In lieu of a year review thread which I am failing to put together for the second year, here's a rather belated holiday thread I don't think I ever posted either.....
The seed for 2014's holiday destination was planted at Retromobile in 2013 when we came across the Louwman museum stand and picked up a leaflet. 'Hmm, must go there some time' So, as seems to be the norm our family holiday has been arranged around a visit to a car related destination.
Of course, after a bit more digging it was possible to find and fit a few other car related visits in to the schedule. One thing I came across was some sort of meet/show/event at a place called the 'Autotron' on the middle Sunday of our time away. The venue is what was at one stage an important car museum that seems to have folded or been incorporated into the Louwman collection some time ago. The buildings are now used to house events/exhibitions. Unsure as to exactly what we were going to we soon discovered it was basically a bit of an autojumble a bit like the restoration shows at Stoneleigh. So, not the outdoor classic show we were possibly hoping for but there were a large number of interesting cars for sale as well as 'stuff' so worth looking round for a couple of hours. Lots of interest in the car park too and that's where I'll start.
Once inside we ambled around and I did my best to try and grab some pictures despite the bad light and the completely oblivious meanderings of other people. As far as I could tell nearly all of these cars were for sale, either via dealers or privately.
Seemed to be an old boy selling this diesel 404 and trailer tent combo
This was a suprise to see!
Minty Alfa
Wankel Spyder!
This had me feeling my pockets for loose Euronuggets.
Desirable foreign model!
'I went all the way to Holland and all I saw was a crusty old Herald.'
There was a second shed for the two wheel enthusiasts, including a cyclemotor club.
Of the shiny cars I think this is the one I'd have most liked to have taken home.
Back out to the car park, I made a quick solo pass up and down the rows to see what else was hiding while the women folk sat in the car.
This will appear in the 'spotted' section at some point as it overtook us on the way there. But then arrived after we did.
Its funny how when you're abroad British cars seem more interesting. This one wins for not being on minilights and not being plastered with typical tat.
Sports* cars.
Hnnng!
I've not really managed to reduce the number of photos I took and as there's over 80 I won't post them all so you'll probably find a load more 'honey's' if you click on the album link.
s198.photobucket.com/user/sethke/library/Holidays/2014/Holland/AutotronRosmalen
Fortunately in many ways, as this wasn't a massive show, it meant that there was time in the afternoon to wander half an hour down the road to Eindhoven and the DAF museum.....
Onward then in a constantly variable fashion. We weren't intending to go as far south as Eindhoven but the Autotron thingy was most of the way there so it seemed silly not to put a few more miles in and head to the DAF museum. Cleverly* I'd left the map I'd pre-printed of how to get to it back on the campsite so we mostly had to use the Seth_Nav ie, vaguely educated guesswork. Eventually when we stopped so I could 'spot' some parked cars Mrs_Seth got the actual computery device out to discover that we were about 400 yards away and it was at the end of the road I was heading down.
There it is, the other side of that lift bridge.
First thing that smacks you in the face as you enter the lobby is this Barrett Pantry. The roof has a fabric section so that if it fell over on to the door side (there is only one) you could climb out of the roof.
We sort of went the wrong way round, heading downstairs first since there were hands-on things to occupy children down there. This meant that the trucks were dealt with first followed by the cars which were on a mezzanine. The place was more cavernous than I was expecting and, along with almost everything we visited in Holland, was better than I thought it was going to be.
Anyway, commercial vehicles.
We had generally come to the conclusion that if you were arrested in Holland at least the authorites would be polite.
Paris-Dakar lorries.
Seen this once before, in the concours at the Goodwood FoS. Nice to see it at home.
This was undergoing works. It's a coach but one to go behind a separate tractor unit, built soon after the war when it was easier to use spare tractor units than build coaches complete with running gear.
Once upstairs we landed in the area with all the prototypes and oddballs. Perfect! Lots of machines I'd only ever seen in photos.
This miniature tractor/trailer suddenly made loads of sense when later in the holiday we saw what was basically a modern all electric version of this sort of thing driving down the narrow canal-side streets in Amsterdam.
One off commisioned by a wealthy old lady who loved the way her DAF drove but thought it'd be better with four doors.
