The huge autoClássico show in Matosinhos, Porto from 3-6 October attracted 40,000 visitors and on the Saturday enjoyed not only the busiest single day in the event’s 22 years, but the busiest day in the Exponor exhibition centre’s 35-year history. Organised by the Spanish outfit Eventos del Motor, which is also behind Retromovil in Madrid, the 70,000sq m indoor show is the largest on the Iberian peninsula and fills 11 halls with dealer cars, private classics for sale, show cars, autojumble, automobilia, restorations and much more.
An entire 6000sq m hall hosts Exclusive Top Cars an adjacent event dedicated to modern luxury and supercars and motorcycles. Elsewhere there are also big displays from a selection of clubs, ranging from the Porsche Club Portugal with 550 Spyder and 911 997 Cup racer to a large showing of VW Type 2 Bulli campers marking the model’s 75th anniversary. There was also a massive bank of 12 SimRacing simulators that were busy non-stop.
For 2025 there were also celebrations of the 75 years of the Citroën DS, including a super-rare Majesty by Chapron, 40 years of the BMW M3, with Sport Evolution, E46 CSL, E92 GTS and the M4 CSL, as well as a Portuguese M3 2.5 Art Car which is currently leading the Legends circuit championship driven by Luis Liberal. Also marked were 75 years of SEAT, 70 years of the Fiat 600 and Karmann-Ghia, plus 50 years of the VW Polo.
One of the main attractions was a small but extremely high-quality concours. There were three recently completed world class restorations vying for the top prize, a rare black Alfa Romeo that repurposed a wonderfully original red interior from another example, a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SL that had been fastidiously unrestored in its original, but unfashionable brown and a 1971 Dino 246GT that appeared flawless in every way. It was no surprise when the judging team plumped for the Ferrari (above).
Other concours prizes were taken by a 1955 Fiat 1100 Familiare that has been kept wonderfully original despite getting plentiful use from an extended family (Best preserved car) and a 1954 Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Mk1 (above) detailed to look like Stirling Moss’s rally icon, which won a special award.
There was plenty of live action outside and also a live stage where Portuguese journalist Hugo Reis interviewed a host of guests including both Riccardo Patrese (below) and Emerson Fittipaldi (two below) to honour the 75th anniversary or the Formula 1 World Championship, which was also celebrated with displays of helmets, overalls and trophies from Emerson Fittipaldi, Tiago Monteiro and Pedro Matos Chaves and a pair of Copersucar cars. After the interviews Fittipaldi and Patrese were mobbed for an hour at a signing session. Other guests included Portuguese rally great António Rodrigues and Superbike star Alex Laranjeira, while there was a tribute to Dakar ’bike hero Paulo Gonçalves who died in Saudi Arabia on the 2020 event.
