Veluwsche Oldtimer Club

One of my younger colleagues bought a Porsche 911 (996 model) and drove me around in it last Friday. I found this very exciting. It is a beautiful machine that sounds fabulous. After owning my ‘dream car’ in my thirties myself, I went downhill quickly driving an Aygo, an Up, and then an Aygo again, to end up with an old CT200h, the sensible choice (because: hybrid and indestructible).

There is something weird going on with me since I turned 50. It started when I bought the mandatory convertible (a Toyota MR2 in my case) after our return from France. But then I quit alcohol, started walking barefoot around the house, wake up at 6:30 every day and started doing Zen meditation. All this, by the way, with great support and contribution from my wife, without whom I would still be a scared little man driving said CT200h.

I have suppressed my love of cars for a long time because I thought it was stupid and egotistical (to burn fuel for my own enjoyment) and that I should devote my energy to something better. Well, we know how that turned out: I didn’t do much.

Also, I am not very mechanically inclined and I have no room (shed) or tools like other men, and I did not have friends who tinker with vehicles, nor parents or other close family members who worked with their hands. So oil, grease and heavy tools are way out of my comfort zone. Even though theoretically I know how cars work, I don’t understand much of them in practice.

During my forties I drove like an old fart preferring automatic over stick shift. I fooled myself into believing that a car was nothing more than something to get from A to B in.

Now this MR2 I got has good pedal positions for heel-toe technique and so I started to practise shifting and driving properly finally more than 30 years after I got my licence. I even debated getting a racing licence but then reality hit me and I donated the cost of the course I was eyeballing (which I found quite excessive) to charity. Maybe later.

So gradually I am coming out of the closet as a car enthousiast and today marked my first ‘Cars & Coffee’ event. Bas went with me for emotional support (check out his account of the day here). Of course – this is often the case when Bas and I go out photographing – it was raining most of the time. We had fun though talking about stuff (photography, travel, life) and the cars were a great inspiration to both of us.

This Cars & Coffee was held at the Zwitsalterrein in Apeldoorn by the Veluwsche Oldtimer Club. Thanks!

Meanwhile I feel strongly I should write another book even though the first one lives in oblivion. Maybe cars will play a role in it. And coffee.