Town car concept with a single sliding door for the driver's side.
and a pair of pillarless doors for the passenger side.
This was a handy display as it enabled me to work out how you could significantly lower a DAF without the mechanical maladies I had heard such messing about could result in.
A pair of very early cars were at the entry to the production car area.
There was a big line up of the cars through the years, though they changed in fairly small ways once the early curvy roof was changed for a more angular one.
Prototype for a larger 4 door. I find it amazing how they never expanded the range.
A sporty one off.
A Volvo.
So, after all that and a browse in the winkel we sat ourselves down for a drink in the Daffeteria.
A recommended place to visit should you find yourself in the vicinity.
Lots of museums are closed in Holland on Mondays. So it was the second Tuesday of the holiday that found us driving down to Den Haag for a visit to the Louwman Museum. We arrived amidst a torrential downpour but as we we rolling over the cobbles towards the car park Mrs_Seth spotted this sign.
We'll go that way then. Many places we visited charged you for parking. But if you turn up at the Louwman in an old enough car you get to park for free right by the front door. Ace!
It was amusing to later see several museum employees taking a fag break from work and looking at the Hillman in bemusement.
Anyway, Museumkaarts at the ready in we went. (If you ever plan a trip to Holland ask me about the museumkaarts...)
The central lobby area had a display of solar 'race' cars and then a number of cars representing different countries of origin.
China for instance. This was bought new by the museum in 1986 and has 'zero' miles.
I later learnt from the book that this XK120 is unrestored.
In fact the museum pleasingly seems to place very high regard on un-restored vehicles, preserving absolute originality on many vehicles that have been unearthed after years of storage. This is really good to see when contrasted to the shoddy or typically boring restorations normally apparent in museums and provides a much more interesting display, contrasting patinated originals with the more usual shiny stuff. The earliest cars were spotlight in vary dark surroundings behind glass. A bit tricky to photograph but with quite atmospheric results.
Once out of the dark area the displays were mostly chronological but not entirely making for a slightly confused tour. (It was only after reading the book a couple of days later that I found there was some vague logic to the route.) At the end of a hall full of early to vintage era cars there was this group of post war small cars and then you got dumped back in to some veterans.
All around are cabinets for of ianteresting items.
Brill!
Here's a car with a copped disc fitted to the windscreen in front of the driver so that when it rained he could remove it and see though the hole. Ooookaaaaay.
Dynamique!
A recreation of the first boat tail car. When the museum decided to build this they discovered the man who designed the original was still alive and so he was brought in to help.
There was a good group of cycle/tiny cars.
This is an LSD. Which stands for Longbottom, Sykes and Dyson
Rovin is super cool.
As is the Spatz.
Kaiser-Darrin.
Variations on a Ganz theme.
Such style*
There was what felt like half a floor dedicated to artwork, adverts etc.
This looked like it was a safe pastime.
Racing and sports cars.
With the odd one off thrown in.
Urgh!
Ferrari Superfast as ordered by Dutch royalty with a smaller engine. That's a factory wire buck for the 250GTO behind it.
Lalique.
There are unsurprisingly quite a few (Dutch built) Spykers around including this ground breaking four wheel drive car
A Docker Daimler! This was restored around ten years ago using Zebra hides imported from Kenya.
The mental swan car.
That desk was placed next to this. The oldest known Toyada which was unearthed in Russia a few years ago.
Oh my. Gorgeous Voisins!
Then I turned a corner and saw this. It is amazing.
There were a few other cars of that design era but there is something about that Talbot that really gets me.
By this stage we were pretty famished and so I barely glanced at these Bugattis.
So that was that. A really impressive place and one I could definitely go back to and spend way longer looking at all the cars and objects I either rushed past or completely missed. Final view out the window of the shop...
Many many more photos here. s198.photobucket.com/user/sethke/library/Holidays/2014/Holland/LouwmanMuseum
This is the last big push of holiday snaps then. Spots. Lots of them.
Got a cheery wave from this 2CV as it overtook us soon after we'd entered the country.
Next day we went to an open air historical museum to discover a UK registered '50s Caddy in the car park.
And a BMW
Inside the museum we scored our first DAF points.
and an R4
and a van.
Next day we went to Amsterdam for the first time.
