Tibor Mikolasek has been lucky for nine years: he gets hold of the original back seat, he finds decorative rings and hubcaps at a classic car meeting, and he gets one of the coveted slots at the specialist in Rüsselsheim to have the V8 engine reworked. But in the end one detail was missing: the chrome trim strips along the black roof – “they couldn’t be found anywhere.” So Mikolasek built a hot press and made it himself without further ado. He completed his work a few weeks ago: for the debut of his Diplomat A Coupé, the Hungarian building contractor drove a good 860 kilometres from Györ to Rüsselsheim.

It is no less than the crème de la crème of the classic and classic car scene that presented itself on Sunday (September 8th) in Rüsselsheim am Main: The city invited 500 owners and their vehicles to the 20th classic car meeting. Tibor Mikolasek’s vehicle is particularly impressive. Even Opel Classic specialist Jens Cooper, who comes into contact with the most beautiful Opel models every day, acknowledges the luxury model with the finest road cruiser design with a delighted “Simply beautiful!” The Hungarian Opel enthusiast put countless hours into the restoration. With so much meticulousness that the vintage car looks as good as it did new.

It is these automotive treasures that make people flock to Rüsselsheim. Hotspots are spread across the city centre – from the Motorworld premises to the banks of the Main, from the Verna Park to the Opel villas. From the Opel Classic collection alone, 13 top-class cars can be admired – from the “System Lutzmann” patent motor car to the Speedster Turbo. Another rarity is parked right next to the Diplomat A Coupé: a beautiful Spider based on the Kadett A. “It is the study designed by Pietro Frua that was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1964,” says owner Stefan Dierkes, who not only tracked down and restored the Opel Kadett Italsuisse Spider, but also researched and meticulously documented its eventful history.

Every single vehicle on display tells a story – one of passion and love. Ariane Dörhöfer tells her story: “This car does something to me,” she says, placing her hands on the sunny yellow roof of her Trabant, “you can smell us, you can hear us, you can see us.” The Berlin native has lived in Groß-Gerau for 27 year. With the Trabant she brought a piece of her childhood memories to her new home. As deputy site manager at Motorworld Rüsselsheim, she also lives out her passion for “beautiful old things”. She also helps give the former Opel factory premises a new lease of life. Trade, workshops, restaurants and service providers related to mobility on two and four wheels have settled on the former production area: “Interlinked with the pedestrian zone of the city centre, we are developing a lively district on historical grounds that is accessible to everyone,” says Dörhöfer.

Just in time for the start of the vintage car parade on the market square, the rain is joined by lightning. Moderator Bernd Schultz bravely presents the 50 vehicles, which were previously selected by a jury. The first vehicle to roll out is a red Rekord from the Opel Classic collection: “We are happy to be here today – after all, this year Opel is not only celebrating 125 years of automobile manufacturing, but also 60 years of the Opel design studio,” says Opel Vice President Communications Harald Hamprecht. And so the Experimental GT is also the first study with which the design studio caused a sensation at the IAA six decades ago – and which, just three years later, resulted in one of the most beautiful series models in the form of the Opel GT.

A little south of the market square, in the premises of the “Rind” cultural centre, Jürgen Pavolka and Carsten Ritter promote a special cultural asset: every hour on the hour, the makers of the “Opel-Rennbahn” cultural initiative show three short films about the historic site located between Rüsselsheim and Trebur, which was a magnet for tens of thousands of motorsport enthusiasts a century ago. Their goal is to preserve the Opelbahn, a symbol of an era of technical breakthrough, and to create a new usage concept for it. “After all, it was the first permanently built racetrack on the European continent – years before the Nürburgring, the AVUS in Berlin or the Hockenheimring opened their doors,” says Carsten Ritter.

And visitor interest in the history of this milestone in early racing is great, and more chairs are being brought in. The Opel car with which Fritz von Opel triumphed in the 100,000-mark race on the racetrack on July 2, 1922 sits enthroned in the middle of the cinema hall, and there are drinks and music from the 1920s to match. “The new concept of the classic meeting – it works,” says Jürgen Pavolka. So far, he has only heard words of praise from visitors. “It is the variety that makes this new form of meeting so exciting,” he says.

Collector Volker Thull led a particularly passionate team to Rüsselsheim – all of them Opel fans through and through, owners of sporting icons. The brothers Alois and Thomas Juchmes from the Eifel represent the motorsport era of the 80s with the Kadett GSi 16V. Elsewhere, when Opel installed the tried-and-tested technology of the Ascona 400 with rear-wheel drive in a front-wheel-drive Kadett D in 1984, Steven Kaiser wasn’t even born yet. But the technology and history of the prototype, which was mainly used in South Africa, fascinated the now 32-year-old so much that he first built a replica of the Kadett 400 and later bought an original factory car. Better safe than sorry.

Herbert Heimrich remembers precisely when he was infected with the Opel virus. “It was the last weekend of February 1973,” he says. Walter Röhrl drove the Ascona to victory in the Rüsselsheim Rally, Heimrich was at the track as a 16-year-old. Today he owns an Ascona Rallye from Irmscher. Obviously, no Opel motorsport parade is complete without the Ascona 400 – this one belongs to Thomas and Manuela Griesche. And because it is so beautiful, they also brought an Ascona i2000 with them. Uwe Sturm has another special Ascona specimen. The one with which previous owner Georg Berlandy won the Cologne-Ahrweiler Rally countless times. Lively conversations are held, contacts are made, hoods are opened. Even if the storm clouds don’t want to go away until the end of the event in the afternoon, that doesn’t stop the love for automobiles. Passion and the Blitz belong together.