English

The last weekend of October is upon us again: for the fifth year running, the largest gay classic car event in Germany and the Netherlands kicks off! We’re looking forward to an exciting weekend in and around Bad Bentheim and the province of Overijssel. This year, we’ve created several special events to help you discover the history of this region.

When? From October 24th to 26th, 2025.

Where? We’ll be staying at a hotel in Bad Bentheim.

What? The program is as follows:

Friday, October 24th

Arrival at Bad Bentheim. Hotel check-in starts at 1:00 pm.

Complimentary coffee/tea and pastries are available between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. This year, in addition to coffee/tea, you can also choose sparkling wine.

Beer, house wine, and soft drinks are free between 5:30 pm and 9:00 pm. This year, Happy Hour has been extended by one hour.

7:00 pm: Extensive dinner buffet

8:45 pm: Night Watchman Tour: A fun evening stroll through Bad Bentheim

The bowling alley, as well as the entire hotel, is reserved exclusively for us. The partition has been removed so that attendees can chat with each other while bowling.

Saturday, October 25th

7:00 am to 8:45 am: Extensive breakfast buffet

9:00 am: Gathering in front of the hotel for a short introduction

9:15 am: Departure for Bocholt

11:00 am: Arrival at the textile factory in Bocholt. The approach  route is via a cycle path. Beware of cyclists and pedestrians! Several guides will be waiting at the textile factory to lead us through the three exhibition spaces reserved for us. Please note: Only one car is allowed on the bridge at a time! Please don’t rush.

Dogs are welcome on the museum grounds, but unfortunately, they are not allowed inside the buildings.

Four one-hour tours are available in German and Dutch:

1. In the Rhythm of the Machines (about time in textile production)
2. The Makers and the Spinning Mill (the people behind textile production.
3. Behind the Beauty (what happens behind the scenes in the beauty industry)
4. Against the Current (proverbs and sayings that originated in  the textile industry)

After the tours, we will be welcomed around 12:30 pm at the museum restaurant Schiffchen, where we can enjoy a drink outside (weather permitting) or inside at a standing or sitting table. Hearty soups, water, and coffee are available.

2:00 pm: Departure from the textile factory via the cycle path. Please be mindful of pedestrians and cyclists when leaving!

2:30 pm: Arrival in Raesfeld, where we can explore the castle and the surrounding area on our own. The so-called “Waldparkhaus” (forest parking garage) is reserved exclusively for us. Coffee and three types of pastries await us at the “Freiheit 24” restaurant.

3:30 pm: Return to the hotel.
After arriving at the hotel, it’s time for whatever you like to do: sauna, swimming, relaxing, freshening up, and, if necessary, getting under the hood…

5:30 pm to 9:00 pm: Happy hour: Free beer, house wine, and soft drinks

7:00 pm: Extensive dinner buffet

Just like the night before, the bowling alley is available exclusively for us.

Note: On Saturday evening, the clocks go back one hour!

Sunday, October 26th

7:00 am to 8:45 am: Extensive breakfast buffet

8:45 am to 9:15 am: Check-out

9:15 am: Meet in front of the hotel for a short introduction

9:30 am: Departure for the artists’ village of Ootmarsum

In Ootmarsum, we (unfortunately) have to split up the group, so we ask you to consider what you prefer:

1. A 30-minute tour of the Ton Schulten Museum OR
2. A walk through the Ootmarsum Open Air Museum

Please note: The two tours at the Ton Schulten Museum have a maximum capacity of 30 people per tour, meaning a maximum of 60 people can participate. Please let us know your first choice when you register.

10:45 am: Park in Ootmarsum parking lot

11:00 am: Short walk and reception at the Ton Schulten Museum.

When you enter the visual world of Ton Schulten, you glimpse into the soul and dreams of a remarkable man. His works depict heavenly landscapes composed of colorful mosaics. They are often impressions of his native Twente. They testify to the artist’s mystical longing for light and his pursuit of strength and harmony in his use of colour, and pay tribute to one of the most beautiful regions of the Netherlands. Participants not participating in the tour can take a stroll through Ootmarsum or enjoy a cup of coffee at Restaurant Ton Schulten.

