champion, five-time national endurance champion, and seven-time winner of the XNUMX hours of Montjuïc.
We will talk about the Osona rally that held its 50th edition last June; We will bring together the drivers of the Escuderia Skualo Competición and the Antic Car Club de Catalunya will present its annual award (Thursday 18 at 12 noon) to Enrique Lacalle, current president of Automobile Barcelona, an event that commemorates its first centenary in 2019.
A lecture on the history of the electric car from 1870 to 1936 by the historian and journalist Christian Manz the live assembly of a Porsche engine with the mechanical masters of Valentín Motors and the classic rides of the Montjuïc Legend Series, along the layout of the old circuit, complete the program of activities for this edition of AutoRetro.
AutoRetro 2018 is organized by the ERMEvents company and is sponsored by the Zalba Caldú insurance brokerage. The price of the ticket at the box office of this edition it will be 15 euros per person from Friday to Sunday; Thursday, day Preview for Collectors, it will be 20 euros. The opening hours to the public will be from 10,00 to 20,00 from Thursday to Saturday and on Sunday from 10,00 to 18,00.
