From the estate of my father

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I never expected to find anything PreWarCar.com-related among my father's belongings after he passed away last year. He was a man of many interests, although his work as a pastry chef and the owner of a meticulously run shop always came first. Fine dining, 1970s pop music, gardening, post-war cars and photography were among his other passions. Over the years he had filled box after box with colour slides, many of which had not been looked at for decades. The task of sorting and scanning them fell to my brother. And that was when these turned up.

A little research revealed that the photographs were taken during a rally organised by the Dutch P.A.C. (Pionier Automobielen Club) on 25 August 1973. My father cannot have owned his new camera for very long, as my older sister had only recently been born and, as we know, she had quickly become his favourite subject on which to practise his photographic skills.

These veteran cars must have provided an equally tempting opportunity to experiment with shutter speeds and aperture settings. The photographs were taken in the car park of the Huis ter Duin Hotel in his hometown of Noordwijk in the Netherlands. You may recognise it as the start and finish of the Tulip Rallye, but the grand hotel has long played host to motoring events of every description.

So, what do we see? A Belsize, De Dion-Bouton, Delage, Studebaker, Morris and two blue Bugattis. There is also an imposing Brasier, together with a Lagonda and an Austin Seven on British registration plates, plus a Charron sporting both a delightful cat radiator mascot and, seemingly, an additional Bibendum. These photographs may well provide a fascinating record for anyone involved with brass-era cars in those carefree early 1970s. They also raise the question: how many of these cars are still in the Netherlands today?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Photography: Pieter Booij

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