Preparations for an auction of 300 vehicles.

A famous Dutch collection of cars will be auctioned in November. This large collection consists of over 300 classic cars, trucks, buses, mopeds and more. For auction house Epic Auctions this will be the first sale of classic cars. We spoke to the people at Epic Auctions and were most interested in how they manage this auction and if it meets their expectation. 

The preparations started in August of this year. First of all, all items needed to be photographed. The estimated time for this activity? One week. At this moment all 9.289 photographs have been taken, in the end, this daunting task took 7 weeks to complete. Taking a picture of each lot required patience, manpower and specialized tools. An electric Car Mover, forklift truck, dolly’s, cables and a wide variety of batteries were used. In addition, a photo booth had to be built and all items had to be moved from one of the 5 warehouses to this photo booth. A special moment since most items hadn’t been moved in decades. The pre-war models are very fragile and have a relatively low weight. The American items are a different story; these are also fragile but also heavy and bulky. It requires serious muscle to move the impressive 10-ton trucks.

Walking through the warehouse you can feel the history; each item has its own story. The oldest car is a 1903 Motor Buggy. There is a small, dusty note on the driver’s seat saying the car is 100 years old. However, the car is 114 years old, the note has been left on the seat of this beautiful car for over 14 years.

All documentation and accessories of the items have been archived in separate folders. Using unique lot numbers all items have been registered in Excel worksheets. 1.225 Lots with corresponding car papers, import, and customs documentation. Everything has been stored for the future owner, a car enthusiast looking for that one specific collector’s item. Because this collection includes many collectors’ items; rare, beautiful to watch and a joy to drive. They are shining and waiting for the sale.

With items starting at 10 euro the sale is accessible for everyone. If you are interested to see the cars, please visit their website, or follow prewarcar.com during the following weeks. Their lots can be found here.