At that point I stopped 'spotting' DSs. They're just everywhere in the city. Those and Volvo Amazons became pretty common sights.
This was parked up in the local village close to where I had accidentally found a cool Taunus combi on Google while looking at campsites and planning where to stay.
Got a bemused thumbs up from the young guys in this Kadette.
I blame Mrs_Seth for the quality if this photo of half an Audi.
Nice to see an H van not parked at a tourist site selling hot dogs.
As we were driving back from that national park, through a nearby town Mrs_Seth suddenly shouted 'Volvo' and made me turn around. We had managed to stumble across the premises of a Dutch Volvo specialist.
There were lots of them.
More 164s than I had ever seen in one place.
including this intriguing concoction.
And then a couple of miles further on came across this in the window of a bodyshop. I think it had had a prang on the left front corner as that side was undergoing repair. There were other old things further back but I couldn't really investigate.
Another day in Amsterdam and another 164, from afar.
and another Amazon.
Probably one of the best street spots of the holiday though was this 504 convertible.
I might have mentioned that I had to pop to Germany briefly. This was the destination.
This trailer combo is exceptionally cool.
On the way back was this DS combo returning to Holland.
While looking for the DAF museum in Eindhoven we happened along this rather excellent selection of vehicles.
And then having found the museum parked a couple of streets away close to this Hot Rod version.
As we were leaving I turned a corner and came across a restoration shop so I pulled over and had a nose through the window. An interesting selection of projects.
Dayvan and Fiat combo,
Fiat definitely worthy of another shot.
A couple seen on the way back from the best Park and Ride scheme we've ever experienced (at Utrecht)
When we were driving around Delft looking for somewhere to park I spotted a pay and display area under a railway line and then right next to it was another restoration shop.
Starlet was just in the car park.
When we returned a couple of hours later it transpired that the Merc is actually a well used shop hack!
There were roadworks and closed roads on our intended route out of the town which resulted in us needlessly ending up on a bit of a tour of Rotterdam suburbs. But some old cars made it worthwhile.
Simca was in a mostly empty showroom for a caravan sales centre.
LTD
Back in Amsterdam again, Amazon (on Minilites) MG and XJ6. Saw quite a few old Jags over the two weeks actually.
BLAND
CRUSTY
I liked the look of this building, and the Alfa made the shot.
Morris Oxford* Estate!
This tick the box of interesting because abroad.
A regular driver by the looks of it.
Now that is a good intro to the next muthaload. While I was off swanning it up in Germany Mrs_ and Ickle_ Seth went on a bike ride to the towns near the campsite. And they found this place which we then had to pay a proper visit to. The 'gaffer' was a chap called Erik who spoke some English but not a huge amount and gave us a grand tour. Basically he is the man for big old Opels in Holland and has a show in the neighbouring field each year. He seems to still own every car he's ever bought and restored (going back to the eighties) and they are all on display in the showroom. He's not a concours restorer either, and many of the cars are quite heavily modified in a real 'retro' fashion. Photos were tricky and I didn't want to intrude by getting the big camera out so was restricted to what I could grab with the phone.
I think this was the daily driver of one of the younger chaps working there.
This coupe was simply stunning.
I think this was a customer's car.
First bonnet he lifted in the showroom had a small block Chevy hiding under it.
Many of the cars had been upgraded
One of four factory built Hi performance Combis
Unique in Holland and I think only a couple built, convertible, made I think, by the same coachbuilder who did the 'coupe' Borgward saloons.
This is the interior of the beautiful coupe that was front of the showroom.
Round the back were sheds full of well organised racking covered with Opel bits and spares cars dotted all over the place. Amongst them was this early '50s Olympia that I reckoned was customised in the 80s.
We must have spent nearly an hour there all told. They had a really good look at the Hillman, the young guys never having heard of the make. Was a lovely surprise encounter with like minded old car folk.
Only a few more to go now. This Bus was possibly doing transfers from the local town of Appledorn to the (Royal) Paleis Het Loo.
The royal vehicle collection included these.
The 'AA-' number plates are royal numbers, and echo the AA-98 that is on the Daf Kini beach car.
UGGERS!
This was built as the palace garage but is now a restaurant, the cars being in part of the stable complex.
