There has always been a certain Sehnsucht between German precision and Italian flair — a cultural current that flows as naturally as the traffic over the Brenner Pass each summer. When the Bavarian engineer meets the Milanese designer, something rare happens: cars become more than machines. Think of the timeless silhouettes born from this dialogue — BMWs and Mercedes styled by Pininfarina and Italdesign, Porsche’s collaborations with Italian artisans, or the discreet Italian touch in countless German prototypes. Meanwhile, the story of the Italian Gastarbeiter in Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, or Munich adds another layer — men who brought pasta, music, and an untranslatable sense of warmth to the factory floor, leaving traces of Italy in the very heartbeat of German industry.
On the long drive south, the ritual continued. Germans have always chased the Mediterranean light, their coupés and cabriolets humming across the Alps toward Lago di Garda or the Tyrrhenian coast. Along the Autostrada del Sole, at a gleaming Autogrill suspended over the motorway, the worlds meet once more: a Porsche 911 from Munich parked next to an Alfa Romeo from Milan, both owners sipping the world's best espressos beneath Formica and chrome. Here, between coffee cups and petrol fumes, Italo-German friendship finds its truest form — a shared love for motion, design, and the promise of the open road.
Celebrated as “one of the world’s best cars & coffee events” by the influential Instagram channel Type 7, Marks & Cars is an annual event that brings together design, craftsmanship, and community in a uniquely Munich atmosphere. Classic Driver has supported the gathering from the start as co-curator and media partner. The last three editions of Marks & Cars were embraced enthusiastically by Munich’s collector car scene and attracted some of the most influential entrepreneurs, designers, and content creators from the contemporary car scene. In 2025, even Hollywood star Orlando Bloom made a surprise visit to talk cars and take in the display of racing machines.
For its 4th edition, Marks & Cars 2026 transformed Marks Feinkost into Bar Stazione Bavaria – a stylish stopover for collectors and enthusiasts from across Europe. Again, some of the wildest and rarest German and Italian automobiles casually parked on the streets around Kufsteiner Platz. Our friends from Audi brought two of their most recent dream machines — both with rather Italian names — to our cars & coffee event: the recreated Auto Union Lucca speed-record prototype, which we experienced earlier this year in Tuscany, and the new Audi Nuvolari, which leads the brand's design transformation towards rationalism and visual clarity.
BMW celebrated its Italian connections with a Giugiaro-designed M1 from the garage of BMW M founder Jochen Neerpasch, the strictly limited Speedtop shooting brake that was revealed at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in May 2025, Carrozzeria Superleggera’s 2014 vision of an Italian Mini roadster, and a yellow 507 Roadster bringing a touch of La Dolce Vita into the heart of Munich. Meanwhile, Mercedes claimed the left lane of the Autostrada with the new AMG GT and the legendary C111, a wedge-shaped, gullwinged aerodynamic prototype penned by Italian-German design master Bruno Sacco that added a splash of Mediterranean flamboyance to Sindelfingen's 1970s portfolio.
Porsche explored its Italian roots with the 356 Carrera GTL Abarth designed by Franco Scaglione. Carlo Abarth had once been married to Anton Piëch’s secretary, while Piëch himself was married to Ferdinand Porsche’s daughter. So the Italian racing specialist was an obvious candidate to make the Porsche 356 even lighter. At Marks & Cars, the Italo-Swabian collaboration was joined by a one-off four-door Porsche 928 concept car that never went into production — but would have been the ultimate family shuttle for a quick weekend shopping and dining trip from Munich to 1980s Milan. It was joined by a new Cayenne towing the Frauscher x Porsche 790 Spectre sports boat, ready to hit the road across the Alps towards Lago di Garda and the Mediterranean coast.
And naturally, that wasn't all. Leading the charge from Autobahn to Autostrada was a Villa d’Este "Best of Show"-winning Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3 Grand Prix racer from the Scuderia Ferrari stables, backed by a Ferrari F40 and Ferrari SP3, a divine brown-and-gold Lamborghini Miura SV (imagine this rolling up at the Autogrill in 1968), and a spectacular Rosso Targa over Fuchsia and Vinaccia leather Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster owned by German rapper and music producer Shindy.
Our pals from Floyd had joined our Italian road trip with a race-ready De Tomaso Pantera, and Aloisa Ruf joined the pack with a Yellowbird that, even when standing in front of Marks Feinkost, begged to be driven flat-out all the way to Palermo in one glorious drive — with our rather elegant fleet of Italian and German police cars hot on their heels.
Most of our guests, some clad in Lederhosen and Dirndls due to commitments at Oktoberfest, came for the cars — but stayed for the people. Cornelius Dornier and Kaspar Triller, the founders of Marks Feinkost, have turned their delicatessen store in Munich-Bogenhausen into a hotspot for the local car community, and naturally many of the visitors were linked to the automobile by both profession and passion. Even the weather graced our little cars & coffee gathering with Italian sunshine. After all, Monaco di Baviera claims to be the northernmost city of Italy — during Marks & Cars this was actually true.
