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Saw many high-quality vehicles at the Interclassics Classic Car Show

12th December 2023, 18:05 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I have always liked the Volvo 240. I had one in the late eighties as a company car. I had not realised the Belgium Cops drove them too.

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Last Sunday I visited the Interclassics show in Brussels, Belgium. It is probably the last major classic car show in Europe each year. In early January, the big shows start up again all over Europe.

They claimed this was the largest classic car show in the Benelux. I am not convinced. They also organise the Interclassic show in Maastricht in January. My impression has always been the latter is larger than its Brussels sibling.

Irrespective, this is always a nice classic car show, with high-quality cars on display and all the other usual things you are likely to find at a classic car show.

So early Sunday morning, I quickly ordered my ticket online and hopped into my Mini. It is just under an hour and a half drive for me. Motorway all the way.

The exhibition centre is next to one of oBrussel'sls historic landmarks, the Atomium

I just realised I don't think I have ever been inside the Atomium. Must do it next time we visit Brussels. We have seen a lot of Brussels lately. We overnighted here earlier this week to attend a Natalie Merchant concert and visit the Herge Museum or TinTin Museum as it is sometimes referred to.

These exhibitions have hundreds and hundreds of cars on display. So I will only show a very small selection. The ones I like, the ones that I think are special and the ones I know some of our members appreciate I hope.

On these high-end classic car exhibitions you will find more Ferraris than you can shake a stick at:

I had never come across this VW:

It is called the XL1. The design team was told to to come up with a fully useable car, that could be produced in series, with a fuel efficiency of 1/100 l/km.

So they came up with the XL1. It's built as a monocoque, mostly composite materials. Cw of 0.186, plug-in hybrid system with a two-cylinder TDi 48 HP engine and a 27HP motor. It also sports a DSG box.

The team exceeded the design brief as this contraption returned less than 09/l per 100 km! It weighs only 795 kg and 250 XL1s were produced.

A bit of Belgium motorcycle/moped history here. Gorgeous!

I am a member of a Facebook group called "Cut Away Cars". It is a very active group with members posting daily all kinds of cut-away drawings of cars, and or car parts. I don't have such drawings, so I tend to post-cut away real cars/engines or models.

So I am always on the lookout for cut-away cars, engines, or other car-related parts. I won't bore you with too many, but I can tell you I found over 20 items on this show!

Here is the famous VW Beetle boxer engine!

It is very nice all these classic cars, but how would I transport my valuable classic car I hear you ask? This might do:

It is called the Algema Blitzlader 2. It can carry up to 3.3 tonnes, and can pull a 3.5 tonnes trailer as well. It only takes 8 seconds to get this thing to bend itself so you can drive your valuable classic car in or out!

Have a look at this promotion video, pretty cool.

I have always liked these Volvo 240s. I had one in the late eighties as a company car. I had not realised the Belgium Cops drove them too.

It is probably one of the most iconic design details on a (classic) car that every core Petrolhead will recognize

This is an instruction model, used to teach young mechanics the basics of engine, gearbox and so on. In general, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find young people to become car mechanics or similar jobs. This is a real problem because we are going to need a lot of people who would like to work with their hands. Apart from cars, think windmills, solar panels, heat pumps and so on. Millions of these are going to be installed and will need servicing.

The model was on display at an organisation that across Europe, recruits young people to train in the classic car world. Great initiative I think.

The smallest car on display, and we talking teeny tiny here, was this Brutch Microcar. Yours for only Euro 25000.

As always lots and lots of car models are on display as well. From brand new to second-hand and anything in between.

Although it is unlikely I would ever own one of these sorts of cars, I love looking at them. These are real racing machines. Nothing like today's F1 cars. Which, when all is said and done, just looks like props from a Star Wars movie.

This is what I would consider a real engine!!

Look at this! Never seen anything like it before. The whole valve train sticks out of the bonnet. Makes for easy adjusting of course.

A few more cut-away engines

There is a pretty sizeable market for these types of petrol pumps too. Purely for display purposes. I like them, but I don't think Mrs D is going to allow me to put one in our yard.