Final spot from near our campsite... (buy saloon get estate free)
And it was time to head for home.
The seed for 2014's holiday destination was planted at Retromobile in 2013 when we came across the Louwman museum stand and picked up a leaflet. 'Hmm, must go there some time' So, as seems to be the norm our family holiday has been arranged around a visit to a car related destination.
Of course, after a bit more digging it was possible to find and fit a few other car related visits in to the schedule. One thing I came across was some sort of meet/show/event at a place called the 'Autotron' on the middle Sunday of our time away. The venue is what was at one stage an important car museum that seems to have folded or been incorporated into the Louwman collection some time ago. The buildings are now used to house events/exhibitions. Unsure as to exactly what we were going to we soon discovered it was basically a bit of an autojumble a bit like the restoration shows at Stoneleigh. So, not the outdoor classic show we were possibly hoping for but there were a large number of interesting cars for sale as well as 'stuff' so worth looking round for a couple of hours. Lots of interest in the car park too and that's where I'll start.
Once inside we ambled around and I did my best to try and grab some pictures despite the bad light and the completely oblivious meanderings of other people. As far as I could tell nearly all of these cars were for sale, either via dealers or privately.
Seemed to be an old boy selling this diesel 404 and trailer tent combo
This was a suprise to see!
Minty Alfa
Wankel Spyder!
This had me feeling my pockets for loose Euronuggets.
Desirable foreign model!
'I went all the way to Holland and all I saw was a crusty old Herald.'
There was a second shed for the two wheel enthusiasts, including a cyclemotor club.
Of the shiny cars I think this is the one I'd have most liked to have taken home.
Back out to the car park, I made a quick solo pass up and down the rows to see what else was hiding while the women folk sat in the car.
This will appear in the 'spotted' section at some point as it overtook us on the way there. But then arrived after we did.
Its funny how when you're abroad British cars seem more interesting. This one wins for not being on minilights and not being plastered with typical tat.
Sports* cars.
Hnnng!
I've not really managed to reduce the number of photos I took and as there's over 80 I won't post them all so you'll probably find a load more 'honey's' if you click on the album link.
s198.photobucket.com/user/sethke/library/Holidays/2014/Holland/AutotronRosmalen
Fortunately in many ways, as this wasn't a massive show, it meant that there was time in the afternoon to wander half an hour down the road to Eindhoven and the DAF museum.....
Onward then in a constantly variable fashion. We weren't intending to go as far south as Eindhoven but the Autotron thingy was most of the way there so it seemed silly not to put a few more miles in and head to the DAF museum. Cleverly* I'd left the map I'd pre-printed of how to get to it back on the campsite so we mostly had to use the Seth_Nav ie, vaguely educated guesswork. Eventually when we stopped so I could 'spot' some parked cars Mrs_Seth got the actual computery device out to discover that we were about 400 yards away and it was at the end of the road I was heading down.
There it is, the other side of that lift bridge.
First thing that smacks you in the face as you enter the lobby is this Barrett Pantry. The roof has a fabric section so that if it fell over on to the door side (there is only one) you could climb out of the roof.
We sort of went the wrong way round, heading downstairs first since there were hands-on things to occupy children down there. This meant that the trucks were dealt with first followed by the cars which were on a mezzanine. The place was more cavernous than I was expecting and, along with almost everything we visited in Holland, was better than I thought it was going to be.
Anyway, commercial vehicles.
We had generally come to the conclusion that if you were arrested in Holland at least the authorites would be polite.
Paris-Dakar lorries.
Seen this once before, in the concours at the Goodwood FoS. Nice to see it at home.
This was undergoing works. It's a coach but one to go behind a separate tractor unit, built soon after the war when it was easier to use spare tractor units than build coaches complete with running gear.
Once upstairs we landed in the area with all the prototypes and oddballs. Perfect! Lots of machines I'd only ever seen in photos.
This miniature tractor/trailer suddenly made loads of sense when later in the holiday we saw what was basically a modern all electric version of this sort of thing driving down the narrow canal-side streets in Amsterdam.
One off commisioned by a wealthy old lady who loved the way her DAF drove but thought it'd be better with four doors.
Town car concept with a single sliding door for the driver's side.
and a pair of pillarless doors for the passenger side.
