[Jeroen]

Those forum members that have come to know me in the last four years know I have a particular interest in Classic Cars. I have (co)-owned quite a few of them, still own several that are in storage in my home country the Netherlands.

As part of my hobby/interest, I visit classic car exhibitions and museums all over the world, wherever I find myself. Recently I spend a few days back in the Netherlands. In one of my British Classic Car magazines I had noticed an advertisement of a Dutch company, ER Classic Cars, in Waalwijk. The ad claimed they stocked at least 250 classic cars in very good condition all ready to be bought and used.

Now the concept of fairly large outfits dealing exclusively in classic cars is not new. In 2012 I wrote about The Gallery, Brummen in this thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/beyond...car-mecca.html

This sounded similar, so I decided to visit them.

Waalwijk is in the South of the Netherlands, not too far from the Belgium border. I know it pretty well, as we lived in that area for 6-7 years in the late 80s.

They have indeed at least 250 cars as you will see from my pictures. Lets have a bit of a closer look:

It’s a big showroom with lots of glass windows around it. Which is great. But this was on a late February winter day with a low sun. Meaning endless reflections. With only a camera and a polariser filter not much I can do about all the reflections, still I hope you get a good impression.

So here is the company poster with two classics in front of it



There were several Jaguar E-types. All sort of in the 80-100k Euro price range. The E-type is a true iconic car. Enzo Ferrari called it "The most beautiful car ever made”.





Also several Mercedes Pagoda’s. Various models, manual and autobox, different engines, 250-280 etc. Prices in the range of 50-75k Euro.

I am a huge fan on this Mercedes. I am actually seriously considering buying one if I ever get back to the Netherlands on a more permanent basis. I love the lines of this car and it is still a properly engineered old school MB. One of the first that used fuel injection systems. Very reliable, so I’m told.







My very first car was a beat up Volkswagen Beetle. I bought it of a friend of a friend for 50 guilders. This was in 1977, so long before the Euro. To put 50 guilders in context. I did a paper round, 6 times a week to earn some money. I earned 25 guilders per week. So my first car cost two weeks of paper rounds, or to put it differently, it was very, very, very cheap and it was very very very very rotten, although the engine was sound. They had several Beetles and also some very nice Karmann Ghia’s.

You will see several Beetles in the pictures, but this close up of the steering wheel should be very recognisable for all VW owners from the 60s



As you will see there are several Ferrari’s. Some will argue that the Dino isn’t a proper Ferrari. Even so, I still think it is one of the prettiest Ferrari’s around. All these cars cost serious money, all well over 100k Euro. To think I could have picked up a perfect Dino 15 years ago for about 30K Guilders! I’m in the wrong business!





Now here is quite a rare car. An AutoUnion, this would later become Audi. This is a pretty rare car, the soft top version too.



Here a nice line up of several cars, An MGA, MB Pagoda, Porsche 911, Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto and more



A Porsche 356, 1960, it’s yours for a mere 80k Euro. These Porsches, in fact all Porsches, prices are sky rocketing. Even on brand new ones, prices are going up because of long delivery times



Here you see the rear end of another gorgeous Mercedes Benz, the 190 SL. About 95 Euro, which isn’t that much.



I’m sure some members will start to drool over this one: BMW 2800 CS, 1970. At the time on introduction a very fast motor indeed and even today it ain’t no slough either.

I’m not a fan at all of modern BMWs for various reasons, but they have made some great cars in the past and this is one of them.



the next one is quite special and rare too. See who recognises it?



Number of Austin Healey’s about. Some in the 45-75k Euro price range. Note the Mercedes 190SL from a different angle.



Here some of the earlier mentioned cars from above. The Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto was priced at 45k Euro which I thought was on the high side. Especially as this car was nice, but not in particular good nick.



Some more cars we’ve seen before and a very nice shot of the Mercedes 190SL.



For most Dutch men of my age the below Porsche has very special memories. When I grew up, the Dutch Highway Patrol powered around on the Dutch motorways in these open Porsches. This was in the days before the speed limits of 100-130 km/h. Every little boy at some point wanted to be a cop driving this Porsch. It was the coolest job on the planet, no mistake! These policemen commanded great respect from the Dutch public. They were known for being fair, no nonsense and they would only write you up if you really misbehaved. And of course, in their Porsches they could outdrive just about any car on the road.



Another special and rare car. I don’t think much of the colour, but other than that this is a Peugeot 504 Coupe. An original Pininfarina design. Very smart looking car. Simple two litre engine. Typical French ride comfort.



