25th Edition
Traditionally organised during one of the first weekend's of the year, the Interclassics Maastricht show was held for the 25th time this year. Thanks to the previous 24 editions, the event has grown out to become one of the most prominent classic car shows in Europe. The strategic location, in The Netherlands but on the border with Germany and Belgium gives Interclassics an instant international appeal. Spread over all three halls of the MECC exhibition centre, the event attracts dealers, restorers, clubs and vendors of all sorts. The result was a line-up so diverse that it ranged from a Toyota Lite Ace van to the Jaguar D-Type used by Ecurie Ecosse to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1957. The latter was part of the special display that celebrated the 18 main themes of the past 24 editions.
We dusted off our cameras for the event and spent the opening day at the MECC with this
110-shot gallery as the result.
18 Master Pieces
Taking centre stage during the 2018 Interclassics were the cars that starred during the 18 main themes of the previous editions. Two of these 'master pieces' were brought by the Dutch Louwman Museum. The first was the aforementioned Le Mans winning Jaguar D-Type that had previously been shown during the 80 Years of Jaguar celebration. The other Louwman car was the Aston Martin DB5 that was used by James Bond in the movie
Goldfinger. One of the actual cars that starred in the movie, it is still fitted with all of Q's tricks like extendable bumpers and a bulletproof shield that pops up behind the rear window. Another famous car from the movies on display was the 'Eleanor' Ford Mustang built
Gone in sixty seconds. Providing an interesting look at 50 years of Grand Prix car development were a 1930s Bugatti Type 54 and a late 1980s Ferrari F1-87/88C displayed side by side. Further 'master pieces' on display included a pair of Fiat 8Vs, an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 and a Porsche 550 Spyder.
Further highlights
Tucked away from the main exhibition hall in one of the additional wings of the MECC, the Austin Healey Owners Club Nederland displayed one of the more fascinating cars of the show. This was a freshly restored Austin Healey Sebring Sprite, which was the only not built for the track but instead was prepared from new for the Monte Carlo Rally. The current owner, a great Austin Healey enthusiast, found the car in Germany in rather derelict condition. He spent the next ten years to restore it to its former glory with most of that time spent researching to get every detail right. The ex-works Austin Healey was presented at Interclassics in the colours and configuration used in the 1959 Coupe des Alpes. The 2018 Interclassics Maastricht also featured its fair share of custom and low volume Italian sports cars of the 1990s. Among them was the one-off Bizzarrini BZ2001, which was built on a wrecked Ferrari Testarossa chassis. It was shown alongside one of just a handful of DeTomaso Guara Barchettas built. Both cars were brought by Belgian Speed8Classics.
Final thoughts
To celebrate the 25th edition of Interclassics Maastricht, a record number of 34,447 visitors attended the show during the four days of the event. This beat the previous record, set in 2016, by nearly 5,000! New dates, January 10-13, 2019, have already been announced but to see what you missed in 2018, here is our
110-shot gallery with all the highlights.