This was a handy display as it enabled me to work out how you could significantly lower a DAF without the mechanical maladies I had heard such messing about could result in.
A pair of very early cars were at the entry to the production car area.
There was a big line up of the cars through the years, though they changed in fairly small ways once the early curvy roof was changed for a more angular one.
Prototype for a larger 4 door. I find it amazing how they never expanded the range.
A sporty one off.
A Volvo.
So, after all that and a browse in the winkel we sat ourselves down for a drink in the Daffeteria.
A recommended place to visit should you find yourself in the vicinity.
Lots of museums are closed in Holland on Mondays. So it was the second Tuesday of the holiday that found us driving down to Den Haag for a visit to the Louwman Museum. We arrived amidst a torrential downpour but as we we rolling over the cobbles towards the car park Mrs_Seth spotted this sign.
We'll go that way then. Many places we visited charged you for parking. But if you turn up at the Louwman in an old enough car you get to park for free right by the front door. Ace!
It was amusing to later see several museum employees taking a fag break from work and looking at the Hillman in bemusement.
Anyway, Museumkaarts at the ready in we went. (If you ever plan a trip to Holland ask me about the museumkaarts...)
The central lobby area had a display of solar 'race' cars and then a number of cars representing different countries of origin.
China for instance. This was bought new by the museum in 1986 and has 'zero' miles.
I later learnt from the book that this XK120 is unrestored.
In fact the museum pleasingly seems to place very high regard on un-restored vehicles, preserving absolute originality on many vehicles that have been unearthed after years of storage. This is really good to see when contrasted to the shoddy or typically boring restorations normally apparent in museums and provides a much more interesting display, contrasting patinated originals with the more usual shiny stuff. The earliest cars were spotlight in vary dark surroundings behind glass. A bit tricky to photograph but with quite atmospheric results.
Once out of the dark area the displays were mostly chronological but not entirely making for a slightly confused tour. (It was only after reading the book a couple of days later that I found there was some vague logic to the route.) At the end of a hall full of early to vintage era cars there was this group of post war small cars and then you got dumped back in to some veterans.
All around are cabinets for of ianteresting items.
Brill!
Here's a car with a copped disc fitted to the windscreen in front of the driver so that when it rained he could remove it and see though the hole. Ooookaaaaay.
Dynamique!
A recreation of the first boat tail car. When the museum decided to build this they discovered the man who designed the original was still alive and so he was brought in to help.
There was a good group of cycle/tiny cars.
This is an LSD. Which stands for Longbottom, Sykes and Dyson
Rovin is super cool.
As is the Spatz.
Kaiser-Darrin.
Variations on a Ganz theme.
Such style*
There was what felt like half a floor dedicated to artwork, adverts etc.
This looked like it was a safe pastime.
Racing and sports cars.
With the odd one off thrown in.
Urgh!
Ferrari Superfast as ordered by Dutch royalty with a smaller engine. That's a factory wire buck for the 250GTO behind it.
Lalique.
There are unsurprisingly quite a few (Dutch built) Spykers around including this ground breaking four wheel drive car
A Docker Daimler! This was restored around ten years ago using Zebra hides imported from Kenya.
The mental swan car.
That desk was placed next to this. The oldest known Toyada which was unearthed in Russia a few years ago.
Oh my. Gorgeous Voisins!
Then I turned a corner and saw this. It is amazing.
There were a few other cars of that design era but there is something about that Talbot that really gets me.
By this stage we were pretty famished and so I barely glanced at these Bugattis.
So that was that. A really impressive place and one I could definitely go back to and spend way longer looking at all the cars and objects I either rushed past or completely missed. Final view out the window of the shop...
Many many more photos here. s198.photobucket.com/user/sethke/library/Holidays/2014/Holland/LouwmanMuseum
This is the last big push of holiday snaps then. Spots. Lots of them.
Got a cheery wave from this 2CV as it overtook us soon after we'd entered the country.
Next day we went to an open air historical museum to discover a UK registered '50s Caddy in the car park.
And a BMW
Inside the museum we scored our first DAF points.
and an R4
and a van.
Next day we went to Amsterdam for the first time.
At that point I stopped 'spotting' DSs. They're just everywhere in the city. Those and Volvo Amazons became pretty common sights.
