40th anniversary of the 480 - International Meet Up May 2026

[Martin63]

44 people signed up so far with 11 from the UK.

[Martin63]

I will be in attendance, can't wait.

[Martin63]

47 cars from 10 countries signed up so far - the furthest distance to be travelled at present is from Finland.

[WillC9303]

47 cars from 10 countries signed up so far - the furthest distance to be travelled at present is from Finland.

No signups from Japan yet, Martin?

[Martin63]

47 cars from 10 countries signed up so far - the furthest distance to be travelled at present is from Finland.

No signups from Japan yet, Martin?

Surprisingly no Will

None from Australia, New Zealand or the USA either. It's really not good enough!

[richard-smyth]

Hi, as its also a bank holiday on the Monday the 25th of May next year in the UK plan to attend the 2026 meet up in Germany.
So have signed up and reserved a room at the recommended hotel for the weekend.
Will be booking up the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam when the crossings become available nearer the end of this year,
See www.volvo480.info for more details about the meet up 2026.
Been completing a few jobs on my storm grey 1995 Celebration 480 R2 rescue car, including replacing the front light clusters and polishing up the rear ones with G3 pro paste.
Next up is sorting the dashboard, the crack on the corner seems to happen to the all the UK right hand drive cars but doesn't occur to any of the LHD cars. This is one of the main things I learnt at the 2024 European meet up in Holland.
Cheers, Richard.

[Martin63]

Hi, as its also a bank holiday on the Monday the 25th of May next year in the UK plan to attend the 2026 meet up in Germany.
So have signed up and reserved a room at the recommended hotel for the weekend.
Will be booking up the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam when the crossings become available nearer the end of this year,
See www.volvo480.info for more details about the meet up 2026.
Been completing a few jobs on my storm grey 1995 Celebration 480 R2 rescue car, including replacing the front light clusters and polishing up the rear ones with G3 pro paste.
Next up is sorting the dashboard, the crack on the corner seems to happen to the all the UK right hand drive cars but doesn't occur to any of the LHD cars. This is one of the main things I learnt at the 2024 European meet up in Holland.
Cheers, Richard.

Glad you are planning to join the get together again next year Richard.

Yes, May 2026 is a rare year when the public holidays across almost every European country all tie up for the same late May weekend (unlike last year).

Jan, Thijs and I have planning meeting number 6 coming up early next month. All being well soon after that we should be in a position to say more about the itinerary. Suffice to say there will be some drives out into the countryside around Cologne, a 480 flea market plus a lot more.

Good luck with your dashboard! I have seen VERY few UK 480s without the infamous crack

[Thijs480ES]

52 sign ups as of today! Including an amazing 11 from the UK! I am sure we will surpass 100 480s in attendance!
Looking forward to seeing you guys & gals there!
Make sure to book the hotel well in advance.

-Thijs & Miné from NL

[Martin63]

52 sign ups as of today! Including an amazing 11 from the UK! I am sure we will surpass 100 480s in attendance!
Looking forward to seeing you guys & gals there!
Make sure to book the hotel well in advance.

-Thijs & Miné from NL

Fabulous Thijs! Including cars signed up from Croatia, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Spain - which is pretty amazing.

[Martin63]

We are now up to 76 cars signed up, including 2 cars from Portugal plus 1 from Croatia and 1 from Hungary.

If you plan to join us it would be wise to book the hotel. I got around to doing that at last yesterday.

[Martin63]

Hi Martin,

May I ask; what day will be the most "car show" like?

Basically all the things I missed in Bruggen '24. The cars parked in line, the drone photos, the guest speakers, the photograph against the 480 canvas sign, that sort of thing....

I know it's early days for an itinerary set in stone, but it would be handy to know what day to secure a hotel for a few

Sorry for the slow reply - we do have a draft itinerary, but it would be premature to share it yet.

To answer your question, I would honestly say both the Saturday and the Sunday. My advice would be to book a room for the Friday night and the Saturday night at the very least. I will also stay over on Sunday night too.

We had a number of people last year say "oh I really wish I had been there on Saturday" and the people who only did the Saturday say "oh I wish I had stayed for Sunday too". There will be plenty to keep people happy on both days.

We are now up to 79 cars signed up and we have just had our first Norwegian 480 join us.

This all way exceeds our expectations - especially with 51 weeks still to go!

[Jay-Kay-Em]

Cheers Martin.

Hotel reserved for the Saturday and Sunday

[Martin63]

Cheers Martin.

Hotel reserved for the Saturday and Sunday

Good news!

[Martin63]

We are now up to 90 cars signed up including 5 from Spain and Portugal.

None from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the US or Canada though Will - it's really not good enough

[jamescarruthers]

I'll be coming, with my dad again. Either his car or mine. Just need to get our shit together!

[WillC9303]

None from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the US or Canada though Will - it's really not good enough

Didn’t a couple 480s make it to Saudi Arabia? If so I’m not losing hope for there

[Martin63]

I'll be coming, with my dad again. Either his car or mine. Just need to get our shit together!

Not both cars James??!!

In all seriousness, those are both very historic and significant 480s

[Martin63]

None from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the US or Canada though Will - it's really not good enough

Didn’t a couple 480s make it to Saudi Arabia? If so I’m not losing hope for there

How good would that be Will?!

[Martin63]

Jan, Thijs and I held planning meeting number 8 yesterday and have another meeting planned for August.

There are now an incredible 96 cars signed up for next years events in the Cologne area.

It's still too early to announce the agenda and venues but there will be a good mixture of countryside drives plus time on the Autobahn as well as plenty of time for people to chat and look at the 480s. Good meals too and an auto jumble for 480 parts.

There are some great potential venues being lined up for both the Saturday and the Sunday.

The hotel is filling up fast. So if you do plan to join us it would be wise to reserve your hotel room. More details at volvo480.info

We anticipate announcing the outline agenda during August.

[Martin63]

101 cars signed up now - including 16 from the UK.