Summertime at the German Lower Rhine Region

Since 2006, in the first weekend of August, you can spot a conspicious amount of classic cars on the road, and they all have one thing in common: they are heading towards the old water castle "Schloss Dyck" near Mönchengladbach. If you have not been there, you just wouldn´t believe the number of cars displayed. In 2006, the Classic-Days started with "only" 500 cars. One year later, you already could count 4700 classics (cars, not visitors!) and this year there will be roundabout 7000 cars, distributed on the wide area around the castle. But it´s not only the amount of cars, that makes the Classic Days such a fantastic event; it´s the stunning mixture of low cost daily drivers up to inestimable over the top classics.

I just remember my first visit at the Classic Days, that must have been about seven or eight years ago. My good friend Uwe drove us with his series-one Land-Rover swb. Our friend Tom on the passenger seat and my brother and me in the rear. There was a small traffic jam in front of the entrance and we enjoyed the look on a Lamborghini Countach behind us. And then we reached the reed-labyrinth, jumped off the Landy and looked around. I had never seen something like this before and just as my heart slowly calmed down, I heard a deep roar, followed by a bloodcurdling scream. And for a slit second, I saw an unbelievable fast white shadow through the reed, that of course was a Blower-Mercedes at full throttle. And every time, I think of Dyck, I remember this first seconds after jumping off Uwes Landy. It´s really beyond belief, what we have seen at Dyck over the last years. We saw the Silver Arrows of Auto-Union and Daimler-Benz, the Bugatti-Royale Esders (the original car, today with the Binder body and some years before, the Schlumpf-reproduction), the Opel RAK-2, we saw bodys by Saoutchik, Erdmann & Rossi, Figoni & Falaschi, dozends of Bentleys, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes Blowers, Delahaye, Delage, Alfa Romeo, Locomobile, Voisin, Alvis, Lagonda and more and more and more... But will we see this year? I think, this year, there will be one highlight, it will be difficult to top in the next years: Duncan Pittaway will bring his "Beast of Turin", the mighty Fiat S76 and I really worry about the old window glasses of the castle, as I was lucky to see (and hear) the Beast in action in Paris last year.

Also impressing, the Auto-Union C-Type "Bergrennwagen" with its twin tired rear axle, that will be driven by five times LeMans-winner Frank Biela. And Frank Biela will not be the only hero on the track. Famous drivers, like Jochen Mass, Ellen Lohr, Karl Wendlinger, Roland Asch and of course Walter Röhrl together with his long time co-pilot Christian Geistdörfer will be seen on the track. And as a personal highlight, there will be a reunion with Heidi Hetzer and her beloved (and sometimes also cursed) "Hudo", the Hudson eight, in which Heidi travelled around the world. And there is one more car, I want to mention: The reproduction of the 1888 "Flockenwagen", the first electric car in Germany (and maybe in the world!?). The original car was built by Andreas Flocken, an agricultural engineer, in Coburg/Upper Franconia. But nothing more, than some drawings and some newspaper-articles about the car remained. So Mr. Franz Haag, an automobile-appraiser from Bavaria built a reproduction of the car in 2010 and we will be able to see this amazing vehicle, silently driving on the small roads around the castle. And as it is the 12th year of the Classic Days, there will be a bunch of 12-Cyl. PreWar-Cars displayed. OK, this are some good reasons to visit the Classic Days, but I can promise, that there will be MUCH more to see. It´s just fantastic to see the "highlights" around the castle, but there is also the "Miscanthus-Feld", a big labyrinth of reed, that is used as a parking lot for club-presentations and for visitors with classic cars. But if you think, that you will only see the "bread and butter" cars, you are totally wrong. OK, there are not that many prewar-cars on the Miscanthus-Feld, but have you ever seen three Iso Grifo 7Litri in a line? And the line also featured one small block Grifo, a Rivolta and a Lele. You stroll around, pass some daily driving Volkswagen Beetles, some 70s Mercedes/Opel/Ford and between them, you spot a Sbarro or an Isdera or a 30s Rolls-Royce, or... And that is another amazing fact: On every visit at Dyck, I saw at least one or two cars, I´ve never seen before. And that not on the area around the castle. No, I´m talking about the public parking on the Miscanthus-Feld! So I think, there are a lot of reasons to visit the Classic Days. And please don´t miss the chance to see Duncan´s Beast in action! But don´t get too close! The Beast will not bite, but it will spit fire!

Text & Photos: Hubertus Hansmann