With less than two weeks to go for the 2024 edition of The Classic Car Show, excitement is building as the event at Nasrec Expo Centre enters a whole new era. For the first time in the show’s history, enthusiasts will be treated to a two-day event running on the first Saturday and Sunday in July.
“The record crowds that we attracted at last year’s event has resulted in our expansion to a two-day weekend event,” says show organiser and founder, Paulo Calisto. “It was wonderful to see Nasrec packed to the rafters last year, but logistically, for the exhibitors, the organisers, and the visitors, a two-day show is the obvious next step.”
On both days of the event, owners of classic cars will be able to show off their machines by using the access road to the stadium at Gate 5. The drivers of a classic car and one passenger will be admitted free to the grounds, and owners have the option of showing their cars over one or two days, on July 6 and 7. But the classics will not be housed overnight at the Nasrec grounds.
The other segment of the show, the massively popular German vs Jap display for more modern modified classics, will also be a two-day event. However, car owners for this segment, organised by the Southside Crew, have been required to pre-enter their cars and all cars on show will be delivered to Nasrec on Wednesday, July 3 and Thursday July 4, where they will remain under security for the duration of the show, for collection on the Monday after the event.
“We have decided to remain with the arrive-and-show format for traditional classics,“ says Paulo Calisto. “The owners of these cars, which are 40 years old and more, are comfortable with the drive-and-arrive format. The traditional classics will be displayed in the area between Gate 5 and Hall 5 at Nasrec, as has been the case in the past.
“Each year we have attracted a strong mix of American, European and British classics, and this year will be no different. The fun aspect is that owners will have the opportunity to get double the exposure for the cars that are so special to them. And of course the visitors to the show will have the choice of visiting the show on the Saturday or the Sunday.”
The Classic Car Show is famous for the top-level American cars it has attracted each year since 2012. American cars from the fins and flash era of the 1950s and the muscle cars from the 1960s will once again form a core of the classic display area. Many enthusiasts over the years have used this show to debut their new builds to the public, and the workmanship on many of these cars is breath-taking.
This year there is increased interest in the muscle car field, as the original muscle car, the Ford Mustang, celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024. Other iconic muscle cars from this era include the Chevrolet Camaro, which made its debut in 1967, and the Dodge Charger. Pontiac is another famous American name that is revered by American car enthusiasts, with iconic models including the GTO from the 1960s and the Firebird from the 1970s.
At the other end of the horsepower scale, show-goers can look forward to many renditions of the famous Volkswagen Kombi and Beetles ranging in age from the early 1950s until the late 1970s. The original Volkswagen Beetle was a top seller in South Africa, as was the Ford Cortina, a British model that has traditionally been a huge favourite at The Classic Car Show.
Another big drawcard in the classic section will be the American pick-up, and here the Chevrolet 3100 and GMC brands are a massive trend amongst classic car builders, with renditions of traditional classic and hot-rodded trucks being increasingly popular in the past decade. One of the attractions of restoring a pick-up is that they are relatively simple in terms of sourcing parts and trim, as pick-ups have far less trim than cars of a corresponding period.
The German vs Jap display is entering a new era this year with the two-day format. “We are taking the German vs Jap show to a new level,” says Southside Crew’s Dawood Hoosein, who has been the chief organiser of this segment of the show over the past decade.
“This year all the cars on display will be pre-entered, and the top cars will be under cover in Hall 5. The massive crowds we received for the 2023 show (close to 30 000 spectators for what was then a one-day event) have led us to take this step. The accent on this year’s two-day show will be on high quality of entrants, and we want to take our show to international standards this year.”
The German vs Jap display caters to more modern classics from Germany and Japan, and includes a massive Volkswagen contingent (Polos, Golfs) Toyotas (Corollas) and Hondas. But in recent years there has been a move towards more upmarket renditions of these cars, and the likes of Porsche, Subaru and Toyota Supra renditions have been shown, cars which have had huge amounts of love and money lavished on them.
A big attraction at the German vs Jap display will be the Limbo competition, where cars will compete to drive beneath a carefully-calibrated adjustable boom to determine which car has the lowest ride-height. A traditional requisite for cars taking part in the German vs Jap display is that they must have lower-than-standard ride height, and this competition, held on the Saturday and the Sunday of this year’s double-header show, will determine which car is the lowest ground-hugger in the land!
Many of these “low-riders” use adjustable air suspension systems, which enable them to achieve a super-low ride-height when parked, but normal ride heights when driving. A Porsche 911 fitted with air suspension will be a special attraction at this year’s show, as will the iconic imported Jamex Golf two-door model.
On the Sunday, there will be a special German vs Jap dyno competition to discover which modified Japanese or German car produces the most power, and figures of 400 kW-plus are expected from the top contenders!
All in all, The Classic Car Show and its German vs Jap component pays tribute to the increasing popularity of the classic and modified car movements in the Gauteng area. As usual, plenty of food and drink will be on sale, as well as various goodies provided by stall-holders. Helicopter flips will once again be on offer at reasonable prices.
Tickets for The Classic Car Show, which includes the German vs Japan show, are available through Computicket at R100 for adults and R30 for children under-12. Each ticket will be valid for one day only, so show-goers will have to specify which day they are attending.
