Woman searches for the classic car of her dreams

How does a young (female) car enthusiast manage to get the classic car of her dreams? I will take you along on my search and what happened next.

Nice to meet you, I am Rose Atalante Veenenbos from CRANKHANDLEBLOG, the author of this article. The editors of the Louwman Museum newsletter asked me to put the events of my search down on paper. Maybe a bit unusual for a young woman, but that is exactly what makes my story fun.

If you want to acquire a classic car, you need a well thought out plan even more than you would for a modern car. The following elements are parts of such a plan:

• First figure out for yourself what you are really looking for: prewar or postwar, which make and/or model(s), what type of bodywork (usually open), condition, etc., and above all… what is your budget (a restoration project is often only for bulging wallets)

• What is your goal with your new acquisition? Is there a nice brand club that organizes rides and events, etc.?

• Take plenty of time to orient yourself properly!

• The search itself: look on the internet on sites such as PreWarCar or PostWarClassic, but above all do not forget to ask the brand clubs you have already found what their members are offering for sale, so you avoid having your dream car snapped up right in front of you or ending up with a lemon.

• The purchase – usually a delicate process of haggling and bidding – is a drawn out and sometimes also exhausting affair. Always go and see the car first, preferably in the presence of an expert, and try to avoid showing that you are keen to buy it. Buying at an auction is a different matter; there is always a risk and you pay a high premium (varying widely from 10 to 20 percent of the hammer price). Make sure everything is properly recorded in writing.

• Once the car is at home, the question arises whether any work needs to be done on it. Usually the answer is yes, because the new owner almost always wants to change a few things. And will you do that yourself, or will you have it done?

• One way or another, there will be maintenance on the new acquisition, usually more than you expected, so having a good company nearby is not an unnecessary luxury, if only to keep an eye on things.

With my story, I especially hope to inspire and excite young petrolheads to embark on this adventure, because it is truly fabulous!

Within my family we own beautiful French automobiles from brands that you do not find on every street corner, such as Hispano-Suiza. I wanted to be part of that too! So I decided to pursue my dream and find an automobile that would be far too ambitious for a beginner... my way of doing things. As you may have read earlier, not the right approach... So my adventure did at least start with looking around.

Before long I had formed a picture of what I wanted. Until an acquaintance, a Bugattist (Bugatti enthusiast), gave me an idea. It soon turned out that a real Bugatti, my ultimate dream, or a Hispano-Suiza was still just a bit too far out of reach. He told me about the existence of the 'poor mans Bugatti'. On top of that, others repeatedly pointed out to me the existence of the 'cyclecars', which not only seemed to be great fun to drive but were also fairly affordable. Moreover, many younger enthusiasts also drove this type of car. My own ideal was a French brand that is not very well known and not found on every street corner.

Amilcar CCGS (1926)

I almost forget to explain what a 'poor mans Bugatti' actually is. It is a sporty looking little car that resembles the Bugatti Brescia or the T37, cars you can definitely have fun with. That is still possible today, and that is of course ideal for the younger generation, the starters, who often do not (yet) have the budget for a real Bugatti.

The 'poor mans Bugatti' principle led me fairly quickly to the period before the Second World War. I did consider the period after that as well, since those cars are a bit more flexible in terms of mobility, i.e. you can usually keep up with modern traffic quite well. A pre war little racer like that is something you are more likely to have to take on a trailer, but that way you can also cover longer distances on the way to rallies. After a lot of weighing pros and cons and asking around a lot (make use of your network), a small pre war racer appealed to me the most. With that kind of car you can easily take part in many fun events.

The next step was to look at the market: what is on offer with which brands, and a lively but not too complicated engine (I am still learning to work on the car myself, so no technical showpieces to start with) and within my budget. About that last part: that is something you sometimes should not let guide you too much at first when you see 'the dream car' sitting there.

The type of vintage car I was looking for, a cyclecar or voiturette in technical terms, produced a number of very nice candidate makes from France, four in total. BNC and Rally turned out to be somewhat difficult to find (not to mention spare parts), leaving two makes: Amilcar and Salmson, with Salmson already being a somewhat bigger challenge.

I posted a message with the Dutch Amilcar Cyclecar club and shared my plan with several like minded enthusiasts. The question still remained though whether I was looking for a directly drivable Poor mans Bugatti or for a project. The latter really appealed to me as well, if only for the challenge. After visiting a number of cyclecar owners and a lot of correspondence, I realized that a project seems very charming, but for me it was a bit too ambitious right now. Budget wise I could not do it either, because in most cases a project ends up being more expensive than a ready to go speed machine, unless you are a very seasoned amateur mechanic. And do not forget the time that passes before you can actually drive. Maybe something for later.

Along the way during my search, I found myself getting less and less patient about reeling something in, especially after I got to experience on the Zandvoort circuit just how special these kinds of cars can be. It was also a great opportunity to see different brands and pre-war racers side by side.

After a while I found something out that ultimately led to me now having my own poor mans Bugatti, and not just any example...

More about my adventure in the next edition of this newsletter!

Written by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos