A Trip Down Memory Lane - IAA Frankfurt
For years, September meant Frankfurt. The IAA shaped my passion - from one of my first trips abroad in ’97, to rap-fueled Cadillac dreams in ’05, to Alpina milestones, and a full-circle return twenty years later.
This fair was the heartbeat of the automotive world - where the boldest premieres happened, and where a kid like me could dream with eyes wide open. I still have the photos from those days: grainy, slightly out of focus, and somewhere in the frame there’s a little chubby kid in glasses. That was me, overwhelmed by it all.
1997 was my first time there, one of my very first trips abroad. Back then, spotting certain cars in Poland was almost impossible - they were posters on my bedroom wall, not machines you’d see on the street. My dad made it happen, even though it was a stretch. We didn’t even stay in Frankfurt itself, but in Giessen, just to keep it affordable. It didn’t matter - the moment I walked into those halls, it felt like stepping into another universe. Here's a few images that take you back to the golden era.
By 2005, I was nearly in my 20s, already shaped by rap coming out of the States. My biggest dream at that show? To sit inside a Cadillac Escalade. That truck was pure hip-hop fantasy back then - larger than life, straight out of the videos.
The same year, I witnessed the debut of the Alpina B5 (E60). It wasn’t just a car; it was power, speed, rarity and desire wrapped in one. That moment stuck with me for years, and one has just recently taken its place in my own garage. Full circle, after 20 years.
You can't be at IAA and miss the Porsche stand where the legendary Porsche Carrera GT was displayed. It looked like something out of this world and it still does.
That era also felt like the peak of tuning culture. The stands of Novitec, Brabus, Breyton, AC Schnitzer and others - they were temples of horsepower and excess. Widebody kits, interiors dripping with leather and carbon. Looking back, it feels like the golden age: bold, unfiltered, unapologetic. Hell, even Mansory was doing the right thing back then.
In 2017, twenty years after that first wide-eyed walk through the halls, I returned once more - this time on a trip with my dad. In your 30s, sharing a weekend like this with your father isn’t something you take for granted. It felt like the story had come full circle. Everything had changed: the Cadillac Escalade no longer made my heart race, but the new Alpina B5 (G31) and D3 (F31) definitely did. The Porsche stand didn't disappoint either - 991.2 GT3 and GT2RS seem to be the peak 911s in many terms until this day. Still, most of the big tuning companies have lost their edge and tried too much all at once. With one exception - the Brabus Classic stand. At the same time, the show itself painted a sadder picture of the industry. The spark was still there for me, but the event had lost some of its magic. Just two years later, in 2019, the Frankfurt IAA disappeared for good, rebranded as IAA Mobility and transformed into something entirely different.
Looking back now, I realize passion doesn’t need borders. You don’t need to own the car to be part of the culture. Sometimes it’s about the journey, the effort to get there, the photos you take, the soundtrack playing in your head. People often say events like Car Week in Como are only for the elite. In truth, it’s just one cheap flight to Bergamo, a modest ticket to Villa Erba, and suddenly you’re in the middle of it all.
If you want to be part of this world, you can. All it takes is curiosity and the will to show up. The rest follows.
Dawid
All pictures taken by myself (or my dad) apart from the images of Alpina B5 (E60) by hadel.net and @poznan_cs