Explore the bold automotive trends of the 1980s IAA
Recently, I happened to come across some pictures taken at the IAA in Frankfurt during the 1980s. Looking at these images today, I think: the IAA was probably never this flashy and wild again.
The GEMBALLA AVALANCHE was also present at an IAA in the 1980s. Back then, models posing next to cars were just as standard as the cars themselves. – Photo: AutoNatives.de Archive)
The 1980s marked the beginning of my fascination with cars. At the start of the decade, I devoured every available car magazine. At 15, my moped provided motorized mobility. Three years later came my first car. Fate had it that my 18th birthday fell on a Sunday, so I received the driver's license necessary to drive my car only a day later. Since then, I have driven more than a million kilometers in cars. Thanks to the good fortune of test-driving vehicles for reviews for ten years, I sat behind the wheel of more than 200 cars during that time.
A Decade That Sparked My Passion for Car
Yet the 1980s remain just as defining as they are fascinating – even if the creations of that time seem rather shocking in retrospect. Some slides I recently acquired underscore this impressively. They are from various editions of the IAA in the 1980s. So much white leather and so many fiberglass fenders – probably never again! Especially since, soon enough, it wasn’t just tuners delighting the market with their creations. Even manufacturers quickly catered to the demand for widebody kits back then. Of course, the tuners still outdid the manufacturers.
Koenig-Jaguar XJ-S – Photo: AutoNatives.de Archive)
The pictures were a lucky find, offering a rare glimpse into the extravagant automotive culture of the 1980s. They were an accidental bonus with six slide boxes I bought on eBay for one euro. I use these slide boxes to store the photos in our archive. Therefore, these weren’t the first slide boxes I had purchased. But this time, two of the boxes actually contained slides. I took a peek, even though I had originally planned to throw the pictures away. But in my random check, I came across an image of a Ferrari Testarossa. That made me curious. So I kept digging and found even more car pictures.
The Pictures Were Taken at Several IAAs!
There is a picture of the Kodiak F1, which premiered at the IAA in 1983. Alongside it was a (sadly blurry) picture of the Opel Corsa Sprint. This Group B concept car was also presented at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1983. Then came a picture of an Aston Martin Lagonda. Using Google Image Search, I found another picture of this vehicle, with the photographer stating it was taken at the 1987 IAA. There were also two pictures of a Mercedes-Benz 190 Cabrio. According to the W201 community on Instagram, it was shown in Frankfurt in 1989.
Mercedes-Benz 190 Cabrio at the IAA 1989 – Photo: AutoNatives.de Archive)
Even this picture impresses with an unbelievably white interior – a rarity today, as modern car designs often favor darker, more practical tones. But that’s nothing compared to a Mercedes-Benz coupe that was white both inside and out. The SEC from the C126 series shines in a shade of white so bright it almost brings tears to your eyes today. The same white radiates from a modified Porsche 930 Turbo. I believe it to be a GEMBALLA AVALANCHE captured by the unknown photographer back then. Compared to this Porsche, every flat-nose conversion from dp motorsport seemed almost ordinary.
Picture credits: Archiv AutoNatives