If you like Italian cars from the 1950s, ‘60s—and ‘70s, and if you’re reading this chances are you do—you absolutely have to get to Italy at least once in your life to see Car e Moto d’Epoca (Vintage Cars plus Motorcycles). I finally broke down and made the particular pilgrimage last week, and We can tell you as a Lancia Appia owner that it was overwhelming.

It’s like Hershey for Fiats . The annual marketplace of cool cars, car parts, plus car books is simply massive. It’s been held within the 1 . 2 million square feet (28 acres! ) of the Padua, Italia, exposition center since 1983, when it started as a sort of swap meet of cars and parts. Then it grew. And increased. And grew. Until, now, it’s so big that it’s moving to Bologna next year, where there is not only more space but where it will be right in the heart associated with Italian supercar central.

The particular show features 1600 exhibitors and 5000 cars plus motorcycles. For comparison’s sake, there’s a show in Los Angeles next week called the Best of France and Italy , held November 6 at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, California, that was my previous favorite show in the world . That display typically has about 400 cars. Ha! Peanuts compared to Auto e Moto d’Epoca!

“This show is remarkable because it is truly heaven for anybody who loves Italian vehicles, ” said author, star of “Jay Leno’s Garage” and current CEO from the Audrain Collection Donald Osborne . “You can find any part, any manual, any accessory, there are cars to sell, vehicles to buy, and great club resources here. ”

Major manufacturers come to celebrate their heritage with special stands highlighting their ancient car lines. Ferrari Classiche , the particular agency that will verifies your car’s authenticity, brought six beautiful plus historic Ferraris, from a continuation copy of the very first Ferrari, the 125 S, to a Daytona, a Dino, and a perfectly preserved ravishing red F40.

“Each vehicle has a history, each car has a particularity, and each car is certified by Ferrari Classiche, ” said Michele Morano, director of Ferrari’s museums in Modena and Maranello. “The exhibition that we possess bought here is Ferrari forever, because each Ferrari is forever. ”

Roberto Giolito spent 32 years in the particular design departments at Fiat and Alfa Romeo and is right now director of heritage for those brands as well as Lancia plus Abarth. He brought a splendid collection associated with cars, from a Lancia Delta Integrale to the 1966 Fiat Abarth 1000 SP race car.

“It’s important to share this ‘historical’ vision due to the fact companies and brands, who owns the history, the methods, the know-how is important to connect in a project, inside a future dimension, all this particular treasure, ” Giolito stated.

Even Mercedes-Benz shows up every 12 months, with the latest example of a particular model and that will model’s predecessors. This year the particular three-pointed celebrity brought the new Mercedes-AMG SL 63, along with excellent examples of earlier SLs.

“A show like this is driven by passion, ” mentioned Radek Jelinek, president plus CEO associated with Mercedes-Benz Italia. “For many years we have been bringing one new design then we bring that model’s precursors to display the history of the model. ”

This is not really like an old-school auto show; manufacturers are just one of many facets of the old vehicle hobby present at d’Epoca. There are many restoration houses on hand along with examples associated with their most recent projects, all for sale.

HK Engineering came from Polling, Germany, and parked across from the particular Mercedes stand with two of its specialty models, the 300 SL. Eterna Classic Car Restorations came from the particular Piedmont area of Italia with the shiny machined metal shell of an Alfa Romeo Touring 1900 Sprint Speciale that will looked therefore nice this seemed almost a shame that they were going to paint it. Red Carb Classic specialized in the repair of carburetors and had about 200 of them upon display.

There were also classic car dealers, like Stefano Aleotti’s dealership Ruote da Sogno , which must have brought about 100 cars plus motorcycles. Aleotti is selling more vehicles now than ever.

“It’s the perfect storm, ” he said of the particular current climate for old car sales. “Before covid, people thought that we will all live forever, so they had in order to plan for the future and save money. Now they wish to live the particular life. ”

And what a life. Osborne offers been in order to Auto electronic Moto d’Epoca every yr for the last 11 years plus enjoys the cars and parts as much as the people.

“The enthusiasm, I mean, it’s an international display, you see Germans and the Brits as well as the French, and Americans now back, all right here just to revel in Italian car glory, and bizarre parts of Italian vehicle glory. I actually mean, an entire stand just for scooter plus motorcycle parts? It’s an amazing thing. I always try to bring the sense associated with proportion here because I could buy everything. ”

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He’s bought 2 cars over the years and an endless number of books, manuals, and art. I myself sought out, found, and purchased an owner’s manual with regard to a 1972 Lancia Fulvia HF Series II, for a friend that had just bought 1 of those cars. It wasn’t cheap, yet you’re not going in order to find these things simply laying around the library. You find them here at Auto e Moto.

“It’s one of those things that if you see it, purchase it, since you’re not going to find another one. You haven’t seen that one for 30 years. And the particular chances are, We mean, how many Continental tank engines do you find at a flea market in the US? ” Osborne asked as we were standing right next to a monster V12 engine the size of a couple of American washing machines.

Indeed, where else? Only right here.

Plan to make it next year when the particular whole show moves to its new, even larger home in Bologna. Follow the display, and buy tickets, at autoemotodepoca. com.

Have a classic Italian ride? Share your own stories with us and your fellow readers in the comments below.