German Car Day 1999

German Car Day 1999!   Photo: © Paul Speake

ZUM ERSTENMAL, aber OHNE KAEFER!
(or The Genesis of the Inaugural German Car Day)

By Jeremy Ludlow

I have always been a fan of German cars.  In fact, the very first car I ever rode in was a German car.  Back in 1966, the year that I was born, my father owned an early 60s Beetle, and he used it to drive me home from the hospital ...

Admittedly, the very first car I ever owned was made in Japan, not Germany.  But then Honda, the company that made it, is often described as the Japanese BMW, so perhaps that car can be regarded (at least in my own imagination) as sort-of-semi-German.  Maybe that's why I later replaced it with another Honda.

Eventually, in 1995, after nearly a decade of owning Nipponese Beamers, I bought my very first real German car, a 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250SE.  Then, for about two months during 1996, I actually owned two German cars, the other one being my now well-known 1978 Porsche 911SC Targa.  Sadly, this short period of bliss soon came to an abrupt end - when somebody crashed into the 250SE, and it had to be written off.  Oh dear!

Meanwhile, not long after taking delivery of the 911SC, I had joined the Porsche Club, and had gone up to York for the 1996 European Car Day.  This was a most enjoyable drive (of course it was, Jeremy, you were driving a 911, stupid!), but somehow the day itself just wasn't quite right.  You see, European cars in general, admirable though some of them may be (Finnish built Porsches, for example), just don't interest me as much as German cars do.  I just couldn't help but wonder to myself: "Why can't we German car enthusiasts have our very own German Car Day, just like the annual festival for British cars at Gingin?"

For several long years, I dismally failed to transform these idle thoughts into action.  Then, early in 1999, I finally decided to bite the bullet.  With the approval of my fellow Mercedes-Benz Car Club committee members, I went to a Porsche Club meeting, and raised a proposal for an inaugural German Car Day, to be held on Sunday the 8th of August 1999.  Having received an enthusiastic response to this proposal, I then emailed the Presidents of the BMW and VW Clubs, both of whom responded with similar enthusiasm.  I also sent invitations to various other organisations dedicated to some of the lesser known German marques.

Then I had to work out a suitable format for the day's activities.

I certainly didn't want the German Car Day to be just another automotive exhibition.  Most of Perth's car clubs already have their own car shows, and the German marque clubs were no exception.  So I decided on a format of a non-competitive Sunday drive, with lunch at a suitable watering hole somewhere beyond the suburbs.  After all, German cars have always been renowned for being ideal for driving, haven't they?  (As opposed, for example, to sitting still and leaking oil all over the place.)

Now, where was our German Car Day watering hole going to be?  Well, for a start, I didn't want it to be too far away from Perth.  This was to be an inaugural event, and I wanted it to be maximally accessible.  My initial idea was to make the lunch stop the Mundaring Weir Hotel, because that was the destination of the Mercedes-Benz Car Club's very first Club event, way back in 1961 (about the time my Dad's Beetle was born).  But then one of my fellow Mercedes-Benz Car Club's committee members, Tony Arcorace, pointed out to me - and rightly so - that that particular hotel didn't really have enough parking for a car enthusiasts' gathering.  Ever the practical minded genius (he's the Mercedes-Benz Club's Technical Officer), Tony suggested, as an alternative, the aptly named Parkerville Tavern, which comes complete with no less than three sizeable car parks.  So I went on a quick trip up into the Hills to check out the Parkerville, and the scene was duly set.

Now, all that remained was to reconnoitre an appropriate itinerary, which was to begin from my already chosen starting point (the western end of the Causeway).  Resorting to lateral thinking, I proceeded to plan the itinerary in reverse, in accordance with my slowly growing list of objectives.  For a start, I thought we should still drive past the Mundaring Weir Hotel, and that meant travelling via Kalamunda.  Welshpool and Crystal Brook Roads then came into the picture, and of course we just had to drive through Bentley (to commemorate the recent VW takeover).  We also had simply no option but to drive past Curtin University, because true German car enthusiasts will always understand the meaning of Vorsprung durch Technik (no, I'm not going to translate it for you!).  And, most importantly of all, there had to be at least a very short drive along an Autobahn.

Those of you who attended the inaugural German Car Day will know the rest of the story.

I had been hoping for about 40-60 cars, but we actually ended up with about 70, much enlivened by particularly strong contingents of Porsche 911s and tuned up BMWs.  Perhaps the most impressive thing about the whole day's activities, however, was the sheer variety of the other cars participating.  These ranged from a 1951 Mercedes-Benz 170S to a current model Porsche Boxster, and included Messerschmidt and BMW bubble cars, a Goggomobil (and yes, it was a Dart), an NSU Prinz (which turned up for the start only), several Karmann Ghias, and even one of my favourite cars of all - an original version Audi Quattro (Ur-Quattro, as they call it in Germany).  But sadly - and surprisingly - there wasn't a single Beetle, not even one made in Melbourne or Mexico (or, at least, I didn't see one).

At this point, special thanks must go to Brian Parsons of DaimlerChrysler, who kindly lent us a truly sublime Mercedes-Benz E280 saloon for me to use as a "pace car".  Brian had been planning to lend us a new-model S-Class instead, but it was sold only a few days before the event.  If the S-Class was anything like the E280, it's not surprising that someone wanted it so urgently.  You see, in my humble opinion, the E280 was such a magnificent machine that it made my 20-plus year old 911 SC seem rather primitive.  I even managed to fit inside it without having to rest the ceiling on my head!

Unfortunately we did manage to have a few minor problems with the day's activities.

Yours truly was the one responsible for the first problem, which was a minor mistake in the itinerary for the cavalcade up to Parkerville.  Sorry about that one folks.  Another problem was that the Tavern was a bit short staffed, which meant that some people had to wait a long time for their lunches.  Not my fault I'm afraid, but I'll try to prevent that from happening again.  I also noticed that quite a few people made their own way to Parkerville, because they didn't want to trek all the way into the city.  But that meant they played truant on my meticulously planned cavalcade.  (Hmm, if I'd been German, I reckon I would have been pretty annoyed about that!)  Seriously, though, all of those people who went straight to Parkerville missed out on a very pleasant drive, and one which was intended to be the major activity of the Day.

Still, the consensus of opinion seemed to be that the inaugural German Car Day was a big success, and that we should have another German Car Day in York in mid 2000.  That event was eventually held on the same day as the German Grand Prix (30 July 2000), and started from Fraser's in King's Park, with Parkerville Tavern being a mid-journey assembly point (giving people an alternative starting point to King's Park).  After a short break, we then continued on a scenic route to York, via Stoneville, Toodyay and Northam.

But before we did that, we really had to make sure someone brought along a Beetle ...

Jeremy Ludlow