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Here’s our report from this year’s Classic Car Show in Downtown Dubai with a round-up of the winners

By Shahzad Sheikh

It’s the 7th year of the Emirates Classic Car Festival held on Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard in Downtown Dubai, and it was the biggest and most specatcular yet with over 320 cars and bikes, and some genuinely new and delightful metal on show.

You can see our full gallery of images from the 2015 Emirates Classic Car Festival which took place Thursday to Sunday, on our Facebook page – just click here.

Here’s the full run down of the award winners:

The Best in Show Award
1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano, Imtiaz Shaikh

The UAE Award
1947 Chevrolet Pickup, Marzooq Al Mansoori

The Dubai Award
1976 Daimler 420, Mohammed Al Tahiri

The Emaar Award
1967 Mercedes 250 SE, Rafiq Mahmoud

Classic Truck Award
1960s Pinzgauer, Tariq Javaid

Custom 4×4 Award
1970 Range Rover Hunting, HH Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum

Heritage Car Award
1945 Riley Convertible, Sharjah Old Car Museum

Modern Classic Award
1987 Ferrari 328 GTS, Aziz Metwali

American Car Award
1963 Corvette Stingray, Frederick Faidhi, representing the owner

British Car Award
1948 Jaguar XK120, Jame Iremonger

European Car Award
1957 Mercedes 220S, HE Tariq Al Qemzi

The Public’s Choice Award No 1
1957 Chevrolet Corvette, Izzat Dajani

The Public’s Choice Award No 2
1951 Volkswagen Samba, Arnd Springer

Best Recreation Award
1966 Aston Martin DBR6, Ronald Powell

Best Microcar Award
1982 Citroen Eco 2000 Prototype, Faisal Al Humaid

Classic Motorcycle Award
1942 Harley WLA, Manjeet Kwata

Best Open Top Award
1963 Corvette, Aiman Qsous

Pre-World War II Award
1930 Plymouth, Sharjah Old Car Museum

Club Merit Award
UAE Classic Mini Cooper Club

The winners were presented their trophies by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of ATCUAE (Automobile Touring Club UAE), Ahmad Al Falasi, Executive Director, Group Operations at Emaar Properties, and Wael Buheiry, Festival organiser and classic car collector.

Also at the Festival, Wael Buheiry’s 1952 Jaguar XK 120 OTS became the first recipient in the UAE of a FIVA Passport. The Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, a worldwide authority on historic vehicles, issues the document with the car’s details including history, chassic and drivetrain numbers etc.

During the evening reception, Imtiaz Sheikh (Tomini Classics) was presented the 2015 Concours d’Elegance Best of Show Award for his Maserati Ghibli while Vinod Sundan won the Elegance Award for his 1960 Mercedes 300D Convertible Adenauer and Mohammed bin Sulayem clinched the Excellence Award for his 1937 Cord.

Highlights for us included:

This absolutely beautiful and immaculate 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, owned by Nader El Khodary – it didn’t just have full service history, but every documentation going, including original psychedelic owners’ manual, build sheet and all receipts! Beauty – and we hope to bring you a full shoot on this car soon. We’re really surprised this didn’t win an award.

Toyota 2000GT is a rare thing and an equal to the E-Type in terms of its ageless beauty. This is another car from the Tomini Classics Collection, and again we found it astonishing that this didn’t pick up a trophy – you really don’t see these very often, and certainly not one as pristine as this!

Imthishan was really taken with this stunning presented Chevrolet Impala restomod in matt grey. What a stunning looking thing.

We both fell in love with a 1968 Camaro SS offered by US muscle car dealer, James Mansell, who also showcased a Chevelle, a Stingray and another Barracuda! Tantalising all his stock (sourced directly from the US) is priced between AED155k-165k!

Powell’s Aston Martin Tribute car was beautifully presented, but Powell himself was a delight to talk to. A full on Aston fan, he has several classic and modern cars, and even writes books about the cars in the first person character of the car! This 66 Aston also gets used as he’s had it out at Yas Marina and Goodwood, and we may still get to see it out at the Autodrome before it heads back to the UK.

Then there was the evocative pairing on the corner closest to Dubai Mall of the Dodge Charger and the Mustang Fastback was hard to resist – if they were black and green this would be the legendary chase squence from Bullit waiting to happen all over again right here in Dubai. And that Charger… so droolworthy!

Plus of course KITT did a drive-by and promptly stole the show! Now wouldn’t a classic TV and Film car section be awesome for next year? How about KITT, an A-Team van, the General Lee, a Bandit Trans Am – what else would you include? (Let us know in the Comments section below).

Can’t wait for next year’s edition.