International Meet up - 17/18/19 May 2024 - Bruggen

[brinkie]

I soooo wish I could attend this. It's exactly why I bought the car, to attend events like this.
Bloody kids and bloody exams! 🤬

Mine just said he wanted to come with me on Saturday 18th, despite being in the middle of his exams. It's Pentecost weekend, which is in The Netherlands followed by a bank holiday (Tweede Pinksterdag = second Pentecost day) on Monday so he has enough time to study.
So #54 should read Robert + Max (NL)
We will only be joining on Saturday and also join dinner.

[Martin63]

Please check your emails - the last event email was sent out earlier this evening.

[Martin63]

I soooo wish I could attend this. It's exactly why I bought the car, to attend events like this.
Bloody kids and bloody exams! 🤬

Mine just said he wanted to come with me on Saturday 18th, despite being in the middle of his exams. It's Pentecost weekend, which is in The Netherlands followed by a bank holiday (Tweede Pinksterdag = second Pentecost day) on Monday so he has enough time to study.
So #54 should read Robert + Max (NL)
We will only be joining on Saturday and also join dinner.

It'll do Max good Robert! I still regret not seeing The Cramps opening for The Police in June 1979 due to school exams

[Fietsaapje]

I will be attending (#33) on saturday and sunday. Happy and safe travels to all drivers coming from far and wide

[Martin63]

So does anyone know for sure if the low emissions zone around Antwerp applies or not? This is as clear as mud!

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2024/04/24 ... ion-zones/

[brinkie]

As long as you don't leave the motorway to enter Antwerp city centre or Scheldt left bank, you're good. The motorways around Antwerp more or less form the boundary.
Scroll down on this page to see the map: https://www.slimnaarantwerpen.be/en/LEZ

Good luck with the traffic jams, as they can be quite bad around Antwerp and there is no real alternative, Brussels is equally bad. This is noon on a Tuesday...

[Martin63]

As long as you don't leave the motorway to enter Antwerp city centre or Scheldt left bank, you're good. The motorways around Antwerp more or less form the boundary.
Scroll down on this page to see the map: https://www.slimnaarantwerpen.be/en/LEZ

Good luck with the traffic jams, as they can be quite bad around Antwerp and there is no real alternative, Brussels is equally bad. This is noon on a Tuesday...

It was yesterday afternoon......and Google Maps took me off the motorway

[Martin63]

I am really looking forward to meeting many of the group members on Friday evening in Bruggen and in Eindhoven on Saturday!

The weather forecast is wet at times over the weekend so do bring suitable clothing and coats etc with you. It's been typical May weather this week - beautiful warm days and then heavy rain at times the next.

There are a lot of speed cameras around and many of them are extremely discreet and well hidden - beware!

[jamescarruthers]

Bon voyage everyone! We enter France after lunch.

Are photos still broken?

[JohnO]

Have a great time everyone.
Looking forward to all the pictures.

Wish I could have been there

[Martin63]

94 cars from Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, the UK and of course Germany and the Netherlands. What a day!

[Martin63]

66 cars yesterday in Germany - including a few new ones, 1 from Poland!

A wonderful weekend. It was great to meet fellow 480 enthusiasts from France, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Sweden, the UK and of course Germany and the Netherlands

[dragonflyjewels]

Brilliant week end !! We loved every minute and the weather was kind as well. Many many thanks to the organisers.
I was really pleased to see John and Janny de Vries again. We have kept in touch by email but nothing beats an actual hug! John very kindly signed Paris on the bodywork for me.
After long email chats with Corien Pompe it was great to finally meet her. The Paris leather was her favourite out of all the 480 ones she did. It seemed appropriate to ask her to sign the dashboard insert - she was quite horrified at the thought of writing on the leather but she did when Al told her I have a spare one.
When I first met brinkie I didn't realise who he was - the speedo face on the front of his cap should have given it away but I was slow on the uptake there.
It was also nice to meet Erik Vanaubel and Tom who wrote the Volvo Coupes book. Erik and I exchanged hundreds of emails during the pandemic. If it wasn't for lockdown I would have flown over to sit with him and correct all the errors as he was typing into the publishing software. Sadly it wasn't possible so the last few errors had to go uncorrected - sorry guys !
I still can't post photos so I'll send some to Jeff to host and post for me when we get home. DAF museum in Endhoven today.

[brinkie]

94 cars from Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, the UK and of course Germany and the Netherlands. What a day!

I have counted 96, including the red 480 Cabriolet and a guy from Belgium (who was about to travel on to take a flight to Canada) who arrived later.

I am so happy I have been able to join, even if it was just for one day. It was a delight to see so many faces belonging to persons I've only known online.

