The secret love for British cars in Germany

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Earlier this week, we spoke to our friend and client Hubert Kranz, who told us more about the AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix  on the Nürburgring. Of course, we have heard of this event before but never looked into it in more detail. So that is what we decided to do.

The numbers are quite impressive

In one weekend (10-12 August), more than 60.000 visitors will see over 500 historic cars drive over the famous circuit. We compared this German event with Prescott, probably one of the best-known events in the UK (which is this upcoming weekend). Prescott has half the participants and less than 10.000 visitors. Luckily enough it is possible to visit both events!

British cars in Germany

However, when we looked at photographs of earlier years; we quickly came to the conclusion that there are more British cars on the track than there are other cars.

Hubert Kranz is having a stand at the show, to sell some of his cars. Looking at the list, we can conclude that the Germans like to have British cars. Hubert is bringing 5 Rileys (incl Treen Riley), 3 different Alvis cars (incl an Alvis FWD), a Rover and a Lanchester. All British built cars. So if you are looking for one to compete next year, visit the Old Paddock and Hubert's stall.

We asked Hubert why he thinks that many British built cars are in Germany; "the main reason is that there are only a few sporty German pre-war cars. You have cars like the Mercedes SSK but those are of a completely different category. The affordable cars from Germany, like the Mercedes 170 are not sports cars. Besides this, not that many specials are made of them. In the war, most cars were demolished and after the war, people were happy when they had a car so you will not find barns with cars that are untouched for many years in Germany. Another great advantage of British cars is the number of parts available. This makes it all very loved by German collectors."

Words by Jeroen Albada Jelgersma. Photographs by Robert Kah, Gruppe C / AvD and Hagen Kranz.

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