Many think Daimler's smallest car is pretty Smart — and each year they celebrate

Think you have a lot of smarts? None of us can top the Smart Times 2016 event that was held this past weekend in Hamburg, Germany to celebrate everything to do with vehicles produced by Smart. The annual event topped all previous records, making it the “smartest yet,” according to Daimler.

The Smart Times gathering started in 2001. Each year a different city in Europe hosts the two-day celebration. This year’s 16th annual event was held in Germany for the first time, which by itself is interesting because that’s where the cars are manufactured.

In all 3,167 Smart owners and their cars gathered in Hamburg. They were joined by thousands of friends and family, fans, and enthusiasts. Probably there were also many others who wondered what was going on with all these tiny cars — many of which were highly customized and carried waving flags.

During the festivities, Germany’s Olympic Gold Medal beach volleyball team, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, were on hand for plenty of photo ops and to join in the fun. The festival was held in a large paved space usually used for a wholesale market. In addition to loads of Smart cars, there was music, food, a Smart flea market, and a test track.

Smart cars of all types, colors, stripes, and even polka dots were on hand. Among the custom Smarts were a high-top Smart, a police (Polizei) Smart, an off-road Smart, and “Pearly Girly” whose owner’s outfit matched the car’s paint job.

The culmination of the weekend event is the closing parade. Two years ago in Cascais, Portugal the previous record was set at 1,427 Smart cars in the parade. The Hamburg parade shattered the old record, with a total of 1,635 Smart cars.

Next year’s event, Smart Times 2017, will be held in Salou, Spain, where attendees will have a chance to beat the Hamburg record.