Here's me, John de Vries, Al and Max (who bought a Volvo 480 poster and had it signed by all three designers - happy days!)

[Martin63]

94 cars from Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, the UK and of course Germany and the Netherlands. What a day!

I have counted 96, including the red 480 Cabriolet and a guy from Belgium (who was about to travel on to take a flight to Canada) who arrived later.

I am so happy I have been able to join, even if it was just for one day. It was a delight to see so many faces belonging to persons I've only known online.

Here's me, John de Vries, Al and Max (who bought a Volvo 480 poster and had it signed by all three designers - happy days!)

Even better! Thanks Robert!

Do you recall an event c.1998 in Best, NL with around 130 cars?

[Thijs480ES]

Thank you all for joining our event!
Martin, Jan and I (Thijs) had a great time organizing the biggest and best 480 event of the past 15+ years.
Hearing all positive feedback made it worth all our time and effort in organising this event for the past 9 months.

It was incredible meeting a lot of people I have talked to for years and years, and finally meeting them. And a lot of new people!

We lucked out with the weather on Saturday in Eindhoven, with 96 480s present including a special EBS 480 convertible. We kept this cabrio arrival as a surprise, which was well received.
Also being able to bring together John de Vries, Rob Koch and Corien Pompe was very special. The interview made the Saturday even more memorable.

Sunday was also great, with 2 interesting stops during our tour of the Brüggen area. It was amazing to drive in a convoy with so many 480's!!
Despite the weather being not so good, I think we still had a great day. And the dinner buffet that evening was superb!

We will soon share a link where y'all can upload your pictures in your own folder, for everyone to see.
More pictures already on my Instagram: @volvo_480es

[brinkie]

I hope someone will put video footage online of the Q&A with the design team, there were some interesting anecdotes

[Martin63]

I hope someone will put video footage online of the Q&A with the design team, there were some interesting anecdotes

We are working on getting it uploaded Robert

[Martin63]

The following email was sent earlier this evening to everyone who registered for last weekends get together in Germany and the Netherlands. We have found that some of the previous emails have been filtered out into spam folders and it also contains early details of an event planned for 2 years time so I am copying it to the forum so everyone can read it;

Dear Volvo 480 enthusiasts

Thanks so much for joining us on Saturday and Sunday. 103 different 480s joined us over the weekend. This is way more than we had ever hoped for when we started planning the event in August 2023. We really hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did!

A few important points:

1. Photos & Videos
We have set up an online cloud platform where everyone can upload their photos and videos from the event - so that we can then all enjoy them!

https://2024.volvo480.info/memories
Password: meetup2024

Please create a folder using your name and then save the photos and videos that you are happy to share.
Vadim will be creating an event video from the drone footage that we will let you know about as soon as it’s ready.
T-shirts? – do feel free to create one for yourself if you would like one using the event logo that you can find in folder 1_Logo in the cloud platform.

2. Costs & Donations
In addition to significant amounts of time, effort and enthusiasm, the preparation for the event did of course cost Jan some money. For example, the printing costs for 100 road books, 100 bags, 200 wristbands, 200 name badges, information signs, banners, 480 parking signs, pens, barrier tape, event technology etc etc.

We will really welcome a donation via Paypal to help us to cover at least some of the costs. Any donations whatsoever will be appreciated.
If there is any surplus, then we will inform you and use it for potential future events.
Contributions via Paypal to Jan Wichert, berlin@volvo480.info or paypal.me/480berlin

Fortunately Jan did receive the 1000 EUR from Volvo Cars Germany back from the hotel on Monday. As previously planned, this financial support went towards the costs of our final dinner get together on Sunday evening (at the new Haus Bey restaurant location).

For full transparency, the total overall event costs are listed in the table attached to this email.

3. What´s Next
We have been asked if there might be another international event. Do please keep Friday 22 to Sunday 24 May 2026 free to celebrate 40 years of the 480! It’s a public holiday weekend across most of Europe and we have early plans to stage a special celebration weekend in the Netherlands/Germany border area.

Best Regards

Jan - DE
Thijs - NL
Martin – UK

[Martin63]

I hope someone will put video footage online of the Q&A with the design team, there were some interesting anecdotes

As requested Robert;

Part 1

https://youtu.be/aTkungTKz-U?si=bWsWvSu--NBqo32x

Part 2

https://youtu.be/5HBVIE5J7dA?si=1hQoSt-yHRKFx93s

All being well there will be a full video of the weekend, including some drone footage, ready in a few weeks time.

The final total for the weekend was 103 480s. A local one turned up at the last minute at Bruggen on the Monday morning, just as people were leaving.

And Jan, Thijs and I are already working on the May 2026 event to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of the 480!