Test drive the third elegance competition DRUSTER 2018
The prestigious event brings together impressive classic cars.
Three days of the International Competition of Elegance "Druster" 2018 in Silistra passed unnoticed, filled with an irresistible emotional charge, an elite bouquet of exclusive, rare and expensive historical cars and huge public and media interest.
The third edition of the competition, which for another year is part of the calendar of the International Organization of Antique Cars FIVA, continued the tradition of positive evolutionary development, renewal, enrichment and diversity of its program. The selection, as always, was held at a very high level and presented an authoritative sample of the iconic representatives of the Bulgarian retro scene.
From the very beginning, the organizers of the event are the secretary of the BAK "Retro" Christian Zhelev and the sports club "Bulgarian Automobile Glory" headed by him with the assistance of the Bulgarian Automobile Club "Retro", the municipality of Silistra and the hotel "Drustar". Among the official guests were the mayor of Silistra, Dr. Yulian Naydenov, the chairman of the municipal council, Dr. Maria Dimitrova, the governor of the region Ivelin Statev, the mayor's team, partners and managers.
Confirmation of the exceptional class of this year's competition is the elite ten-member international jury, which includes representatives from seven countries - Germany, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Bulgaria, all dedicated to the life and professional development of automotive history and collection. The chairman of the jury, Prof. Harald Leschke, started his career as an automotive designer at Daimler-Benz and later became head of the company's Innovation Design Studio. Other members of the jury: Academician Prof. Sasho Draganov - Professor of Industrial Design at the Technical University in Sofia, Dr. Renato Pugati - Chairman of the FIVA Public Services Commission and member of the cheerful ASI - Automotive Club Storico Italiano, Peter Grom - Collector, General Secretary of SVAMZ (Association of Historic Car Owners and motorcycles in Slovenia), the owner of one of the largest private museums of historical motorcycles in Europe, Nebojsa Djordjevic is a mechanical engineer, automotive historian and chairman of the Association of Automotive Historians of Serbia. Ovidiu Magureano is the president of the Dacia Classic section of the Romanian Retro Car Club and a famous collector, Eduard Asilelov is a collector and professional restorer, a recognized name among the guild in Russia, and Mehmet Curucay is a collector and restorer and the main partner of our Retro Rally. This year the jury included two new members - Natasha Erina from Slovenia and Palmino Poli from Italy. Their expert participation is of particular importance, as retro motorcycles also participated in this competition for the first time. In this regard, it should be clarified that Ms. Jerina is the chairman of the Cultural Commission and also the secretary of the FIVA motorcycle committee, and Mr. Polli is the chairman of the same committee. Both have years of experience in collecting and researching two-wheelers.
The selection of historic cars was as accurate as possible, and not everyone was able to join. To some extent, this restriction was imposed by the main desire of the organizers associated with the attraction of some of the very rare cars in Bulgaria, which do not participate in any event of the annual calendar and cannot be seen elsewhere, as well as owned by collectors not covered by retro -mechanism.
A vivid example of the competition's growing popularity at the international level is that this year the traditional participants of the first two editions from Romania were joined by collectors from Serbia, Armenia and Germany, and our applicants came from literally all over the country. - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Haskovo, Pomorie, Veliko Tarnovo, Pernik and many others. Among the official guests was a team of journalists from France who covered the event, and the report will be published in the most popular French vintage car magazine Gasoline, which has a monthly circulation of over 70 copies.
The quest to be as close as possible to the elite level of the world's competitions of the best elegance was represented at all levels, not only through a careful selection of historical cars, but also through the recognized authority of dozens of sponsors. In the current edition, for the second year in a row, the fashion house Aggression became the official partner, which created a special series of exquisite costumes and themed clothes for the members of the jury, the organizing team and, of course, for the beautiful girls who accompany each of the participants on the red carpet. . In this regard, it is important to emphasize that the only other such events in the world where the jury hosts an elite fashion house are the two most prestigious forums in Pebble Beach and Villa d'Este. Here, of course, it is worth noting that the participants themselves traditionally presented their cars and motorcycles in typical for the era and very stylish retro outfits. Another great success of the organizers was that Silver Star, the official representative of Mercedes-Benz for Bulgaria, joined the main sponsors of the third edition of the contest. The importer of the company presented his award in a separate category, in which only representatives of the German brand competed.
This year, the jury presented 40 cars and 12 motorcycles produced between 1913 and 1988, some of which were shown to the public for the first time. It was the oldest Ford-T car, a 1913 model from the collection of Todor Delyakov from Pomorie, and the oldest motorcycle was a 1919 Douglas, owned by Dimitar Kalenov.
