On 21 April, a small enclosed truck stops under the Cinquantenaire arch and opens both of its sides. Inside, a matte grey-green Aston Martin Valour. The ramps are laid on the cobbles before the car moves at all. Three days later it is in the hall: Autoworld opens “Aston Martin – Elegance in Motion”, some fifteen cars, from the 1925 Side Valve to the One-77, or the DB2/4 that belonged to King Baudouin.
On 7 July, same esplanade. A Lancia Delta Integrale in Martini stripes comes down the ramps at walking pace, wheels straight. Behind it, a yellow Renault Sport Spider: a roadster with no windscreen, carried enclosed for that precise reason. The next day “Icons of the '90s” opens, more than fifty cars and ten motorcycles, from the Twingo to the Clio Williams.
Those journeys now have a frame: we are among the partners of Autoworld Brussels, since June 2026. In practice, we carry part of the cars of its temporary exhibitions, of its events — opening nights, Cars & Coffee — and of its auctions, from their owner's garage to their place in the museum, and back.
Before the signature
The contract is recent. The road to the Cinquantenaire is not. At the turn of the 2000s, our crews were already craning two pre-1900 cars onto the museum terrace. And long before the contract, one of our semi-trailers already carried Autoworld's logo on its flank, and its motto, “More than a museum”.
The signature puts in writing what the museum was already entrusting to us.
What an exhibition demands
Most of the cars in a temporary exhibition don't belong to the museum. They are lent for a few weeks by collectors, manufacturers, other museums. They set off from different addresses, and every one of them has to be in the museum before the exhibition opens.
An exhibition is therefore built with several trucks, arranged by the loads, the type of cars and what the site allows. They unload in the order of the floor plan: the car that will stand at the back of the hall goes in first. Collections as much as deliveries are set on precise slots — the esplanade is shared, the opening date doesn't move, and the schedule is held to the half-hour.
The moves themselves are the same for a Renault Spider and for a Valour. When the truck can come up to the door, the ramps are laid to the threshold and the car never touches the cobbles. Otherwise it crosses the esplanade at walking pace. Inside, the last few metres are done by hand, engine off: you don't start a pre-war car from cold to cross a museum.
And an exhibition is transported twice. At closing, every car goes back to its owner, and the whole thing is played again in reverse.
“At Autoworld Museum Brussels, we regularly have the privilege of exhibiting exceptional and sometimes unique cars, entrusted to us by prestigious museums, manufacturers and some of the world's leading private collectors,” writes Sébastien de Baere, the museum's general director. “When an owner entrusts us with an important car, we need to have the same level of confidence in the partner responsible for transporting and handling it. […] Knowing that these vehicles are in safe and experienced hands gives us – and our partners – the peace of mind we need.”
What comes next
Autoworld turns forty this year; we will come back to that. On 18 December “75 Years of Ferrari in Belgium – A Love Story” opens, until 28 February: we will be part of it, and we will know how many cars only a few days before the doors open. That is the rule of this trade, not the exception.
A car lent to an exhibition leaves its garage for a few weeks and has to come back intact. That journey, both ways, is what the museum entrusts to us.
Lending a car to an exhibition, or organising one? Our events page describes how we work with organisers, and the photographs of these transports are in the showcase.
Your questions about exhibition transport
Who transports the cars for Autoworld's exhibitions?
e-motion, a partner of the museum since June 2026. We carry cars lent for Autoworld's temporary exhibitions, events and auctions to the Cinquantenaire in Brussels in enclosed trucks, then take them back to their owner when the exhibition closes.
Can a car be transported to an exhibition or a concours?
Yes. We organise the outward and return journey of cars lent to museums, shows and concours events, anywhere in Europe, within the slots imposed by the organisers. The quote states the collection and delivery windows before you agree to it.
How is a lent car insured during transport?
Every transport is covered under CMR terms, with reinsurance up to €850,000 per vehicle and €1,350,000 per transport, from loading to unloading. Those ceilings are confirmed in writing before departure.
