site.btaBucharest Hosts Classic Car Parade

The Children's World Park in Bucharest turned into an open-air museum on Sunday, as it hosted a spring vintage car parade organized by the Retromobil Club Romania. The event featured more than 200 cars built between the 1920s and the 1990s, drawing thousands of people of all ages.

Ford A convertible was one of the highlights of the event. "I bought it in the United States and had it shipped to Romania. It was manufactured in 1929," the owner of the vehicle said.

Another major attraction was a Buick that appeared in the 1977 film New York, New York, starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro.

"After the movie, the car was repaired, repainted, and placed in a museum. At some point, some of the museum’s exhibits were put up for auction, and that is how the car’s current owner bought it and brought it to Romania," Retromobil Club Romania Director Mihai Barbu said.

A Daimler DS420 also drew the visitors’ attention. The model is favored by royal families in the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Sweden. A plaquette on the vehicle said that Daimler was awarded a Royal Warrant to provide cars to the British monarch in 1902. It enjoyed this privilege until the 1950s, when Queen Elizabeth acceded to the throne and switched the royal fleet to Rolls-Royce.

The Volvo P1800S had a similar story. In 1966, young Prince Carl Gustaf - now King of Sweden - received this model as a gift, which marked the start of Volvo’s association with the Swedish royal family.

Romanian classic cars were also showcased during the parade, including the models Dacia 1100 and Dacia 1300, which evoked nostalgia among the visitors, and an Aro – Romania’s first 4x4, which was used by the army during the communism era.

The Retromobil Club Romania was founded in 1998 and is currently the largest association of its kind in Romania, with a total of 4,500 members. Twenty-six years after its founding, the club has certified more than 11,000 historic vehicles. The organization currently runs 41 branches nationwide and organizes over 180 events every year. Retro parades are scheduled to take place in 35 more cities across the country.