Have you experienced this? A dream as beautiful as seldom any other and then you wake up and hope that you can continue to dream? That happens to us again and again after Paris - we hope that after the great experiences in France we can continue dreaming in Essen. Let's be honest... that rarely works.

But, this year it was the hoped-for sequel. It's been a long time since we've seen a Techno Classica that was so sophisticated and of such high quality. Sure, there's a difference compared to Paris, and it probably always will be, but when it exceeds expectations, it's a lot.

 

We have put together a slide show showing all 107 Prancing Horses that were in Essen, two of which are unidentified, a 296 GTB that was delivered new by Maranello Motors in Cologne and the white SF90 at Saturski that was already there last year was not identified back then. So if you can find out more than we can... bring it on.

Otherwise we thought the inconspicuous ones were great! Many of these old classics were in muted colours, almost inconspicuous and except for the GTE at Cargold we saw them all. Met a lot of old and new friends and missed a few too. Met new (Lukas Hüni teamed up with official dealer Niki Hasler) or well-known (it's always nice to see how Peter Enders and Helmut Eberlein work together) "super teams". A number of spaces for potential stands have been empty and the former Hall 7 with its bright, huge displays of the major German manufacturers was not replaced. Mercedes as always in Hall 1, Ford in Hall 3 - that's it. The FCD? Not even an appendage to the official Ferrari dealer anymore. What is going on there?

On the other hand, we enjoyed the fact that we didn't go under in crowds on Preview Day and even on Sunday, and that we had a relatively large amount of space to do our photo documentation. Did the organizers of the fair like it or were they expecting more visitors? Who knows. In any case, it was the most beautiful meal in a long, long time.

And now, enjoy the slide show and look forward to next year. April 3rd - 7th is the date to save in 2024's schedule.