Fanie’s Cars are driven often; they’re anything but so-called garage queens

One of those which catches my eye is a 1970 Basil Green Ford Capri Perana; the engine bay was signed by none other than Mr Green himself. Two other Fords in the collection include a 1970 Fairmont GT with its 5,7-litre V8 engine and a run-of-the-mill (but perfectly preserved) 1984 Ford Cortina bakkie.

The oldest car in the collection is a 1947 Willys Jeep and, for Fanie, it serves as a reminder of the first six years of his life, when his father farmed in Kenya.

The Willys spent the best part of its existence on a farm in Musina. “I know most of the

“We regularly take three cars out for a drive. I have Concourswinning Benzes and, if it is raining, I won’t take them out. If it starts to rain along the way, well, then I allow them to get wet and dirty. That is not an issue for me.”

Last year, Fanie and his wife undertook an eight-day, 5 000 km trip with friends, during which he drove his 1957 Mercedes-benz 219 through vast tracts of South Africa and Namibia. Much of the route comprised stretches of gravel roads, so if ever you wanted a description of an adventurous road trip, at motor shows only to see fewer examples of specific cars compared to how many there were (at the same event) a few years before.” This is part of the reason Fanie started to keep cars when he got his hands on good examples.

When he joined his father’s business in the late 1980s, he was allowed to use the firm’s tools to work on his cars and it’s become a passion he shares with his brother.

“My brother André is a veritable technical guru. For example, he restored the 1966 Ford Mustang for me, as well as the 1970