Ghislain Mahy was only 25 when he established himself as a used car dealer in Ghent. He soon turned out to have a good eye for valuable old-timers. On the eve of the Second World War, he bought his first classic car, a Ford T, for 150 Belgian Francs. This laid the foundation for one of the most extensive classic car collections in the world. After the war, he bought the Winter Circus in Ghent and converted it into an ambitious garage. By then his collection had expanded to 35 exclusive cars. Ghislain passed on his love for old cars to his eldest son Ivan, with whom he restored more than 250 old cars over a period of 40 years.
In order to share their passion with the general public, father and son Mahy sought and found an old factory, which they could convert into an automobile museum after a few adjustments. Their collection - which now consisted of more than 1000 cars - was housed here together with an extensive library and opened to the public.
However, today there is still a part of the stock, the "reserve", which has never been shown to the public before. In 2021 this reserve was the subject of an exhibition at the Vinckier site in Ghent. The reserve consists of a number of unique old-timers that have not (yet) been restored and includes the Aston Martin DB2 (1953), with which the young King Baudouin once whirled over his Belgian territory.
In the backyard of a garage I came across this collection of discarded cars and buses, all of which have been converted to be used for weddings. I found, among others, a classic British double-decker bus and two typical American yellow school buses. Furthermore, some old-timers of various brands and make. In addition to the buses, there are also two old London Cabs and an old-timer Peugeot 404.
1973 VW SP2 at the @occ_kuestentrophy. This SP2 is owned by VW (@autostadt) and was driven by a @autozeitung team. 11.123 SP2s were built by Volkswagen do Brasil 1972–1976. [Ad/Werbung, tagging unpaid/unbezahlt] #vwsp2 #volkswagensp2 #sp2 #teilixvw #vwdobrasil #volkswagen #classicvw #vwclassics #vwclassic #volkswagenlove #vwlove #vwporn #vwlife #vintagevw #vwnation #vwscene #classiccar #vintagecar #oldtimer #classicsdaily #classiccaroftheday #rarecar #makeorangegreatagain #oldtimerrallye #occküstentrophy #küstentrophy #kuestentrophy #autostadt (hier: Lübeck) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdvoJAaI0YN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=