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Organisers delighted with very high visitor numbers again this year

Last weekend, the Bremen Classic Motorshow kicked off the classic vehicle season in Germany. 45,740 visitors flocked to the MESSE BREMEN exhibition halls over the three days. „We’re very happy that once again so many people came to the show“, said Frank Ruge, Project Manager of the Bremen Classic Motorshow. „It’s a great result and it confirms that Bremen is firmly established as the starting point for the season.“ This was the second highest visitor figure for the Motorshow, just a little short of the 46,407 recorded last year. It means the Classic Motorshow again cemented its reputation as the first meeting of the community after the long winter break.

Traditionally, the show includes special presentations highlighting specific two and four-wheeler vehicles. This year, the special car show attracted visitors with a display celebrating the history of Lancia cars. The motorcycle special was dedicated to the „shot-glass class“ of 50-cc bikes. In the two halls focusing on spare parts, collectors and restorers as always found a huge range of spare parts. The Vehicle Mart in the multi-storey car park also drew crowds throughout the event.

Sales of motorcycles showed that the trend towards small-capacity bikes continues to grow. „50cc, 80cc and 125cc types remain very popular. And there was also a lot of interest in exotic Japanese bikes, especially sporty two-stroke types like the Suzuki Gamma series“, said Andy Schwietzer from the PS.SPEICHER Museum in Einbeck. Car sales figures showed that, despite current crises and high inflation, realistically priced vehicles found their buyers. Classic vehicle fans were interested above all in models from the 60s and later. Sales of earlier vehicles focused on particularly rare or special vehicles.

This year, the Classic Motorshow team introduced three new elements into the event. „We never stand still and we’re always developing the Bremen Classic Motorshow to make it even better“, said Claudia Nötzelmann, Department Head at MESSE BREMEN. For example, the team invented the „Red List“ category of cars, a term the community has enthusiastically adopted. „With this year’s new features, we tackled burning issues for the classic vehicle community and created valuable additions to the show.“

This included a presentation in Hall 4 by men and women between 20 and 35 years old, showing what they have achieved as young fans. The response was very positive: „It was awesome how many people turned up, and how they loved it!“ said Fynn Backhaus. The body maker brought along a vehicle he built himself. It was such a hit that „a number of retirement-age classic fans asked me whether I could offer them weekend classes in metalworking“. The other young participants also felt this acceptance of their skills by the older generation.

Another first was the Women Classic Drivers Initiative (WODI) stand at the Motorshow. This group aims to attract more women to the classic vehicle community. Its founder Jessica Christiani said: „It felt like our time has come. Lots of women came over to chat. And many of the other clubs also approached us. Our project is definitely getting off the ground.“

Marc Trapp, the owner and auctioneer of Wormser Reklame-Auktion, is also completely happy with the show. „Right from the start, there was massive interest in our offering. People submitted a lot of valuable items, and we’ll definitely be back again next year and also perform auctions. From now on, the Bremen Classic Motorshow is a must for us“, said Trapp. „We were also extremely impressed with the organisation and great cooperation with the Motorshow team.”

The date for the next Bremen Classic Motorshow is already set. Next year’s classic vehicle season will kick off in Bremen from 31 January to 2 February.

More information: classicmotorshow.de/en
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You can find photos relating to the event in our cloud: 
https://cloud.m3b-bremen.de/s/3ArR9j8QpWydEnZ
Password: ClassicMotorshow_2024

About the Bremen Classic Motorshow: Since 2003, the Bremen Classic Motorshow has become established as the first classic vehicle trade show of the year in Germany. Over three days every year, collectors and grease monkeys, first-time fans and long-term enthusiasts, dealers and restorers, clubs and friends get together in the MESSE BREMEN halls to chat and talk shop in a relaxed atmosphere. In 2023, the show broke all records, with the organisers counting 46,407 visitors. Every year, more than 700 exhibitors from several European countries ensure a wide range is on show.

Further information for editorial teams:
MESSE BREMEN · M3B GmbH
Bastian Mojen, T 0421 3505 – 445
Bastian.Mojen@m3b-bremen.de
www.messe-bremen.de

M3B GmbH

Bremer Ratskeller – Weinhandel seit 1405 · Großmarkt Bremen · ÖVB-Arena · CONGRESS BREMEN · MESSE BREMEN

Findorffstr. 101 · 28215 Bremen · Germany

Special shows focus on 50-ccm mopeds and Lancia cars

The Bremen Classic Motorshow will once again kick off the classic vehicle season in Germany in 2024. From Friday 2 to Sunday 4 February 2024, the doors at MESSE BREMEN will open for the 22nd Classic Motorshow. Visitors can expect not only the traditional, excellently curated special shows for motorbikes and cars, but also a completely new feature. For the first time, a 400 square-metre area in a prime position in Hall 4 will be taken over by a group of young classic car enthusiasts.