Upstairs they have dozens more cars stashed away. This is also where they put all the cars that are sold, before they are being prepared to be handed over to the new owner.



Several VW busses. These things were immensely popular in the 70s with the hippie crowd. That lot grew up, sold them, got married got kids and when the mid life crisis hit they bought their VW busses back again. These things can fetch upwards of 50k Euro. They are a pain to drive, all over the road, don’t even think about driving across a bridge with a lot of cross wind.



Finally, no introduction necessary, Doc’s car




Here is the link to the ER Classic Website. http://www.erclassics.com
It’s all in English or three other language if you like. Interestingly enough if you access the site from India all the prices will automatically show in INR!

At first glance all the cars look nice, they are all well prepared, cleaned and polished. The prices seem reasonable, but also reflect that these are likely to be good cars, but not necessarily great cars. Close up I spotted lots of problems with the paintwork, the chrome, play on steering wheels etc. etc. etc.

But when I get serious about my Pagode I will definitely have a look here too.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

As I drove up to ER Classic Cars I noticed a sign on a building a little bit further away. It said Lex Classics. So after I finished my tour of ER Classic Cars, I drove around the estate trying to find Lex Classics. Sure enough another classic car shop! See http://www.lexclassics.nl/en/

It’s a much smaller outfit than ER Classic Cars. They had maybe 30-40 cars at best. But I would say, in general, better cars, more upmarket. The ambiance of their showroom was much better with lots of authentic vintage props, books, brochures etc. ER Classic Cars as the pictures show is a bit more clean and modern, no fuss business like showroom.

I liked the ambiance of Lex Classics. And the staff was by far more knowledgeable.

The pictures speak for themselves I hope:

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Classic Car Section. Thanks for sharing!

[agspins]

That Bug like thing is Austrian Steyr 50, pretty rare car.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by agspins

That Bug like thing is Austrian Steyr 50, pretty rare car.

Spot on. They still make huge tractors!
Jeroen

[vivee90]

Hello Jeroen,
Thank you for the nice pictures and the info. I now have one more place to visit (if they allow just as a visitor!) in the Netherlands. I never was seriously into classic cars until I started seeing them in person and reading the history about them. Also, I think being in Netherlands helps a bit in being exposed to these machines and people with personal memory more than I used to in India.

I visited the louwman museum recently and was blown away. (http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl) The beauty of the museum is their website also lists all models and the history about them in their website.

Some pictures from the visit,

Oldest of the motorised buses from early days(Daimler- 1904) with chain drive. And the Rolls Royce(1954 Silver Wraith) apparently has a toilet seat in the rear.

And the Mercedes(1926) was the most majestic of all cars I have seen.

[Mtv]

Great pictures Jeroen!

Which Alfa is that in you second to last picture? It's so pretty, I was taken aback.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Mtv

Great pictures Jeroen!

Which Alfa is that in you second to last picture? It's so pretty, I was taken aback.

Thanks. Its a 1964 Alfa Romeo Gulia SS. Not cheap 175.000 Euro!

[theMAG]

Excellent thread! I see that there is a very good collection of classic GT cars, and some partciularly wicked Alfas. Did they have any of the Ferrari big hitters -the 250 GT California or the 250 LM?

I would give my right arm to have such a museum close to New York; the closest current match is a Ferrari/Maserati dealership : the irony speaks for itself!

[shankar.balan]

Lovely pictures. Thanks a lot for sharing these.

I ve been lazy but one day soon I will create a thread to share some of the pictures of classic automobiles and other machinery, which I took on a recent visit to Istanbul at the rahmi koç müzesi

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Excellent thread! I see that there is a very good collection of classic GT cars, and some partciularly wicked Alfas. Did they have any of the Ferrari big hitters -the 250 GT California or the 250 LM?

I would give my right arm to have such a museum close to New York; the closest current match is a Ferrari/Maserati dealership : the irony speaks for itself!

No, no such Ferrari's. To be honest they would be in a class of their own, as these days they fetch million of Euro's. By the way, it is not a museum. Essentially its just a second hand car shop. Every single car is for sale! Plenty of people who will visit this place as if it was a museum, but its a pure commercial enterprise that buys, restores and sells vintage cars.

There are several of these places in NY, e.g.

http://www.cooperclassiccars.com



Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by vivee90

I visited the louwman museum recently and was blown away. (http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl) The beauty of the museum is their website also lists all models and the history about them in their website.
.

Thanks. The Louwman museum is very nice indeed, one of the best car musea in Europe. It’s only a 15 minutes ride from where our home in the Netherlands is. I visited it not too long ago, see:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/beyond...therlands.html

Jeroen