The top prize in the Druster Elegance Contest 2018 went to a 170 Mercedes-Benz 1938V Cabriolet B presented by Classic Cars BG, which was the favorite in several other categories – Pre-War Open Cars, Mercedes-Benz class. Silver Star and Best Restoration Workshop, as well as an award from the Mayor of Silistra.
Traditionally, this year again there were many participants from Romania. The first place in the category "Pre-war closed cars" was taken. A 520 Fiat 1928 Sedan owned by Mr. Gabriel Balan, President of the Tomitian Car Club in Constanta, who recently won the prestigious Sanremo Retro Rally with the same car.
The jury determined the best car in the "Post-war coupe" category. Renault Alpine A610 1986 produced by Dimo Dzhambazov, who also received the award for the most authentic car. The undisputed favorite of the post-war convertibles was the 190 Mercedes-Benz 1959SL Angela Zhelev, who also took an honorable second place in the Mercedes-Benz Silver Star class. The jury named the Mercedes-Benz 280SE model of 1972 from the collection of our famous chef and TV presenter Viktor Angelov as the best car in the category "Post-war limousines", which took the third place in the class "Mercedes-Benz Silver Star". ...
The 2 Citroën 1974CV Yancho Raikova from Burgas won the most votes in the category “Iconic models of the XNUMXth century”. He and his beautiful daughter Ralitsa again pleasantly surprised the jury and the audience by presenting their car with two distinctive and recognizable costumes that reproduce the clothes of the Saint-Tropez policeman Louis de Funes and the cute nun who participates in some of his films.
Among the representatives of the "Post-war samples of Eastern Europe" the highest award was given to the GAZ-14 "Chaika" produced in 1987 by Kamen Mikhailov. In the category “Replicas, Street and Hot Rod” the award was given to the one-of-a-kind “Studebaker” hot rod from 1937, manufactured by Geno Ivanov, created by Richi Design studio.
Of the two-wheelers entered for the first time this year, the Douglas 600 from 1919 received the most votes for Dimitar Kalenov, the favorite in the Pre-War Motorcycles category. First place in the category "Post-war motorcycles" was taken by NSU 51 ZT from 1956 in favor of Vasil Georgiev, and in the category "Military motorcycles" the award went to the Zündapp KS 750 from 1942 by Hristo Penchev.
Both last year and this year the participation of collectors from the Bulgarian Automobile Club "Retro", some of whom are board members, was at a very high level. Among them were Anton Antonov and Vanya Antonova, Anton Krastev, Emil Voinishki, Kamen Mikhailov, Ivan Mutafchiev, Pavel Velev, Lubomir Gaidev, Dimitar Dimitrov, Lubomir Minkov, many of whom were accompanied by their wives and girlfriends. Among the official guests of the event was the president of the club, Vanya Guderova, who joined the competition program along with her husband Alexander Kamenov and one of the interesting cars in their collection, a 200 Mercedes-Benz 1966D. After his introduction to the jury, Ms. Guderova addressed all those present with a brief address on behalf of LHC "Retro".
Despite the fact that they were not among the favorites in various categories, the cars of famous Sofia collectors such as Ivaylo Popivanchev, Nikolay Mikhailov, Kamen Belov, Plamen Petrov, Hristo Kostov and others also aroused great interest. Ivan and Hristo Chobanovi from Sliven, Tonyo Zhelyazkovy from Staraya Zagora, Georgy Ivanov from Haskovo, Nikolay Kolev-Biyuto from Varna, Valentin Doichinov from Sliven also presented valuable and rare historical cars and motorcycles, some of which were recently restored. , Todor Delyakov from Pomorie, Ivan Alexandrov and Yordan Georgiev from Veliko Tarnovo, Anton Kostadinov from Pernik, Nikolay Nikolaev from Haskovo and many others.
Among the foreign guests were Serbian collectors Dejan Stević and D. Mikhailovic, Romanian colleagues Nicolae Pripis and Ilie Zoltereanu, Armen Mnatsakanov from Armenia and German collector Peter Simon.
The event was a good opportunity to celebrate several round anniversaries in the automotive world - 100 years since the debut of Ford-T, 70 years since the founding of the company. Porsche, 50 years since the introduction of the first Opel GT and 10 years since the founding of SAZ Studio. In this regard, the founder of the company Kirill Nikolaev from the village of Haskovo Sezam, which is one of the leading manufacturers of boutique cars with extreme retro design, prepared special gifts that he personally presented to each of the participants during the official awards ceremony.