This is a conscious move by the BCM team to engage a new generation. „Everybody’s talking about the fact that the community’s getting older, and saying we need more young people“, says Frank Ruge, Project Manager of the Bremen Classic Motorshow. „We’re not just talking. We’re giving young fans free rein to do their thing on their own presentation space!“ There’s only one condition: The vehicles they display must be at least 20 years old. Around twelve men and women between the ages of 25 and 35 are on board with the project. They come from diverse backgrounds: retail, motor sports, journalism, tuning and restoration.

Special show spotlights Lancia
The Classic Motorshow has always included special shows, and next year will of course be no exception. This time, the four-wheel special show will be dedicated to the history of Italian car manufacturer Lancia. The vehicles on show will cover a time frame from the pre-war period to the 1990s. The over 100-year history of Lancia in vehicle manufacturing can be roughly divided into two eras. Up to its sale to Fiat in the 1960s, Lancia was the technology leader. Under the wing of Fiat, a period of motor-racing success followed. The show at the BCM will map this development with selected models, once again achieving the quality visitors have come to expect.

First steps in motorised mobility
The two-wheel special show highlights a class that was many people’s first introduction to motorised mobility: 50-ccm mopeds. In cooperation with the PS.SPEICHER in Einbeck and private lenders, the team will put together a show guaranteed to trigger fond memories for many visitors. They’ll be able to see mass-market models from e.g. Zündapp, Kreidler and Hercules as well as genuine rarities such as mopeds from Gritzner.

The Young Classics section and the Classic Custom Motorcycle Lounge will also make a reappearance next year. And of course, visitors can also look forward to the established favourites: the huge Autojumble and Classic Vehicle Mart in the multi-storey car park.

More: https://www.classicmotorshow.de/en/

Please add the Bremen Classic Motorshow to your events calendar:

Date:                            Friday 2 to Sunday 4 February 2024

Opening hours:             9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Venue:                         MESSE BREMEN, Findorffstr. 101, 28215 Bremen

Ticket prices:                Online: € 16, reduced € 14

Ticket desk: € 18, reduced € 16

Friday and Saturday from 3 p.m. at the ticket desk: € 9

Family ticket: € 38 (2 adults + 4 children)

About the Bremen Classic Motorshow: Since 2003, the Bremen Classic Motorshow has become established as the first classic vehicle trade show of the year in Germany. Over three days every year, collectors and grease monkeys, first-time fans and long-term enthusiasts, dealers and restorers, clubs and friends get together in the MESSE BREMEN halls to chat and talk shop in a relaxed atmosphere. In 2023, the classic vehicle show achieved a new record: 46,407 visitors. Some 730 exhibitors from around Europe ensured a wide-ranging, varied programme. Due to the Covid pandemic, the BCM team were forced to cancel the live event in 2021 and 2022. Instead, they put together an online event in the form of a livestream.

Further information for editorial teams:
MESSE BREMEN · M3B GmbH
Bastian Mojen, phone +49 421 3505 – 445
bastian.mojen@m3b-bremen.de
www.messe-bremen.de

The decades-long rivalry between two-stroke and four-stroke engines

Two-stroke or four-stroke? This was the hot topic in the motorcycle world during the 20th century. Two-stroke bikes were considered rough, vigorous and agile, four-strokers cultivated, heavy and high-maintenance. From Friday 3 to Sunday 5 February 2023, the Bremen Classic Motorshow and its cooperation partner PS.SPEICHER in Einbeck will review this epic battle at the MESSE BREMEN exhibition site. Based on 24 carefully selected models, the special show „Four-stroke or two-stroke – a question of faith“ will demonstrate the development of this contest over the decades.

„In 1913, two-stroke engines gained the upper hand for the first time“, says Frank Ruge, Project Manager of the Bremen Classic Motorshow. „In that year, a two-stroke Scott unexpectedly won the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man. At the time, this was the world’s most important motorbike race.“ The much larger community of four-stroke fans was shocked. Manufacturers felt they had lost face, their engineers felt challenged. This was the start of the competition between the two systems to dominate technologically and win customers‘ hearts.

The two-stroke engine with its double firing order and fewer moving parts was an attractive option for engineers and dealers. Low-cost production, low weight and good power generation on the one hand, but difficult lubrication, high fuel consumption and tricky gas changes on the other.

