Screwdrivers from the Palatinate

The German Wine Route is a holy mecca for connoisseurs—it’s one of the only places in the country where you can indulge in delicious wine, a hearty meal, and a passion for vintage vehicles! The people that come here spend all year working on their beloved cars and motorcycles, tinkering and fine-tuning to their heart’s content. At least once a year, usually at the beginning of September, Karsten Heidlauf gets the owners of fine vintage cars and other historic motor vehicles together and hits the road. Last year on the weekend of September 1, 3,000 people took part in the “Heidlauf Classics”—a unique vintage vehicle tour along the Palatinate Wine Route around Landau and beyond.

Who came up with the brilliant idea to found the Zweitaktfreunde Ingenheim club? Well, we’re told that’s a “long story.” “Wine festival? More like swine festival!” jokes one of them. One thing they can agree on is that they’re all pretty sure it was founded in 2017. A keen interest in tinkering with vintage mopeds within the group quickly brought together a team of around 15 young people. Each of them had a moped that had been manufactured “some time between 1950 and the 80s that they were working on,” explains founding member Moritz Dörr. When they saw their neighbors in Heuchelheim taking part in a motorcade, they wanted to get involved too, and the rest is history.

11 Brühlstraße, Mörzheim, Bavaria. The wooden gate to the yard lies wide open. A path leads through a small courtyard into the barn, and from the barn directly into the workshop—over 260 square feet of chipboard walls decorated with tools, surrounding a red motorcycle lift. And of course, no workshop would be complete without a bar, beer-tent-style furniture, and a refrigerator in the corner. The air is filled with a cocktail of oil and gasoline. It’s the perfect set-up for cracking open an ice-cold beer from the bar and taking in all the rare vintage gems, many fitted with heavy two-cylinder boxer engines, which were once mockingly referred to as “hairdryers on wheels.”

2-Stroke Motorcycle Gang

A beautiful 50s Miele leans against the wall, next to an old Schwalbe and a rare Motobécane. At eye level on the lift, work is being carried out on a post-war DKW; the engine housing is open, the air filter is mounted on the carburetor, and the headlight insert is hanging from the cable. “It belongs to the club,” explains Moritz Dörr.

Katja is the group’s Zündapp enthusiast. She talks about the 20 2-stroke vintage motorcycles made by the legendary manufacturer that she and her whole family own, and have used to set up their own little museum close by. It all started when her son, Lucca, needed a ride. Katja had ridden Zündapps as a teenager and remembered there was an old one in her uncle’s barn, so she set about changing the spark plug and oil to get it up and running again—and just like that, her passion was reignited. A rare Z 200 from 1929 is their pride and joy.

Nowadays, when the Zweitaktfreunde Ingenheim club rides out with friends, 50 mopeds rattle through the Palatinate. The old mechanics have formed quite the bond, because there’s always a problem to fix—and because they all live and breathe vintage vehicles.

The Vintage Network

Karsten Heidlauf is delighted as he pulls up in his 1963 Riley, complete with its black mudguards, green metal body, and leather roof mounted on a wooden frame chassis—a true classic. It also boasts a 1.6-liter engine with 54 HP. All of the original features have been preserved and, of course, it’s a right-hand drive. A few years ago, the Baden-Württemberg native started the eponymous “Heidlauf Classics” vintage car tour along the southern part of the German Wine Route. The route has no set beginning or end, it simply covers the area around the southern Palatinate Wine Route and includes non-obligatory route recommendations. Participants travel on public roads which means that there’s no need to acquire special rights, pay participation fees, or apply for a special registration. There are organizers or hosts responsible for each stop. All along the route there are now countless inns with shaded beer gardens, small museums well worth a visit, vintners who open their wine cellars to the public, and many others who get involved and become spontaneous hosts, as well as cultural ambassadors for their region for the weekend.