Or

11:00 am: Short walk and reception at the open-air museum.

The Ootmarsum Open-Air Museum is located just outside Ootmarsum. It tells the story not only of the Twente farmers but also of the region’s administrators 100 years ago. In the 20,000-square-meter park, 16 authentic historic buildings demonstrate how farmers once lived and worked in this region. Various exhibitions also show how the region was governed by the bishop and the stadtholder. Dogs are welcome in the open-air museum, but must be kept on a leash.

The Open-Air Museum is free for holders of a Dutch Museum Card. Holders of this card will receive a refund for their museum entrance fee from the GCCC afterward.

1:00 pm: Lunch: “Noon Snack” at Restaurant Oatmossche: a cup of tomato soup with white bread and Oma Bob’s Croquette and healthy brown bread (with ham, cheese, lettuce, cucumber, and tomato). Other drinks are at your own expense.

After lunch, the Bad Bentheim Classics 2025 event concludes. We say goodbye and begin our journey home.

Cost:

€ 279 per person in a Deluxe Double Room, including coffee, pastries, and sparkling wine from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on the day of arrival, dinner on Friday and Saturday, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and complimentary beer, house wine, and soft drinks from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

€ 279 per person in a Classic Single Room, including coffee, pastries, and sparkling wine from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on the day of arrival, dinner on Friday and Saturday, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and complimentary beer, house wine, and soft drinks from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

Dogs are welcome and stay overnight free of charge.

Parking in the hotel’s private car park is free. Use of the hotel’s bowling alley is free.

The cost for lunch on Saturday and Sunday, a visit to the textile factory in Bocholt, coffee with three types of flatbread in Raesfeld, the Ton Schulten Museum, or the open-air museum in Ootmarsum, as well as providing the road book and all organisational matters, is € 70 per person.

You can register as follows:

1. First, send an email to the organizers.
2. Your participation will then be confirmed, and you will receive a unique number. You can use this number to reserve your room. You must pay the hotel costs yourself upon check-out on Sunday. You can book your room by emailing the hotel.
3. After receiving confirmation from the hotel, you can then register on the GCCC website. This is possible until Sunday, September 14th at the latest.
The email addresses of the hotel and the organizers are listed in the announcement email.

Cancellation of a hotel room reservation is free of charge until 6:00 pm on the day of arrival: October 24, 2025. Cancellations after this date will incur a full 100% charge. If you wish to cancel your reservation, please email both the hotel and the organizers as soon as possible.

Finally, we would also like to inform you that unannounced border controls are currently are carried out regularly in Germany, particularly on the major access roads. Therefore, it is advisable to take your passport with you.

We look forward to seeing you and having a fantastic Bad Bentheim Classics 2025.

Disclaimer
The GCCC excludes all liability for damages of any kind. Photos and videos will be taken during the ride. If you do not wish this to happen, you are responsible for them by kindly asking the photographer or videographer not to film you or your car (license plate). Photos and videos are generally shared on the personal Facebook and Instagram pages of individual participants and on the GCCC Facebook page.

What are we going to do this year?

• 28-09           Sea, Dunes and Castles
• 26-10           Bad Bentheim weekend
• 29-11           ER-Classics Ride (Saturday!)
• 21-12           Christmas Crib Nativity scene ride

And what did we do so far?

• 26-01           New Year’s reception
• 29-03           AGM 2025 (Saturday!)
• 13-04           Groningen
• 18-05           Along the River Meije
• 28-06           GCCC at Gay pride Saturday Zaan
• 29-06           Plane spotting
• 27-07           Picnic
• 31-08           Leiden Pride Ride

• January 21:   New Year’s Drinks
• March 16:     AGM 2024
• April 7:          Steam on the Bulbs
• May 26:         Past Perfect
• June 30:        Much Ado in the Polder
• July 28:         Picnic Ride
• August 25:   Nijmegen area
• Sept. 20/22:  Old-timers in the Kempen (weekend)
• Sept. 29:        A guide through the purple rain (Soest)
• Oct. 25/27:    Bad Bentheim Classics 2024 (weekend)
• Dec. 15:         Christmas Cruising

