Porto, 04-06 October, 2019

The annual Auto Clássico show was held at its regular venue of the Exponor exhibition centre, close to the airport to the north of Porto, over the weekend of 04-06 October. As with many classic car shows and events in 2019 there was a celebration of the centenary of Bentley, with a display that included a rare Turbo R Shooting Brake. Lower down the price scale there was also the 60th anniversary of the Mini, and the 50th anniversary of the Fiat 128 model was celebrated on the Fiat club stand.

The main exhibition halls and interconnecting galleries featured a variety of one make club stands there were a number of club stands, whilst  the prominent displays in the main halls were the province of vendors, with a varied selection of cars of all ages and types on offer.

Notable amongst these were the Jorcar stand with a pristine Aston Martin DB2/4, a 1958 Corvette, a Maserati Ghibli and Ford GT amongst their classic offerings, whilst the Good Old Times stand had a nice selection of Jaguars E-Types, the Paradigma stand had a 1947 Jaguar Mk IV saloon and a Daimler DB 18 Convertible, and the Alfa Clássicos stand featured a fine array of Alfa Romeos. These ranged from a barn find Giulietta Coupé, a 1900 SS, a 2600 Spider, a Giulietta Spider and Giulietta SS in bare shell form on stands, with their mechanical components laid out beneath them, to a rare Giulia GTC convertible. For fans of French performance cars there were a quintet of Alpines around the halls, comprising of an A108, a trio of A110s and an A310 V6, plus a Renault 12 Gordini, a rare sight these days. There was also a hall dedicated to classic car parking, providing visitors with a further selection to view, with another hall that was predominantly for accessories, tools, books and scale models, together with engineering and restoration specialists.

Apart from the static display halls there was the regular outside action arena, which is a great attraction of the show, with classic and modern rally cars running against the clock, providing plentiful action for the crowds. The indoor paddock area for this aspect of the show is open to the public, so that they can get close to the array of machinery taking part and chat with the drivers.

Keith Bluemel

10/2019