Grand Meeting 2026
The great summer gathering

With the designation as a major international gathering – Grand Meeting – we, as an organisation team supported by many volunteers, are able to reach even more fans and friends, to describe the diversity of eras, themes and experiential worlds of what once began in 2005 as a slightly crazy idea called Classic Days – and to open it further for the future and successfully continue it with rich content.

Long ago, during the Renaissance, there was the “Grand Tour” (long before the legendary and cult Top Gear sequel). The Grand Tour was the great journey – an obligatory voyage across Europe and the wider world for young, curious people and for those with style and taste.

It was something like an educational journey … often wonderfully described in literature. Culture, customs, sights, impressions, connections with friends, discovering different ways of life, as well as status and prestige – all of these were the “lessons” of the travellers. It was about international exchange and – as one would say today – the “get-together”. An early form of an international community, so to speak.

In this sense, a Grand Meeting is exactly what the historic Grand Tour intended. Only this time, the Grand Meeting is an entire journey in a single place. It is a wonderful exchange, a colourful world, encounters, cultural and automotive “culinary delights”, and education. The club meetings of IGs, classic and youngtimer clubs are just as much a part of it as the gathering of very young fans with their “Fast & Furious” cars.

Is there a perfect place in mind for the big summer get-together in the future? Then it’s the GRAND MEETING.

The Classic Days existed for many years – originally conceived as an idea for Mercedes-Benz Classic’s own brand meeting in 2004 – with various countries around the world serving as venues. Then Mercedes decided to discontinue the event, and coincidentally, the name and logo ‘Classic Days’ were also conceived by a few enthusiasts in the Rhineland in 2005 and 2006 as the idea for a large, colourful classic car festival, which was first realised in 2006 as a large classic car meeting. Mercedes-Benz was a partner from the very beginning. Our friends in France were the first to find our festival title attractive and copy it in Magny Cours – and many others followed suit.

Classic Days had already become a promise of quality for many with our premiere at the old Dyck moated castle in Jüchen. In Germany and neighbouring countries, there were then many formats with ‘our title’. None were official – none were like us. We can say that.

Many simply copied the idea. Our dear friends around Rudolf Bromberger in Vienna have been organising the Vienna Classic Days for years, a wonderful event that we also enjoy. Rudi was the only one who asked at the time whether the name could also be used for Vienna – and Rudolf Bromberger was often a participant in our Classic Days at the castle. We refrain from commenting on all the other formats.

Since the last edition in Düsseldorf in 2023, the Classic Days have no longer existed as a current or active event under this title. Since 2025, with the return to an old historic and romantic location – Rittergut Birkhof – the great classic car gathering and summer party has returned, entirely different from the “real world” – and with it the new Grand Meeting. A new event with a new concept is taking off.

Grand Meeting – The Festival is always scheduled for the first weekend in August.
Whoever loves the Classic Days – loves the Grand Meeting.

The organising team of the Grand Meeting loves the many colourful contents and the 15 festival areas. With the Grand Meeting, we open ourselves joyfully and very deliberately to those who are discovering us for the first time, to those who are just getting their driving licence, to those who do not necessarily have to love classic cars – but who appreciate a very special spirit in a very special place.

Welcome to the Grand Meeting.
We are looking forward to a unique festival with many encounters – together with you.