• January 15: New Year’s Drinks
• April 15: AGM
• April 29: King’s Ride (Metropole Druten)
• May 28: Old and New Land
• June 24: Summer Night Ride
• July 30: Picnic Ride
• August 27: Land Art Route in Flevoland
• September 23: Night Fever part 3
• October 13 – 15: Bad Bentheim Classics 2023: joint activity GCCC, Queerlenker and Motorboys
• October 29: Gentlemen in ‘The Achterhoek’
• November 26: Brussels with a Difference
• December 17: Christmas Crib Ride

• March 12: GCCC Cars & Coffee
• March 7: AGM
• April 10: GCCC Cars & Coffee #2
• April 24: Zeeland ride with ‘Brabantse Wal’
• May 21: GCCC Jubilee 30 Years
• June 10 – 13: GCCC presents Eurotour 2022
• July 17: Picnic
• August 28: Brabant roads are long
• September 25: Language border ride Belgium
• October 29: From Oldie to Audi
• November 27:  Christmas market ride Germany
• December 18: Night Fever ride

• 26 June: Annual General Meeting
• 25 July: Picnic ride
• 15 August: Ride in Friesland
• 12 September: Narrow Gauge ride
• 17 October: Coming Out ride
• 21 November: Night Fever
• 19 December: Christmas Cradle Ride

What didn’t we do in 2020?

• 21 March: Annual General Meeting
• 18 April: postponed
• 16 May: postponed
• 20 June: postponed

What did we do in 2020?

• 26 January: New Year’s drinks with pub quizz
• 8 March: Annual General Meeting
• 12 July: Picnic ride in South-Holland province
• 27 September: Dunes and Meuse and in between
• 11 October: Coming Out ride in the Nijmegen area – cancelled
• 21 November: Ride Gelders Vallei area – cancelled
• 20 December: Ride in Achterhoek area – cancelled

More (gay) classic events:

• 9 – 16 October: Gaystronotrip (Organiser: Ledorga)

• 17 February: Annual General Meeting
• 10 March: Nobody volunteered to organise a ride.
• 7 April: Blossom ride through Betuwe area
• 19 May: IJssel Valley ride from Teuge
• 23 June: Green Heart ride from Alphen aan den Rijn
• 21 July: Picnic ride around The Hague
• 25 August: Smugglers ride in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Belgium
• 20-22 September: Weekend in Southern Limburg
• 20 October: Autumn ride around Arnhem
• 17 November: Saint Nicholas ride from Harderwijk
• 29 December: 10th Christmas Crib ride from Oudenbosch

• January 28: New Year’s drinks at Het Plashuis
• February 17: Annual General Meeting
• March 18:
• April 15: Bulbs ride
• May 6: Asparagus ride
• June 10: Ride around Leerdam/Linge with optional valuation
• July 15: Picnic ride
• July 29: Nationaal Oldtimer Festival
• August 19: Etstoel – Drenthe
• September 23: Zealand
• October 21: Ride through Twente
• November 18: Peace and Victory Ride -Ypres (B)
• December 16: Ride through Friesland from Leeuwarden

• January 15: New Years / Lustrum drinks at Het Plashuis
• February 19: AGM at Berkel Enschot
• March 26: Ride round Hilversum
• April 30: Ride through Hoekse Waard
• May 20-22: Jubilee weekend in Noord-Brabant
• June 25: Scenic Drenthe
• July 23: Picnic ride Zuid-Holland
• August 19: Cross Country BBQ Drive
• September 15-17: Weekend in Durbuy
• October  22: Ride through Mid-Brabant
• November 26: Happy Touring through the Gelderse Vallei
• December 30: Christmas Crib ride in Waasland (near Antwerp)