This was parked up in the local village close to where I had accidentally found a cool Taunus combi on Google while looking at campsites and planning where to stay.
Got a bemused thumbs up from the young guys in this Kadette.
I blame Mrs_Seth for the quality if this photo of half an Audi.
Nice to see an H van not parked at a tourist site selling hot dogs.
As we were driving back from that national park, through a nearby town Mrs_Seth suddenly shouted 'Volvo' and made me turn around. We had managed to stumble across the premises of a Dutch Volvo specialist.
There were lots of them.
More 164s than I had ever seen in one place.
including this intriguing concoction.
And then a couple of miles further on came across this in the window of a bodyshop. I think it had had a prang on the left front corner as that side was undergoing repair. There were other old things further back but I couldn't really investigate.
Another day in Amsterdam and another 164, from afar.
and another Amazon.
Probably one of the best street spots of the holiday though was this 504 convertible.
I might have mentioned that I had to pop to Germany briefly. This was the destination.
This trailer combo is exceptionally cool.
On the way back was this DS combo returning to Holland.
While looking for the DAF museum in Eindhoven we happened along this rather excellent selection of vehicles.
And then having found the museum parked a couple of streets away close to this Hot Rod version.
As we were leaving I turned a corner and came across a restoration shop so I pulled over and had a nose through the window. An interesting selection of projects.
Dayvan and Fiat combo,
Fiat definitely worthy of another shot.
A couple seen on the way back from the best Park and Ride scheme we've ever experienced (at Utrecht)
When we were driving around Delft looking for somewhere to park I spotted a pay and display area under a railway line and then right next to it was another restoration shop.
Starlet was just in the car park.
When we returned a couple of hours later it transpired that the Merc is actually a well used shop hack!
There were roadworks and closed roads on our intended route out of the town which resulted in us needlessly ending up on a bit of a tour of Rotterdam suburbs. But some old cars made it worthwhile.
Simca was in a mostly empty showroom for a caravan sales centre.
LTD
Back in Amsterdam again, Amazon (on Minilites) MG and XJ6. Saw quite a few old Jags over the two weeks actually.
BLAND
CRUSTY
I liked the look of this building, and the Alfa made the shot.
Morris Oxford* Estate!
This tick the box of interesting because abroad.
A regular driver by the looks of it.
Now that is a good intro to the next muthaload. While I was off swanning it up in Germany Mrs_ and Ickle_ Seth went on a bike ride to the towns near the campsite. And they found this place which we then had to pay a proper visit to. The 'gaffer' was a chap called Erik who spoke some English but not a huge amount and gave us a grand tour. Basically he is the man for big old Opels in Holland and has a show in the neighbouring field each year. He seems to still own every car he's ever bought and restored (going back to the eighties) and they are all on display in the showroom. He's not a concours restorer either, and many of the cars are quite heavily modified in a real 'retro' fashion. Photos were tricky and I didn't want to intrude by getting the big camera out so was restricted to what I could grab with the phone.
I think this was the daily driver of one of the younger chaps working there.
This coupe was simply stunning.
I think this was a customer's car.
First bonnet he lifted in the showroom had a small block Chevy hiding under it.
Many of the cars had been upgraded
One of four factory built Hi performance Combis
Unique in Holland and I think only a couple built, convertible, made I think, by the same coachbuilder who did the 'coupe' Borgward saloons.
This is the interior of the beautiful coupe that was front of the showroom.
Round the back were sheds full of well organised racking covered with Opel bits and spares cars dotted all over the place. Amongst them was this early '50s Olympia that I reckoned was customised in the 80s.
We must have spent nearly an hour there all told. They had a really good look at the Hillman, the young guys never having heard of the make. Was a lovely surprise encounter with like minded old car folk.
Only a few more to go now. This Bus was possibly doing transfers from the local town of Appledorn to the (Royal) Paleis Het Loo.
The royal vehicle collection included these.
The 'AA-' number plates are royal numbers, and echo the AA-98 that is on the Daf Kini beach car.
UGGERS!
This was built as the palace garage but is now a restaurant, the cars being in part of the stable complex.
Final spot from near our campsite... (buy saloon get estate free)
And it was time to head for home.
