Life with all those great events doesn’t get boring! Last weekend we had again a nice tour with friends of the BCN (Bugatti Club Netherlands). My dad and I drove some 105 km to the location in North-Holland with the 1950 135MS Delahaye Chapron cabriolet.

A very nice man, the owner of the Silverstone party center at Halfweg near Amsterdam, organized this event which included two local tours. Everything was very relaxed and quite a few cars turned up, such as modern supercars like Aston Martin, but also many Lotus/Caterham/Donkervoort…, MG, Alvis, Cobra replicas, Ford Mustang, etc. For us there wasn’t enough time, but in the Silverstone center there were plenty of entertaining activities to do, such as laser gaming, karting, bungee football and bowling. 

Our friends of the BCN live almost next door, so we were happy to visit them and see their large workshop and many great cars! Already by seeing their home, you can tell that Yvonne and Ab van Egmond (and also their huge dog Joep) live and breath classic cars! Of course we didn’t leave before having seen the entire place, which was very impressive! Whatever you like, Bugattis, an 1960s Lotus GP racer of our Lotus friend, many Alvis, Bentley, and the list goes on! Not to forget all the tooling which looks great too! Yvonnes’ daily transport is great as well, a Moris Minor Traveller (the woody), to accommodate Joep. At their place you never have to be bored thanks to a huge library of books, of course all vintage and classic car books! After some chilling and watching the start of the GP on the Krim, we decided to do the tour to the port locks in IJmuiden. This time Yvonne was our Denis Jenkinson, time to get to know North-Holland! 

A nice thing about our 135MS is that there is enough space for three on the wide front seats! Usually the tours we make with the BCN are in beautiful nature, but this tour brought us thru the industrial and port area! Not all of you might agree with my opinion, but I love industrial areas! Especially if they are a bit spooky and neglected… it really looks like art! While touring we passed a HUGE (about 200 m long and 20 m high) torpedo boat bunker, built during WW2 and we saw TATA’s GREAT looking steel industry on the other side of the Noordzee-canal! When you are in IJmuiden you do need to take a moment to have a bite of fish, which can’t be any fresher than they serve there.

After our tour it was time to chat some more, something petrolheads can do for hours and hours! Always great to meet new people, all with the same interest! It was a LOVELY, especially the end when we arrived at the Europoort (my most beautiful piece of Holland). From there my dad let me drive home, which was the first time I drove the 135MS! Again a FANTASTIC experience, which I enjoyed so much! To be honest, the black beauty Delahaye is my favorite, it drives so SMOOTH! With this car you can easily drive all the way to France. The Cotal gearbox is a gem I must say, very relaxed to shift gears. 

I really enjoy this petrolhead world a lot and hopefully there will be a many more nice events to visit soon! Any suggestions?… always glad to hear! And don’t forget to get your own car of out of its stables as much as possible! They are made to drive, not to sleep, unless you are trying to create a barn find… ; )

Written by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos