Classic Cars in Dubai and the UAE

Classic car events and clubs in Dubai

The calendar is anchored by two big shows and a handful of smaller meets. Icons of Porsche returns to Dubai Design District for its sixth edition on 21 and 22 November 2026, and the 50-plus Porsche clubs that attended in 2025 give a sense of how organised the owner community already is. The Gulf Car Festival gives classics their own day inside a three-day show, the easiest place to see a wide cross-section of what is on UAE roads.

One entry needs a caveat: the Gulf Concours, held on the Burj Al Arab's private lawns, has documented editions only from around 2016 and 2017. We could not confirm it still runs annually: check current status before planning around it.

Where Dubai collectors buy and sell classic cars

There are four channels, and each suits a different kind of car and seller.

• Showrooms. Alserkal Avenue in Al Quoz has grown into a cluster of classic car showrooms and restoration workshops. Nostalgia Classic Cars, founded in 2016, runs a 10,000 sq ft showroom there, and Tomini Classics, grown out of a 2010 private collection, lists over 100 post-war sportscars. Neither is a partner of ours; both show what the local trade looks like.
• Auctions. Bonhams has run Dubai sales since 2010 and held an Abu Dhabi sale at Yas Marina Circuit during the 2023 Formula 1 weekend. Collecting Cars opened a Dubai office in December 2024 having already sold 107 Middle East vehicles, some up to $387,000.
• Public classifieds. Listing sites such as dubizzle carry classic cars too, with the usual trade-off: reach, but no verification and a public price history.
• Private sales. Cars that change hands between collectors without a listing. That is the channel we work in, covered on classic cars for sale in Dubai and the UAE, with a separate page for classic Mercedes in Dubai.

Classic plates and imports, in brief

RTA registers a car as a classic in Dubai once it is over 30 years old and passes a technical test, and that same rule is what lets an older car be imported at all. What the plate means for owners, from insurance to usage terms, is in our guide to classic car plates in Dubai. Shipping, the 5% duty plus 5% VAT and first registration are handled on importing a classic car to the UAE.

What Dubai and Abu Dhabi collectors are chasing

The Ferrari Testarossa has real, named local supply: Tomini Classics and Nostalgia Classic Cars both carry Testarossa and 512TR stock, part of a wider Gulf taste for 80s and 90s nostalgia.

The Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 has a genuine, documented UAE presence: unmodified cars retrofitted with catalytic converters can go street legal, and many owners convert to left-hand drive, since the R34 is still under the 30-year classic line.

Air-cooled Porsche 911s, the 964 and later 993, are a described Gulf favorite for long-term value, cited at 5 to 8% a year; our 2026 investment trends guide puts that figure next to Hagerty's own data. Classic Mercedes, from the Pagoda SL to the early G-Wagen, and left-hand-drive American muscle cars round out the requests. The Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser sells on culture rather than data: real desert and off-road cachet regionally, even without FJ40-specific UAE demand figures.