The Essen Motor Show is the most emotional automobile fair in the world. From December 2 to 10 (Preview Day: December 1), the performance festival will take place for the 50th time. Then, over 500 exhibitors will present sporty series vehicles, tuning, motorsports and classic cars at Messe Essen. Hundreds of thousands of fans will celebrate their favourite vehicles and rub shoulders with stars from tuning and racing. In this respect, it all started in an absolutely modest form in 1968 when Wolfgang Schöller who was 25 years’ old at that time had the idea of presenting at the end of the season the most successful sports and racing cars in the completed motorsports year. The title of the exhibition was plainly and simply the “International Sports and Racing Car Exhibition Essen”.

In April 1968, Schöller, his allies and Messe Essen presented the concept to the public in a press announcement. On November 2, 1968, the time had then come: Nearly 60 cars aroused the enthusiasm of the visitors who came in droves. The success exceeded all expectations and it was thus clear that there would be a Sports and Racing Car Exhibition in Essen in 1969, too. In the early days, the success was helped by the cooperation with the Formula 1 star Jochen Rindt who had presented his own show in Vienna since 1965. For 1970, it was intended to intensify the cooperation with Rindt. The title of the exhibition was changed to “Jochen Rindt Show / International Sports and Racing Car Exhibition Essen”.