Four-stroke types demanded higher investment from producers and purchasers. Their advantages were smooth running and lower fuel consumption. But the downsides were greater weight, more complex maintenance and more expensive repairs.

Visitors to the Bremen Classic Motorshow will be able to follow the long journey of two-stroke engineering from the 1920 Scott Squirrel to the 1989 Yamaha RD 350 YPVS. The four-stroke types on show will range from the exemplary 1922 Douglas Boxer to the exotic 2003 Petronas FP1 superbike racer.

Between these two reference points, two-stroke and four-stroke bikes from all classes will be on show in Bremen: The Simson Star and Moto Morini Corsarino Mokicks will stand next to the barely known Moto Guzzi Galetto and the Progress Strolch. Also represented will be superbikes from the glam-rock era such as the Honda CB 750 Four and the Suzuki GT 750, the legendary „water buffalo“.

Sporty 250 versions with both drive concepts were already available in the 1930s. The lightweight BMW R 23 and the complex Triumph BD 250 (both dating from 1939) demonstrate how progress was driven in the 250 class. The 1958 Gilera 150 Rossa Super and the DKW RT 175 S underline the sharp contrasts between road models with sporty driving characteristics in the late 1950s.

And that’s not all: Visitors to the Bremen Classic Motorshow will be able to admire racing bikes, enduros, classic mopeds, young classics, scooters, superbikes and auxiliary engines for bicycles. The show will take place from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 February in the halls of MESSE BREMEN. The opening hours are 9 a.m to 6 p.m.

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Further information for editorial teams:
MESSE BREMEN · M3B GmbH
Bastian Mojen, phone +49 421 3505 – 445
bastian.mojen@m3b-bremen.de
www.messe-bremen.de

Special show presenting automotive history's most contrasting stablemates

After an enforced pause due to the pandemic, the Bremen Classic Motorshow will open its doors on Friday, 3 February 2023. Once again, the halls of MESSE BREMEN in the heart of Bremen will be transformed into an El Dorado for classic car fans of all ages. Over one weekend, countless two and four-wheeled icons of motor history and hundreds of stands will attract visitors who can wander through the halls, admire the exhibits and chat to like-minded enthusiasts. Of course, the special show is traditionally the highlight.

A tame 36-hp shopping cart. Next to it a brutal 160-hp driving machine that, over a sprint, could in its day even show a Porsche its tail lights. What do these two wildly contrasting cars have in common? The series and the name: Both are Renault 5s – and come from the same model generation. „We’ll present pairs of brothers with extreme differences like this in our special show The Mild & The Wild“, says Project Manager Frank Ruge. „Naturally, all the exhibits will be rare originals.“

The major exhibition launches the classic car scene every year under the slogan „We kick off the season“. Visitors in 2023 can expect to be amazed by seven of these incredibly unequal pairings. From the meek 50-hp basic Ford Capri to its motor-sports counterpart, the RS 2600. The 1300-cc strait-laced version of the Audi 80 next to its once unbeatable rally variant, the Sport Quattro S1. The oil-crisis-conscious BMW 1502 and the spoiler-heavy „Widowmaker“ 2002 turbo. „Surprisingly, the bare-bones basic models in good condition are much harder to find than their muscular brothers who sold for up to one million euros and were soon snapped up by collectors“, says Frank Ruge.

Many regulars to the Bremen Classic Motorshow can already hardly wait to see the spectacular special show. Because of the Covid pandemic in 2021 and 2022, they had to make do with an online version of the show. Needless to say, this was a poor substitute for the excitement of the live experience. Despite that, many classic vehicle fans were full of praise for the online event. The general consensus was that the BCM organisers offered a varied, high-quality stream instead of simply cancelling the event altogether.

Goody-two-shoes, no-frills weaklings nose-to-nose with their bad-boy racing brothers. On one side crocheted loo-roll covers and nodding dogs in the rear window, on the other snarling, pumped-up engines under the bonnet. At last, visitors will be able to see these incredible contrasts in the special show „The Mild & The Wild“. Possibly the most extreme pairing is the granny-mobile, Golf-class Lancia Delta 1300 and the excessive, up to 500-hp centre-engine all-wheel transformer Delta S4. Apart from a vaguely similar body shape, the Delta shares little more than the radiator grille and the rear lights with its kid brother.

What other pairings can visitors look forward to? No spoilers here – fans can find out for themselves and enjoy all the excitement at the Bremen Classic Motorshow 2023.

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