Around two decades ago....these car collectors in Russelheim (mostly Opel guys) got a building and started a museum. On the list of ten things to see in Frankfurt....I'd put it on the list and it's worth a 3-hour trips.
The guys then decided....why not approach the city of Russelheim to have a oldtimer car show. City was happy, and the first show or two was 500-odd cars (regional thing).
Over the years it grew. This year, it was anticipated that 3,000 oldtimers would show up, and 30,000 'guests' would be walking around to view cars....from across all of Europe.
So....the area that the city had selected yearly for the show....was a flat open field area. There was room for the oldtimer cars, and room for people to drive in as guests. I need to emphasize this is public land...NOT private property.
Covid had prevented the show....so this was a big deal in restarting it.
Well....environmentalists got into the middle of this, and asked....what is the control plan for oil damage on public property?
The city declined to participate. A judge then got dragged in and asked the question.
As a plans guy from my years in the military....an event like this would have a 50-odd page 'plan'. Oil leakage would likely not be on the plan.
Me personally? I would have responded to the judge and said I'd give a 2-meter by 3-meter piece of cardboard to each oldtimer car participant.
The judge would have grinned and then said....what happens if the oil drips past the cardboard? I'm screwed.
Plan 'B'? There never was one.....you could not get past the oil damage chatter.
Public law affecting even parking a drippy car on a city street? Yeah, you could browse through Frankfurt or Darmstadt law, and probably find various fines....from hundreds to thousands.
The other funny part of this discussion....if you went and really observed the oldtimer conditions....out of a thousand cars, it's possible that only three to five cars would have had some oil situation. But you have no statistical data to prove or disprove this idea.
Environmentalists making their case? Yeah....but in doing so....this was a money-pit for hotels, bars, clubs, catering services, security folks, and restaurants. I would imagine locally....for the 4-day event....there was probably three-million Euro spent in various ways.
So, locally...a lot of people stood to make some money off the weekend.
Will a plan 'B' be developed for 2024? No. You can't find a way to make people happy....so I would suggest the oldtimer show is finished locally.
Anger and frustration toward the environmentalists? Yeah, and this is the type that will linger more than ten years. Hurting in the months leading up to a Hessen state election? That's another issue, and it's not that positive for the environmentalists in the region.
Where the show could move to? I have two ideas. One is the Kassel Airport area (it's big enough) and the racetrack area down in the Manheim area (privately owned).
What bothers me here....if you use this oil drip rule....there's probably over 1,000 fests around Germany that use ground soil to park upon. Legally, you could attack every single one of those for failing to have a oil leak plan, and really make your group the most hated in Germany.
But this is the way that law has been drafted over the past couple of decades and no one really envisioned how far this would go.
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