• February 22:  Annual General Meeting
• March 22:  Dalfsen area
• April 19:  Gouda and beyond
• May 10:  Around Groningen
• June 7:  Surroundings Utrecht
• July 19:  Aalsmeer/Zoetermeer Picnic ride
• August 8 and 9:  GCCC Antwerp Pride
• September 6:  Southern part of province of Zuid-Limburg
• October 11:  Hellevoetsluis/Oostvoorne
• November 22:  Varia in Brabantia – around Oosterhout
• December 27:  Christmas Crib Ride

• February 16: AGM at Audi Centre Breda
• March 9: Opening ride round Breda
• April 6: ‘Dollen tussen de Bollen’ (second time!) from Voorhout. Driving through the bulb fields.
• May 18: ‘Op de hielen met grote en kleine wielen’, Leeuwarden area.
• June 22: Ride round Apeldoorn,  combined with Concours d’Elegance Het Loo on the preceding Saturday
• July 20: Ride round Deventer
• August 10: GCCC at Nationaal Oldtimer Festival
• August 17: Picnic ride
• September 6 until 12: Scotland trip (organised by our members Hans and Emiel)
• September 21: Dordrecht area ride
• October 12: Ride through Zeeland
• November 16: Ride in the surroundings of Roermond
• December 21: Christmas ride in the provinde of Utrecht with an audio-visual talk on Thomas Mann

• February 21: Annual General Meeting
• March 13: Loosdrecht
• April 17: Walcheren, the garden of Zealand
• May 13 – 16: Eurotour (NL)
• June 12: Limburg
• July 17: Picnic Ride
• August 14: Twente and Achterhoek region
• September 4: (Dordrecht) Land van Altena
• October 9: Nijmegen
• November 6: Veluwe
• December 11: Slides show with ride round Utrecht

• February 24: Annual General Meeting (ALV) at Oldtimerland in Amersfoort
• March 17: Shifting Gears along Shifting Sands
• April 21: Tholen ride
• May 26: Asparagus ride in Limburg
• June 23: Ride in Twente around De Lutte
• July 14: Ride in Kennemerland near Haarlem, with museum
• August 18: Picnic ride, The Hague area
• September 6 – 8: GCCC and Queerlenker Steam Weekend! / Unter Dampf! location: Veluwe (North of Arnhem)
  
• September 22: Late Summer Ride in Brabant
• October 13: Groningen area
• November 17: Ride in the province of North Holland
• December 29: Christmas crib ride in Belgian-Dutch border area

The members’ area has the possibility to post links to your personal photo albums. This way you can simply share your photographs with your GCCC-friends. So, log in and place links to your photo collections. Or have a look at the many photo albums which go back to as far as 2003!

You still don’t have admission to the members’ area? Ask for that by sending an email to: info@gccc.nl

• February 25: Annual General Meeting at Volkswagen Museum Wijk en Aalburg
• March 25: Ride in the former barren grounds around Ermelo
• April 22: Ride through the area around Edam
• May 20: Royal Lands and Estates in the province of Utrecht
• June 16: Border Hopping starting at Zundert _View the route and the photos taken by Con, Marchel, Bart and Arnold (in the members’ area)
• July 15: Picnic ride at Gouda and Leidschendam
• August 19: Ride round Hellegat
• September 9: Friesland Ride near Oranjewoud
• October 21: Autumn ride around Posbank, Arnhem area
• November 16 – 18: Jubilee week-end ‘GCCC 20 years’
• December 16: Let’s Go Wilde, presentation by our member Jan with ride in the IJsselstein area

• February 20: Annual general meeting GCCC
• March 13 : Start new season with ride in the Achterhoek area
• April 3: Spring ride in the area around ‘s-Hertogenbosch
• May 29: Alkmaar turns pink
• June 10-13 : GCCC presents Eurotour 2011, in the Belgian Ardennes around Verviers
• July 3: Northern ride a day after Pink Saturday Groningen
• August 14: Summer ride with picnic in Delft and Leidschendam
• September 18: Fryslân ride at Lemmer and Gaasterland
• October 16: Autumn ride around Schoonhoven
• November 20: Ride in the North of the province of Overijssel with British high afternoon tea
• December 28: Christmas Crib ride starting at Putte on the Dutch-Belgian border
  

VERVIERS – GCCC and the core team of the Eurotour 2011 organizers, can look back on a very successful international Whitsun weekend! With over 90 classic cars and 182 participants, this was the largest GCCC event so far. The very luxurious Van der Valk Hotel at Verviers in de Walloon Ardennes formed the base.