High-end Restorations

But there’s so much more to see at Heidlauf Classics than just beautiful mopeds belonging to two-wheeler enthusiasts. There are always a lot of old, elegant G&S Roadster sports cars to check out too. The year was 1994, and as stated in the G&S Roadster GmbH records, “Three young master car mechanics pooled their knowledge and experience of classic English sports cars and set up their own company…” The Palatinate company from Landau is highly regarded by car connoisseurs as a high-end restorer of rare classic cars. Here, trained specialists lovingly restore Aston Martin DBs, Austin Healey MK 3000s, and Rolls Royce Phantoms. You can even find Swedish rally legend Björn Waldegård’s original orange and red 911 from the 1970s in the Porsche garage. In the sales hall, the head of the company, Udo Gemming, removes the price tag from a Jaguar E-Type—from the very first series—for a photo. The sum on the price tag is equivalent to the price you’d pay for a nice row house. “There are only around 200 of these E-Type Series 1 flat floor models in the world,” Gemming reveals. His team of designated specialists use fail-safe technology to work on old “everyday” cars just as routinely as they work on performance-enhanced vintage racing cars. They also transform newer Porsches into the original Zuffenhausen 911 style for enthusiasts. “These cars have the classic look, but under the hood, the technology is more modern and powerful.” Gemming opens up about 30 years in the company, during which the team have not only carried out over 100 full restorations, but have also experienced a lot of other major events: One of the three founding members died in an accident, Gemming’s older brother retired a few years ago, and Udo now runs the business alone. From procurement to maintenance, restoration, modifications, motorsport, valuation, and brokerage, he’s in charge of it all. Many of the finest classic cars seen at Heidlauf Classics actually come from his workshop.

Lovestruck

Next, we visited Anke and Bodo Pfeiffer, whose passion for vintage vehicles was ignited when they first set eyes upon two vintage Opel fire trucks named Gustaf and Pauline. “With the beautiful, old rounded hoods, of course.” Bodo’s 1939 “Gustaf” has a long history: He was ordered from Opel in 1937 and then delivered as a chassis with engine to Peter Bachem’s carpentry workshop (which still exists today!), who then manufactured the body of the LF 8 from wood and fitted it with galvanized sheet metal. How Gustaf ended up with the Pfeiffers is a whole other story in itself! In any case, the Palatinate couple, Bodo, the mailman, and his wife Anke, the experienced mechanic who trains truck drivers on a freelance basis, have restored him to his former glory. Of course, Anke’s 1947 “Pauline” has her own story, too: She’s a Kraftzugspritze KzS 8 with a towing vehicle and trailer sprayer, known as the “cat” among firefighters at the time. Anke affectionately refers to her cat as “Pauline,” and as she looks at the two fire trucks fondly, says “Our sheet-metal babies.” All their classic vehicles have names. “Pauline” was removed from a works fire brigade in Ludwigshafen and then sat in a hall for decades until the Pfeiffers patiently and lovingly polished her back to life. Naturally, the Pfeiffers and their vintage fire trucks will be making an appearance at the next Heidlauf Classics in September—or perhaps they’ll take their BMW Isetta, Porsche P18 tractor, or the Lanz Bulldog, which they’ve also got in their collection. Their friend Klaus, who has joined us “completely by chance” and is talking about his 1937 Hannomag over a bottle of “Palatinate lubricant”, a palatable Pinot Blanc, will of course be taking part in the vintage car extravaganza, too.

“My aim is to show vintage vehicle enthusiasts and residents of the German Wine Route how to get in touch with the cultural heritage of these types of vehicles and help them experience this beautiful region,” says Heidlauf. Each participant maps out their own route through the stunning landscape, stopping whenever and wherever they like to admire the two and four-wheeled pieces of history. This method of organization makes it a popular destination for vehicle enthusiasts both within and far beyond the borders of the Palatinate. Last year, over 3,000 vehicles participated in Heidlauf Classics.

Heidlauf Classics 2024 will run from September 07–08. The tour starts at 10.00 a.m., and has no end time. The only thing guaranteed is a rich experience of cultural heritage, breathtaking views of the Palatinate region, and insider tips from locals, who’ll be serving up delicious food and wine.