BMW 3 Series Sedan 320i E90
Petrol, Sedan, 4 Doors, Manual 6 spee...
» More Info

	» Print Window
BMW 3 SERIES SEDAN Petrol, Sedan, 4 Doors, Manual 6 speed, Inc VAT Price: R 149999 Contact: Vehicle Connection 011 622-6266

Hyundai Tucson 2.7 V6.

» More Info

	» Print Window
HYUNDAI TUCSON Price: R 149995 Contact: McCarthy Call a Car Direct - Gezina 012 404 0680

Not your dream car? Click here for more deals.

Today, 07 November 2009

› Malema’s life in danger

› Leicester sting Bok Bs

› Eskom chair faces the axe

› Nedbank, ANCYL make up

› Hofmeyr addresses Joost

Yesterday, 06 November 2009

› ANCYL, BMF back Maroga

› Vanilla Ice, ice baby?

› Eskom boss 'slaughtered'

› I have fallen hard - Joost

› Eskom boss 'pushed'

"Eighty percent of the cars you will see here today would have been out of the country if we had not bought them," a pristinely dressed Johan Rupert points out half an hour before Sunday’s big moment. We're standing outside one of the still-locked barns in the bright, late morning Boland sunshine and just now Rupert will officially open his brand new Franschhoek Motor Museum.

"So many priceless cars have been lost to the country — when classic car prices hit the roof twenty years ago, the money was just too good and we saw literally hundreds of special cars that were so important to the country shipped out for big prices.

"Still today we're seeing cars disappearing all the time. We have to stop that at any cost — we cannot afford to lose any more of South Africa's motoring heritage. I would rather we bought them and kept them here."

Soon enough the formalities are over and the four giant barns are opened up — hall one attracting the crowd as first the Enzo, then the Carrera GT and then Ian Scheckter's SA drivers championship winning Lexington March 802 F2 car are fired up.

The Ferrari end of that room also has a F40 and a F50 flanking Enzo, there's a Merc C55 DTM, the Carrera GT and a Honda NSX Ayrton Senna in there too. The other side of that barn dedicated to speed boasts: a few Aston Martins, an old Peugeot GP car and a range of Fords and other quick cars representing a century of fast driving.

Next barn also has much of interest - but a certain South African flavour: a GSM Dart and Flamingo and a Protea being admired by the likes of Denis Joubert, Peter Gough and Bob van Niekerk — the men who built and raced them adding another classic moment to a historic day for South African motoring.

Two further barns comprise a broad selection of machinery that have graced South African roads for over a century: Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Morris, Ford, Chev, Buick, Cadillac and so many more, with a smattering of vans, bakkies motorcycles and bicycles among them. There are eighty cars on show in the state of the art Franschhoek Motor Museum at any given time — all housed in brand new buildings featuring the very best in lighting, interesting audio visuals and in spacious, comfortable displays.

The bulk of the display comes from the now defunct Heidelberg Motor Museum itself established by Johan's late father Anton Rupert. "There's no way we could keep that facility going," Johan explains. "It was a government institution we were involved in and even with all tobacco advertising removed they could not be seen to be supporting an initiative related to a tobacco company."

"So they closed Heidelberg down and we eventually bought all the cars and established the Franschhoek Motor Museum as a privately owned business"

"Those were difficult days!" Wayne Harley, the former Heidelberg curator remembers. "Suddenly my world was turned on its head, I had no job and sold my own classics to survive — it was desperate."

But that cloud had a silver lining when Johan Rupert saved the day and bought the collection — and took Harley with when everything was moved to the Cape. The new custom built museum was planned from scratch on Rupert's l'Ormarins wine estate and the collection refreshed and renewed.

But that's not all — Rupert bought up several new cars including Bertie Bester's 120-odd strong collection and he continues on a mission to save and keep as many cars as possible at the new facility. The museum boasts a full workshop and tech team under Harley, while several outside companies have been contracted to restore and enhance the collection. There's also a massive state of the art car store on site where several hundred vehicles will be stored when not on display rotation.

The museum also stores several cars owned by other collectors and all cars on site are fully insured and maintained. "Other owners' identities are kept secret," Rupert grins as he confirms a particular car still belongs to a mate of mine whose wife still knows nothing of its existence. "Heaven knows what would happen if some of their better halves found out how much they spent on an old car!"

Either way, whether it's a red Enzo or a silver Carrera GT or even a red and green Chevy van that cuts your mustard, or whatever else in between., don't miss the brand new Franschhoek Motor Museum at the l'Ormarins Wine Estate on the Paarl-Franschhoek road. Check out the website too on www.fmm.co.za and make a plan to get there.

Entry is R60 per person with a ten-buck discount to bona fide car club members and half price for kids. Guided tours are available and the museum is open from 9am to 4pm daily.

The Franschhoek Motor Museum certainly is worth a trip to the Cape all on its own, not to mention the added attractions of that glorious Franschhoek valley, let alone the rest of the district...

And yet again Mr. Rupert reminds me of his promise: "This museum is dedicated to the preservation of our motoring history — we can't afford to lose any more of that wonderful heritage..."

All I can do further is to stand in awe and salute Johan Rupert in his commitment to South African heritage — motor and otherwise — and to his undaunting stand on classic motoring and protecting that heritage. You are our hero sir, and you have our full support and commitment in your every motoring endeavour...