Pictures of Eurotour 2011

• Photographs by Con and Koos
• Photographs by Marchel and Paul
• Photographs by Hans

Roadbook

The colourful ‘roadbook’, which contained the routes, was exceptionally well made by Hans. Even in spite of the fact that some parts turned out somewhat unclear due to an unexpected cycle race, it was easy to pick up the route again thanks to this roadbook. This showed its quality!

(meer…)

Right from the start the GCCC has had excellent connections with a number of foreign sister clubs. Good contacts with the French sister club Ledorga, the English GCCG (Gay Classic Car Group), the German club Queerlenker, and the Danish Gay Owned Vintage Cars (GOVC) with whom we have a lot of contact too. These contacts have led to a number of highly successful international events.

These started off in 1993 when an Easter Run was held round Brussels during Easter, followed a few weeks later by the first RIGAC (Rencontre Internationale des Gay Automobile Club) at Le Touquet on the Normandy coast of France. The year after that GCCC organised its first international gathering, with Maarssen as its base. Since then it has become a tradition for each club to take turns in organising such international events, which have become known as “Eurotour”. It was our turn in 2004, when, at Whitsun, we had a gathering of some 160 people in and around Antwerp.

• In 2005 the British club organised one around Southampton, 2006 saw a weekend around Gladbeck and Essen and in 2007 it was our turn again around Emmeloord (in the land reclaimed from the sea), with the motto ”Dutch Lowlands & Highlights”.
• From May 16-18, 2008 we were guests in the British Cotswolds, a special Eurotour organised by the GCCG.
• In 2009 we helped Anders, Lars and Steffan from the Danish GOVC to organise the first Eurotour in Denmark on the Island of Fynen (May 29 – June 1, 2009).
• In 2010 QueerLenker organised Eurotour, from May 21-24 in Neumünster, near habour city Kiel.
• From June 10-13, 2011 the GCCC organised Eurotour in Belgium again, this time in Verviers.
• In 2012  for the first time a Eurotour in Switzerland from Bern took place from May 25-28.
• Eurotour 2013 from May 17-20, 2013 took place in Wiltshire, organised by our sisterclub GCCG in the UK.
• In 2014 Denmpark organised a Eurotour in Lolland and Falster.
• Queerlenker organised the Eurotour in 2015 (May 22 – 25). It was situated in the Pfaltz, the region between Frankfurt and Alsace.
• GCCC was host again in 2016 (May 13 – 16). This time it was the area between Leyden and The Hague, with a visit to the Louwman Museum and a round trip by boat through the Leyden canals.
• June 2-5: Eurotour around Baden (CH)
• May 18-21:Eurotour around Norwich (UK)
• Denmark hosted again in 2019, held in Jutland.
• Covid-19 has ensured that the next Eurotour only took place in 2022. The GCCC was up again and organized a successful weekend around Alkmaar from June 10 to 13, with a prison converted into a luxury hotel as the central location.
• Our British sister club hosted again from 19 to 22 May 2023 in beautiful Yorkshire, a county also known as ‘God’s Own Country’.

If you want to become a member please write to the secretary. The contribution is € 27.50 for members and € 15.00 for partner-members.

• IBAN NL23 INGB 0006 3914 21(The Netherlands)
• BIC: INGBNL2A

You can send an email to: info@gccc.nl

GCCC members and their cars are all extremely diverse. A Citroën SM may be overtaken by an Mini Cooper, followed by, for example, a Citroën DS, Panhard PL17, Peugeot 404, Rolls-Royce Camargue, DAF 55, BMW E30, Alfa Romeo Spider, Ford Mustang, Mercedes-Benz 300, Volkswagen Kever, Morris Minor …..

On purpose we do not set limits to the age of the car. We think it more important for people to feel at home within the GCCC. An interest in classic cars is essential.