Drive on: Meet Belgium's classic car fanatics

For classic car devotees, Belgium is the perfect place: the locals have an affinity for oldtimers, with a passionate sub-culture for collecting, rally driving and tinkering. From Ferraris and Fords to Aston Martins and Alfa Romeos, there are vintage vehicles galore in Belgium. Definitions vary, but a 25-year-old car is usually described as an oldtimer, while a newtimer is usually at least 20 years old. And whether you want to buy, rent or simply admire, they can all be found somewhere.

The local classic car community has a wide network, covering every aspect from rallies to auction houses. The Classic Car Drivers Association (CCDA) offers enthusiasts a calendar of rallies and festivals, as well as clubs, auctions, tips and experts to help out.

Karina Ramaekers from the CCDA identifies three types of classic car enthusiasts: those who want to buy them pristine and drive them; those who like to work on their cars, often buying them when they’re wrecks and then rebuilding; and those who buy as an investment. “We now have more and more young people buying,” she says. “With the cheaper insurance, they buy it for the wallet.”

Belgium’s love affair with the car harks back to the early days of the internal combustion engine more than a century ago, when experimenting mechanics and engineers vied to build prototype machines in their garages. Some developed into successful carmakers: before the war, Minerva and FN were both prestigious brands. And many major foreign carmakers set up production in Belgium, including Renault in Vilvoorde, Ford in Genk, Opel/General Motors in Antwerp, and Volkswagen/Audi in Brussels.

“Our love of old cars has its roots in construction,” says Rameakers, who is herself restoring a rusty Ford 20 M TS OSI Coupé, bought 10 years ago.

Thierry van Kan, president of Febiac, the car and motorbike federation, says Belgians are naturally keen on cars and driving. “We have always liked cars,” he says, pointing to the age-old national habit of being hands-on and fixing things. “There is a classic saying that the Belgian has a brick in his belly, but I have heard it said that it’s rather that the Belgian has a brick in his boot.”

Classic cars in Belgium can use a special number plate – it starts with an 0, for ‘oldtimers’ rather than the usual 1 – and there are about 60,000 of these, which are defined as over 25 years old. There are also many car and motoring clubs, with 450 around the country. And such cars can be valuable. In 2014, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for an auction record $38 million at Bonham’s in California, breaking the previous record held by a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R, sold for $30 million the previous year. “Their value has grown quickly in recent years. The market is there, the demand is there,” van Kan says.

Even if you don’t plan to fork out for any cars, you can still admire them at the many classic car events. Each spring, the ING Ardenne Roads car rally provides additional colour to the winding lanes around Spa, the town that epitomises car racing in Belgium. Under the slogan, ‘Relive the gentlemen drivers tradition in a legendary place’, the rally prides itself on combining sport with conviviality, courtesy and elegance. It welcomes around 15 pre-war sporting models and all cars are restricted to pre-1970. The next edition takes place on 23 and 24 April.

Concours d’Elegance at the Zoute Grand Prix classic car rally in Knokke held every October, says they have an obvious investment value, but warns that there are risks too. “It’s like a painting: you need to know what you’re buying,” he says. “If you have the information, if you know about the painter, you can make the right investment.” Van Kan’s sole vintage car is an old-style VW Beetle, one of the last from the Mexico production line, which cost €5,000 when it was made in 2002 and is now worth €30,000.

From a legal and technical standpoint, there are waivers on certain emission and conformity standards. “When cars are more than thirty years old, they’re not a major problem, simply because there are so few of them,” van Kan says. “From a pragmatic point of view, who is really polluting? We have just 60,000 cars out of six million, running about an average of just 2,500km a year. It’s not significant.”

Having an older vehicle comes with a slew of issues, including problems with rust, failing suspension components, poor engine compression, and ripped interiors. It might mean spending inordinate amounts of time in salvage yards and online searching for genuine parts, and filling your garage with rare spares, just in case. But isn’t that what restoring a car is all about?

And then there are performance issues: would you race a 50-year-old road bicycle or work on a 1985 computer? Even today’s most pedestrian vehicles are far more capable than almost all vintage rides. A 1972 Ferrari 365 does zero to 100km/h in about seven seconds and has a top speed of 220, but is still beaten by a sporty Ford Focus. That’s before you even get into today’s standard comforts like adjustable seats, air-conditioning, electric windows and power steering.

Peeter Henning, CEO of the Belgian federation of classic cars, warns that specialist garages can cost up to €75 an hour to fix classic cars. “We have courses for young people in technical aspects so they can fix vehicles. We need to make sure these skills are kept,” he says.

After enough of a car has been replaced, it’s no longer considered an old vehicle but a replica. A legitimate vintage car will need a chassis number and an engine number – which is also important when assessing whether a given car is genuine. Henning is also director of communications at Fiva, the Brussels-based international federation for classic cars, which sometimes investigates if a particular car is real or fake. “It may take months to come up with the assessment,” he says.

Henning’s personal collection includes a 1955 Opel Kapitän, a 1963 Ford Anglia (as featured in the Harry Potter movies), a 1966 Ford Taunus, a 1973 VW Beetle and a 1974 Mercedes. But housing this enviable group is a challenge in itself. “The most difficult thing for a collection is where to keep them.”

This article first appeared in ING Expat Time.