For the first time, the IHF (International Historic Festival) in Panningen (NL) is a FIVA World Event. This unique show will take place in the Netherlands, on the 29th and 30th July 2023: it’s organised by HMT (Historische Motoren en Tractoren vereiniging) in cooperation with FEHAMEC (FEderatie Historische Agrarische MEChanisatie), FEHAC (the Dutch FIVA National Authority) and of course with FIVA and its Utilitarian Commission. It’s a date to note on your agendas because, in addition to a large number of agricultural vehicles, this year there will also be a massive exhibition of historic trucks and buses.
During the event, FIVA sponsored the exhibition of a replica of the oldests steam-powered vehicle, Cugnot’s “Fardier”, probably the first self-propelled vehicle ever, dating back to 1769! To see such a “dinosaur” moving and “breathing” is an experience you won’t easily forget!
This vehicle is a symbol, which brings us in the past like a real time-machine.
The desire for unlimited mobility is as old as the history of mankind. Long before motor vehicles were used to transport goods and food, people had to carry materials for their daily needs. When the wheel was invented, they could finally build carts pulled by animals. Until the start of the Industrial Revolution and the development of modern machinery, that was the way of living.
The use of steam power made possible for the first time to develop new means of transport, independent
of wind and water. Several scientists and designers tried, in the centuries before 1750, to invent vehicles that move under their own power, but the result was never achieved. In 1769, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot was the first to conceive and implement the transformation of linear alternating motion into continuous rotary motion. Being a French military engineer, he first presented a traction engine for transporting cannons, which subsequently became the model for all commercial vehicles: the “Fardier” with a steam engine as the motor.
And this was only the beginning… After the invention of combustion engines at the end of the 19th century, motorised vehicles were soon used by transport and traffic companies, but also in the military field and in agriculture.
Based on a representative selection of tractors, trucks and buses, the exhibition “250 years
of mechanical locomotion” shows the entire history of the development of motor vehicles. It is a show for all the family, including the younger generations.
Today, we take the use of motor vehicles for transport and in agriculture for granted. It is impossible to imagine our roads and fields without them. The IHF in Panningen will be the occasion to take a look back over our shoulders, and remember the magnificent progress of technology over the years.
The FIVA Utilitarian Commission will be present at the event, in a Gazebo on the main square. Its main task and objective is to ensure that the cultural history of the commercial vehicles in particular can still be experienced on the roads of tomorrow – as a mobile museum, so to speak. FEHAC, will patronise an interesting exhibition on the topic of sustainability, with particular attention to the promotion of synthetic and fossil-free e-fuels.