Event date: 30 January 2022

German Auto Show (GAS) has been running now for over seven years and previously successfully run by the VW Club of Victoria.  Previously, events were held at the Deaf Children’s Association in St Kilda.  The last event in 2019 was hugely successful (2020 was cancelled due to Covid) and they were bursting at the seams with so many wonderful cars.

After the cancelation of 2020, BMW Drives Club Melbourne approached VW Club early in 2021 to ask if they wanted us to help and run the event for 2021.  After a meeting with their committee and some agreements made not to change key things, we all agreed that for 2021, BMWDCM would run the GAS event.

Unfortunately, COVID struck again, and the event scheduled for August needed to be postponed until further notice.

January was looking free from lockdowns and other events so 30 January was booked in.

After months of planning and a full day of setting up on Saturday, 6.30am Sunday morning our band of merry volunteers all turned up to assist in what turned out to be an epic event.  Over 500 German Cars and 1000+ walk ins and a bright sunny day was a fantastic cocktail for success. 

We had a steady stream of cars entering from 7.30am until 10am and then more after that, it just didn’t seem to stop. 

Our volunteers were amazing, hardly stopping for a break, but I insisted they all sit for at least 20 minutes, re hydrate, eat and at least charge their batteries.   With over 40 volunteers this was managed well, and we had no casualties except two blisters on my heels.

We would like to thank our major sponsors for the day Shannons Insurance, who brought their Super Rig and John Bowe along to entertain all our attendees. Traction Tyres/Yokohama, Bell Motorsport, Jay Leno Garage Products, All Commercial All Residential, Southern BM, Makulu Vehicle Storage, German Auto Haus, E30 Racing, Victorian Flag Marshalling Team, SONAX, Adex Detailing and German Tivoli Club. 

This year’s event was to raise funds for Beyond Blue and we were hoping for somewhere in the region of $3-$5K when planning, however, after counting all collected before and on the day, our final tally was, $10,372.97, which BMWDCM rounded up to $10,500.

Winners on the day were:

• Best BMW – Keith Olsen E9 CSL Batmobile
• Best Other – John Brook-Smith – Messerschmitt
• Best VW – Neville Thomas, 1962 Micro Bus
• Best Porsche – (sorry no name was given) 2016 Cayman GTS
• Best Audi – Peter Davis, 1988 Quattro
• Best Mercedes – David Pye, 2021 GT black
• People’s choice- Murray Allen, 1952 220 Cabriolet A
• President’s Award – Patrick Feilding, i8 Roadster
• Best in Show – Dymond Family, 1936 Mercedes Benz 50K

We would like to thank all our volunteers who gave so much of their time, without them we would not have been able to achieve such an amazing day.

We are not sure who will be running this event next time, but it grows and grows each year and I am sure 2023 will be even bigger and better. 

Jo Mawson | Member #2
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne