In Bazas, the vintage vehicle show cancelled due to the Olympic Games: “We had no choice”

No Pontiac, Aston Martin or Triumph Spitfire in the streets of Bazas (Gironde) next July. The Bazas vintage vehicle show will not take place this summer.

The close proximity to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is the cause of this cancellation.

Reasons for cancellation

“Unfortunately, we had no choice,” says Olivier Boissavy, co-president of the Rétro Mobile Club du Bazadais, organizer of the event.

The living room, which brings together nearly 150 volunteers over one day, was to take place on Sunday, July 28, 2024. That is barely two days after the opening ceremony from JO

The risk of being postponed or cancelled

“When we made the decision, the 2024 show was 70% finalised,” admits Olivier Boissavy. “The emergency forces that we usually have, that day, in Bazas, we would not have been able to have them. We can understand their needs, the imperatives. The State services told us that, during the Olympic Games, the major events had the risk of being postponed or cancelled. »

In fact, the organizers listened to their inner wisdom. They made the decision to pause the living roomin this Olympic year, to start again at full speed in 2025.

What bothers us the most is in relation to local traders. This day is very important for them. They are the ones most affected in this affair.

“The most affected” because this day brings together 20,000 people. And many of them push the doors of restaurants in the sector which achieve a significant turnover on this occasion.

The vintage car show will return in 2025

But let’s be reassured. The organizers are already hard at work preparing the 2025 edition. “To do it stronger and even better,” promises Olivier Boissavy.

The goal is to go up an additional step in 2025; especially in terms of spectacle.

Among the new features: the creation of a village or evena rolling zone to hear the roar of the engines. “The enthusiast who comes, he likes to hear the engine. Hearing the sound of an engine from a car from 1900 is an incredible joy! »

The traditional parade will be developed to “offer even more spectacle, even more emotions.”

One of the most beautiful salons in France

Today, the Bazas show, which celebrated its tenth edition in 2023, is now one of the must-sees. In France, it has acquired its letters of nobility and has since attracted a crowd of loyal enthusiasts from all over the country.

Now, for one day, the medieval city of Bazas, welcoming thousands of vehicles, sees its population quadrupled.

So, what ambition? Olivier Boissavy makes no secret of it: “We want to make ourselves a place in the French top 6 in a sustainable way.” And the 2025 edition represents the first stone of this new challenge.

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