I wanted to go to the museum of photography today. But, as it happens sometimes, I only made it as far as two blocks.

Then I ran into a vintage car. Nice, I thought. I had seen a couple of them around town already in the past weeks, so I didn’t give it much thought.

Until, around the next corner, there was another one. And another. Four. Five, six, a dozen. Ok, something’s happening here.

I ran into the city’s Vintage car parade. They were trying to break the current Guinness Book Record, that stands at 948 vintage cars, that paraded in the Dutch city of Zandvoort in 2002.

The organizers hoped to get some 1200 cars on the road, out of the 5000 vintage cars registered in the Federal District.

And they did. 1721 cars were on the streets, and several ten thousand Chilangos, as you call the inhabitants of Mexico City.

I had a great spot underneath the ‘Angel’ the staue of Independence, on Paseo de la Reforma.

As someone who has never owned a car, and very likely never will, who loathes driving in cities, I was nevertheless thrilled.

The number of cars and their different shapes, colors, their proud drivers… It was fun.

Some really old cars from the start of the last century, to relatively ‘new’ vintage cars as the first Volkswagen Golf.

My favorite though were the VW Beetles. They have a special place in every German’s heart, as they stand for the economic miracle, symbolizing the country’s way out of the ruins and into modernity. And mobility.

They were built in Germany until 1978, since then you had to import them from nearby Puebla in Mexico, where VW has one of it’s biggest plants.

Till today one can see them driving around the city, in all colors and all conditions. Though the ones parading today were all in a pristine state!

I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I loved the different forms and colors of those cars. Why don’t we build anything like that anymore? Just grey SUVs…?