Can you remember my request on CHB a while ago for period cars for that war movie about Mr. Riphagen? Well, after a serious request from my sister, who is casting director for this movie, my dad and our Delahaye 135M with Henri Chapron coachwork, accepted a role in that thrilling movie! The other period cars were supplied by Jan Wijnakker. He owns a host of classic cars of all kinds of marques and models, including a Delahaye 148L with coachwork by Pennock of The Hague! 

Jan’s ‘actor car’ in this scene was a Peugeot 201, but once the movie appears in the cinema next year you will see many more of his cars on the screen. An interesting subject to report about some time, because he rents his cars for film sets, which is good business with a vehicle park of more than 150 cars!

To start at the beginning, of course we drove by road (about 150 km) the night before to the location of the set with some typical Dutch crappy weather! Below you see the Europoort by night, which I used to call New York when I was a little girl… When arrived at the Veluwe, we parked our Delahaye and went to the bar, which was badly needed that after such a wet drive… My sister and the rest of the crew were already having a lot of fun as we had a bowling at our disposal. Never bowled before, but I seemed to have some talent : P The film crew was a fun crowd and very relaxed! After wandering thru spooky woods I found my hotel room/office for that night. Next day after a short night, time for the recordings!

First the Delahaye movie star went to the makeup ladies and so did my dad. My dad, as you can see, wore a vintage suit and put on quite a serious look! : ) It almost scared me, so seriously he looked! The Delahaye received some facial makeup to bring it into a wartime mood. The number plates were changed for a set from the late 1930s period. Also the headlights and spotlights were taped, leaving just a tiny horizontal slot, as was common during the war in order not to be visible from planes flying over, but still to be seen by oncoming traffic (there wasn’t much of course). Expert and detailist/perfectionist CHB reader Hugo Modderman immediately spotted the missing tiny cap above the horizontal slot, a correct small point of critique! I myself didn’t even know about such things, so I learned about a few details from that period too. Below as you can see the Delahaye had to take a beauty nap before recordings, real star allures already… ; )

Of course the script and the actors of this movie are to remain SECRET, but on May 5th next year, national Liberation Day, you are very welcome in the Dutch cinemas to com and see this thrilling war movie with our FANTASTIC Delahaye moviestar! It was highly interesting to see how a movie is made and how much work it takes to get everything right. The Veluwe is an imposing scenery but like with trials racing, you can’t avoid your car getting dirty! The forester, who brought us to the remote moor location, taught us that wild boars are the most dangerous of all of Dutch wildlife ; ) They might look cute, but if they come and get you, their tusks are as sharp as knives! So watch out for those wild boars if you ever enter a Dutch nature park! Talking about dangers, we also had to be nice to some of the actors who walked around with scary vintage machine guns! The weather was just right that day for the scenes, giving a bit of a sad war atmosphere…

After the first recordings we were done and went to the next set, a vintage train station with a collection of several of those huge old steam trains! But first the hungry crew and the newly arrived dummy actors were all well fed with a delicious lunch, prepared by the standard rolling catering kitchen, which did a great job! They start as the first and end as the last, so a big compliment to them.

While having lunch we were surrounded by a lot of people in 1940s look. It really felt like we went back 70 years in time… incredible! Elegant ladies, small street bruised boys and tuff looking men and of course that magnificent place, the train station! This was a place my dad already knew, having been there before with the Bugatti Club Netherlands on one of their rallies. It is VERY impressive to walk between and to enter those huge steam trains! I took a look inside the engine-driver’s cabin, something you can only see in movies these days! So next to vintage cars, I now see that there are more impressive vintage things! If you ever come near the centre of the Netherlands, go to that station and see some Dutch wildlife and steam trains on the Veluwe ; )

This may not have been the last time I got involved with the making of a movie, as my sister Laura Veenenbos is a casting director! She has an interest for classic cars too, so together we can do some nice things! Laura, I am proud of you doing all this GREAT work! : )

Written by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos