Interclassics, Brussels
Five of the world’s top car museums, including Beaulieu, join forces for Brussels’ best show yet
Astunning display of classics from Europe’s greatest car museums – including the National Motor Museum – helped to give Brussels’ three-day classic show the maturity it has lacked in previous years.
In its third year, InterClassics finally had the feel of a worldclass classic event, with cars from the city’s Autoworld, Hollands’ Louwman Museum, Italy’s Museo dell’Automobile and France’s Cité de l’Automobile joining stars from the UK’s National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
The show’s second themed exhibit gathered two dozen 1920s cyclecars for a display of diminutive sporting machines from the likes of Amilcar, Salmson, BNC and Derby. Favourites with visitors included an unrestored d’Yrsan, a wacky Amilcar coupé and a single-seater 1924 British Tamplin.
More of Brussels Expo was given over to club displays – something lacking prominence at 2016’s event – with an excellent round-up of stands including a quartet of Zagato-bodied coupés from the Belgian Lancia Club. Other highlights in the clubs area included a funky orange Citroën SM, a 1960s BMW ‘garage’ containing 1500 and 2800 CS coupés, plus a rare Belgian-assembled OSI-bodied Ford Anglia. The Belgian Fiat 500 Club took the Best Club Stand award.
Dealers had some remarkable classics on offer, with a notable reduction in the number (and prices) of older Porsche 911s and Mercedes SLs for sale. Outstanding car offerings included a low-mileage Alfasud and Alfa 33, a 1953 Ghia-bodied Cisitalia 505DF coupé, a Belgian-built Imperia TA-9, a 1938 Adler Type 10 Autobahn Karmann Cabriolet, a Spanish Voisin Biscuter, a 1961 NSU Prinz, a Renault Sport Spider and Clio V6, the one-off Bizzarrini BZ 2001 prototype and two Ford Capri RS2600s.