The Turbo-Rocket: Oldtimerfarm Adventures: A Farm You'd Love To Live In

My fellow readers, lets be honest for a second: farms aren't exactly the most enjoyable, let alone the most fragrant places in the world. They're either quite industrial, especially those ones filled with chickens in every millimeter of the buildings, or traditional and low key. However, if you ever visit Belgium and want to check out a farm to make your jaw drop or even spend a few thousand bucks on some toys, "Oldtimerfarm" is the place for you. Why's that? Oh, nothing much except that the animals are replaced with around 350 CLASSIC cars. This is the car guy equivalent of Garfield going to munch in the food court and deciding to stay there forever and ever, trying out every single car in the lot and feel like Jay Leno for a little bit.

Macho Renault

"Oldtimerfarm" is located around 70 km away from Brussels. But if you're staying in the more southern part of the country, don't fret because Belgium is more or less the size of a toy car mat. So, in probably three hours tops, you're there from the furthest part of the country. The compounds of this antiques megastore is separated in three enormous, interconnected warehouses with a workshop hiding somewhere inside. As we entered the parking lot, there was already a quite uncommon vehicle in sight: a Renault R2087, also known as "The French Unimog", that was used by the French Army. When compared to the civilian equivalent, this baby came with four-wheel-drive, as well as superior ground clearance. It's even equipped with an axe in case you have to cut trees or decapitate someone in the battlefield, zombie-killa style. Probably one of the most robust and capable Renaults ever built.

Room n.1 (a)

When you set foot inside the warehouse though, the atmosphere is a little different. In the entrance, you'll notice a few old Landies, as well as a Belgian rip-off of the same rig, from the company "Minerva". However, if you walk straight ahead, you'll enter a gigantic room, containing around 80-100 cars. Right by the door, there's a Maserati-powered Citroen SM, with a Citroen DS "Chapron" cabriolet sitting next to it. Probably the best thing about a DS cabrio is the ride. I was trying to imagine how it would feel, floating over any imperfection on the road, while resting on probably the most comfortable-looking seats in any automobile...with the wind in your hair. The rest of the room is separated in three main parts. On your right, you'll notice a few Alfas (Guilias, GTVs and a couple Montreals), Mercs (mostly SLs) and Porsches (mostly 993s). In the center double row, they have various English cars, such as Jags (XK120/150), Austin Healeys (3000, 2000 and a Healy based kit car, the "Jamaican"). Finally, on your left, you see quite a few 60's/70's 911s and a few 356s. There's even a Delorean.

Look at how small it is!

One car that really caught my eye was on the left corner of this large room. Next to a vintage sports bike, I think, was an Abarth 1000 Zagato, a very rare jem. It’s a little lower than the motorbike, a testament to how small the car is. The roof has a couple of bubbles for more headroom. The “trunk” *(where the engine is located) also has a gaping bulge. To finish off, in classic Italian style, the 1000 has magnificently flowing and unbroken lines for 50s-60s aerodynamic purposes. This beauty could be yours for only 75k… bargain! A couple of other honorable mentions of awesome cars in the first part are a 600hp, gutted and aggressive Ford Sierra RS Cosworth with a reduced asking price of only 20k (which I think is an awesome price). The second is a 70’s 911 with 935 bodykit and 610hp, turbo flat-six with the tallest functional spoiler/air intake I’ve ever seen on a road car, as well as its incredibly fat rear tires. Moving on!

Art Deco Rides

The second part of this heavenly dungeon included lots of Art Deco American cars, muscle cars, people’s cars (such as a 2CV, a Fiat 500, a VW T1 Bus,..) and European ones preparing for sale. The old US rides were awe inspiring. There were a few woodies, making you reflect upon its probably troublesome maintenance. The dashes and the grilles were always filled with plenty of chrome, in different shapes, sizes and shades. Every single part of these Chevys, Pachards, De Sotos, etc was either metal or glass, but rarely plastic. People sure liked pretty cars in the old times and they got them! From the Euro side, you had a few Fiat 500 wagons, at white/blue VW T1 and even a turbo Merc 190E Cossie. A further away, you’ll see a Martini Delta Integrale, a 911 police car (most expensive cop car ever), a 911 GT2, you get the picture… crazy cars!

The exclusive cars room and Vadim

To finish our little tour of this house of awesomeness, we went to the third and final part of the warehouse. It was the “exclusive” (expensive) car corner of Oldtimerfarm. It stored Ferraris (575, 612, Testarossa,..) in quite a large variety of colours. With the Fezzas next to one another, you have a jaw dropping “palette” of quality paint jobs. Of course, there were a few Lambos (Diablo, Countach, …) and few more supercars that I can recall. Among ALL of these pieces of machinery of extraordinary beauty, right in the center of the room, is a 2CV. However, it’s not any 2CV. It’s a Safari version, which means that, Citroen being Citroen, put TWO engines in it. Instead of a trunk, you have an engine and a fan. It’s super quirky BUT it costs 115k… for a 2CV. How about an Integrale with low miles and a rare shade of blue? Only 110k, sir. How about an E30 M3 Evo? Pfff, forget it!

In conclusion, I have to say that Oldtimerfarm is THE place to go if you visit Belgium. I got to see buttloads of classic cars, take my time to observe them and even check out rare rides for the first time in the flesh. It was an extremely refreshing experience and I highly recommend it!

*A few ways to call the engine compartment when found at the rear of a car. A word similar to "frunk" (front-trunk). Here's a very probable phrase in which this word will be used:

"Hey man! Why don't you pop the...":

"trood" (trunk-hood)

"hunk" (hood-trunk)

"hack" (hood-back)

"hoock" (hood-back)

"bonnack" (bonnet-back)

"babon" (back-bonnet)

"mobabox" (motor-back-box)

"baboxine" (back-box-engine)

"trunkbon" (trunk-bonnet)

"kolaraki" (just a word I invented) ;)