Especially a lot of Mercedes
Especially after the discovery of the Palmen collection in Dordrecht, the concept of ‘barn find’ has become a hype. Now another barn find has been made in South Africa. And what kind!
An unexpected treasure recently surfaced in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, when a large warehouse was discovered on Coetzer family land. Their father, Louis Coetzer, reportedly had the largest collection of classic cars in all of South Africa, but everyone thought the entire collection had already been sold. Louis and Hermien Coetzer died in a car accident in early 2020 and their children decided to auction the collection of 240 vehicles that same year. But it now appears that Coetzer had collected many more cars.
In South Africa he was still a household name in the classic car world, because in addition to an enormous car collection, Louis Coetzer had enormous knowledge, which he was happy to share. He was a popular guest at classic events in South Africa and was nicknamed ‘Uncle Louis’. His collecting passion started when he was still in primary school and collected Dinky Toys. But as soon as he could, he shifted his interest to real cars. The emphasis in his collection was on Mercedes-Benz, of which he had hundreds of copies. This included a 1951 Mercedes pick-up ‘bakkie’ and the 300 SE sedan of the well-known South African minister Pik Botha. His favorite was a 1968 Mercedes 280 SE Cabriolet.
Three tennis courts
The sheds were found when the family wanted to sell part of their parents’ extensive land holdings. For years these warehouses were unknown, with the result that all cars are covered with a thick layer of dust. In an article in South African news media, Joff van Reenen, auctioneer at the Creative Rides auction house, calls the sight of all those cars “Surrealistic and astonishing. It was a dark hall, the size of three tennis courts, and in it the cars were lined up, like an army ready to attack.” They must have been here for decades. These include models of all kinds, but what is remarkable is the large number of Mercedes from the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to the more than two hundred cars, all kinds of parts have also been found in the warehouses. The entire collection will go under the hammer online between March 25 and April 3. You can find more about this at creativeridesauctions.com.
Photos: Creative Rides
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl