Local history museum Thal: The Mecca of classic car enthusiasts
Created: 06/18/2022, 16:00
Not only ideal values collected in the parking lot at the local history museum.
A Corvette C1 can cost up to 100,000 euros.
From 11 a.m. on Sunday, historic tractors and stationary engines can be admired here.
© Fabian Holzner
At the local history museum in Thal they present almost 300 vehicles on two and four wheels.
Thal – “Thal is our favorite meeting place.
Beautiful in the countryside, plus the local history museum - it's just great, and we hope that Auszogne will be baked again." Armin and Angie Hertha from Dachau are already looking forward to the 13th classic car meeting of classic car friends Kirchberg in the parking lot.
With their VW T2, built in 1973, the two have lined up between the Chevrolet of their club colleagues, numerous Beetles, Moto Guzzi and almost 300 other classic cars on two or four wheels.
For the third time, they have come as members of the "Friends of Old Vehicles" association, this time with a stopover, as Ali Yalniz explains.
One of the hubcaps on his Chevrolet Impala got lost while driving.
Replacement value of an original part: at least US$460.
But the cap was found in a meadow, and so the people from Dachau joined the more than 1,000 guests just below Schröding.
Arrival in Thal, with all four hubcaps: the "friends of old vehicles" from Dachau (from left) Ali and Necla Yalniz, Wolfgang Weckerlein and Angie and Armin Hertha.
© Fabian Holzner
50 volunteers among the now 520 members of the Kirchberger Oltimerfreunde deal with this onslaught, warm lunch dishes are cooked, the Auszognen are actually baked, coffee and cakes are sold.
The old smithy and the bread oven are in operation, the local history museum is open.
Kit manager Stefan Obermaier and secretary Manfred Schwaiger organized the invitation and arrival of the motorized rarities.
Since the founding of the oldtimer friends in 1997 with ten people, they have been invited to 24 oldtimer meetings, the first of which took place in Froschbach.
"The fixed date on Corpus Christi and the following Sunday has become established.
The guests came back from the neighboring districts of Freising and Landshut, but also from Munich, Dingolfing and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Bulldogs and stationary engines are then invited on Sunday,” says Obermaier.
Two vehicles in particular caught the eye of the trained toolmaker: a BMW R 62 with a tubular frame chassis, produced in the late 1920s.
"Motorcycles are rare anyway, and they are ridden even more rarely today," he enthuses.
The air-cooled Porsche 911 T, built in 1972, is also an absolute rarity.
"Not many of them survived," says Obermaier, before he again hands out slips of paper at the entrance to the site, on which the drivers write down the manufacturer, year of manufacture and performance.
He has been on his feet with his club colleagues since 8 a.m., although this year the event only starts at 11 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. as before.
"That didn't quite work," says chairman Hans Rott with a laugh.
"Many of the old people were on the premises at 9 a.m. and wanted their white sausage breakfast again.
As a substitute, there was sausage salad for them.” Rott, like the entire board, was confirmed in office at the annual general meeting a month ago.
He manages the club on an equal footing with Manfred Obermaier.
“The load is better distributed that way.
We do everything together anyway, in frequent meetings,” explains Rott.
With the founding of the museum in 2004, the association had reached dimensions that made this unavoidable.
At the same time, the vintage car enthusiasts themselves are getting on in years, so more youngsters need to follow, says the chairman.
This is confirmed by Georg Blumoser, who only traveled a few kilometers from Maria Thalheim in his 1965 Ford Mustang, but bought the car first-hand in California: "You can feel here that everyone puts their heart and soul into it, that Meetings are well organized again.” Blumoser was able to turn his hobby into a career for more than 20 years.
He made it into the BMW division "Mobile Tradition", where he was allowed to take care of the history of the company.
So his way led him to the USA, where he bought the Ford Mustang from two elderly sisters, had it imported to Germany and restored it himself.
A Ford Mustang was also the first classic car for Armin Hertha from Dachau, but it's not a "screwdriver", as he says himself.
He bought his orange T2 after a drastic experience: After an acute myocarditis, he realized: "It can be over so quickly" - and invested in his hobby.
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Comment: A chain of failure
The Dachau “Friends of Old Vehicles” still have many stories to tell, but the ones that have been pulled out are tempting, and a Chevrolet driver joins in: “Excuse me, may I have a look under the hood?
I disassembled my engine and I can't remember where one part goes.” FABIAN HOLZNER
