Three days of epoch grandeur in Gonzaga, between pavilions, stands, gazebos, tons of iron and history merged into a very beautiful event. Atmosphere, and an infinite number of ideas for a special passion. The Gallery, and soon ITV and video…
June 2, 2023
Gonzaga, Mantua, June 1st. They passed in the tens of thousands. Some have finished rummaging through the iron boxes or scattered on the ground until the guard went to ask: “Excuse me, we are closing!” In some ways the trade show is like a drug. A good drug draws you in on a journey that is only marginally of necessity. A good trip in Exhibition Exchange Fair is the one organized for 42 years since CAMER, Reggiano Vintage Car and Motorcycle Clubsince last year hosted by Gonzaga Millennial Fair.
That’s it. She walks with her eyes always looking ahead, as far away as possible. Why the eye must come first, and the legs immediately behind, before the others. At the beginning it is curiosity or the motivation to look for a piece for one’s vintage vehicle, then the fascination of discovery, of the reopening of a personal album of passion, of re-reading it through layers of conservation or rust. It is then that the gaze turns into a scanner. Nothing escapes the expert, the eye trained in research and discovery. And this is the beauty of it, the goal of personal pride at the market-exhibition-exchange. A necessity of the soul, one might say.
Gonzaga, the Fair, the CAMER Exhibition-Exchange they are an interesting chapter of an ancient history. First: don’t throw anything away. Second, preserve with competence, knowledge, almost culture. Third: business, yes, but not exaggerated in both senses, preferably with a certain respect for the object. And accordingly respect between sellers and for buyers, or potential such. There are things that are worth an absolute fortune, many others that acquire value in personal circumstances. This is why the actors and exhibitors are almost all friends, they respect each other, exchange and offer the right thing to the right person, more willingly especially when they recognize their passion. The coup is no longer done, or hardly, and the large figures, after all, do not come from this still healthy and instructive environment. THE exaggerated values they have long since been transferred to other environments. Auctions, villas and salons, more sophisticated, snobbish, even a little fake and based more and more often on the race for the record rather than on love for the object.
On the ground a dozen forks complete with Vespas. Rust, dust, grease. What the hell are they doing? And where is the rest, the Vespas? How is it possible that one collects forks, or frames, saddles, engines with such a low probability of reuse? Because the possibility is slim but not nil, and one can imagine the mutual satisfaction if an improbable piece passes from the hand that kept it to that of those who were looking for it. It applies to parts and to whole motorcycles, registered or abandoned, for cars, tractors, for the objects that have furnished the garages, signs, petrol pumps, oil drums, even the packaging when worthy of some attention. It takes a particular aptitude, and it takes being willing to know everything about the objects, from their history to the sign of an illustrious or characteristic use. In short, the exhibition-exchange is always very interesting people.
Let’s review the Event through the images, while we prepare the broadside of the videos we shot…
© Images CAMER – FP – PB