At the third Druster Elegance competition, for the first time, the prize fund included professional paintings depicting each of the participating cars, painted by Victoria Stoyanova, one of the best contemporary artists in Bulgaria, whose talent has long been recognized in many other countries of the world.
Emotional, colorful and varied, September 15 will be commented on and remembered for a long time as one of the highlights of the retro calendar for 2018. A very brief summary of this significant and growing event shows that every year the number of foreign jury members, as well as foreign participants, is increasing. In addition, the contest was presented for the first time on the pages of one of the most widely distributed vintage magazines in France, as well as two other specialized magazines about historical cars from the Czech Republic, Motor Journal and Oldtimer Magazin, which will also publish reports about it. We look forward to the next edition in 2019, which is sure to surprise us with an even more attractive program, impressive organization and amazing representatives of the cultural autohistorical heritage.
Text: Ivan Kolev
Photo: Ivan Kolev
CLASSES AND AWARDS
Pre-war closed cars - "Dinosaurs on the road."
1 Fiat 520 Sedan # 5, 1928 Gabriel Balan
2 Chrysler Royal, 1939 №8 Nicholas Prescriptions
3 Pontiac Six Model 401, 1931 №7 Dejan Stevic
Pre-war open wagons - "Wind in the hair."
1 Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet B, 1938 №4 Classic Cars BG
2 Mercedes-Benz 170V, 1936 №3 Nikolai Kolev
3 Chevrolet Superior, 1926 №2 Georgi Ivanov
Post-war coupes - "Power is back"
1 Renault Alpine 610, 1986 №18 Dimo Dzhambazov
2 Opel GT, 1968 №20 Tonyo Zhelyazkov
3 Buick Super Eight, 1947 # 23 Ilie Zoltereanu
Post-war convertibles - "Journey to the Sunset"
1 Mercedes-Benz 190SL, 1959 №11 Angel Zhelev
2 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, 1986 №10 Ivaylo Popivanchev
3 Ford Mustang, 1967 №12 Armen Mnatsakanov
Post-war limousines - "Big World"
1 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, 1972 # 33 Victor Angelov
2 Mercedes-Benz 300D, Adenauer, 1957 # 27 Anton Kostadinov
3 Fiat 2300 Lusso, 1965 No. 26 Pavel Velev
Cult models of the twentieth century - "When dreams come true."
1 Citroёn 2CV, 1974 №32 Yancho Raikov
2 Ford Model T Touring, 1913 №1 Todor Delyakov
3 Porsche 912 Targa, 1968 №9 Lubomir Gaidev
Post-war models of Eastern Europe - "The red flag gave birth to us"
1 GAZ-14 Chaika, 1987 №36 Kamen Mikhailov
2 GAZ-21 "Volga", 1968 №37 Ivan Chobanov
3 Moskvich 407, 1957 №38 Hristo Kostov
Replicas, street and hot rod - "flight of fancy"
1 Studebecker, 1937 №39 Geno Ivanov
2 Volkswagen, 1978 №40 Nikolai Nikolaev
Pre-war motorcycles - "Classic to the touch."
1 Douglas 600, 1919 # 1 Dimitar Kalenov
2 BSA 500, 1937 №2 Dimitr Kalenov
Post-war motorcycles - "The Last 40".
1 NSU 51 ZT, 1956 №9 Vasil Georgiev
2 BMW P25 / 3, 1956 №5 Angel Zhelev
3 NSU Lux, 1951 No. 4 Angel Zhelev
Military motorcycles - "Military spirit".
1 Zündapp KS 750, 1942 №12 Hristo Penchev
2 BMW R75, 1943 №11 Nikola Manev
SPECIAL AWARDS
The main prize of the competition
Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet B, 1938 №4 Classic Cars BG
Mercedes-Benz Silver Star class
1 Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet B, 1938 №4 Classic Cars BG
2 Mercedes-Benz 190SL, 1959 №11 Angel Zhelev
3 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, 1972 # 33 Victor Angelov
Silistra Mayor's Award
Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet B, 1938 №4 Classic Cars BG
People's Choice Award
Ford Mustang, 1967 # 12 Armen Mnatsakanov
The most authentic car
Renault Alpine 610, 1986 №18 Dimo Dzhambazov
Best restoration studio
Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet B, 1938 №4 Classic Cars BG
