Egyptian collector Mohamed Wahdan spoke to people about his 1924 Ford T at a public display in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The past often collides with the present Cairoincluding traffic problems near Archaeological Sites.
City cars can undergo severe damage from high temperatures, abrasive desert dust, and traffic on busy streets.
Classic models are not uncommon, but they are often dizzy in dusty alleys or garages. However, someone decided to try and keep a piece of Egypt’s four-wheeler history.
Car mechanics choose for restoration on a lot in El Saff, just outside Cairo. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
the vehicle collector Mohammed Wahdan | he says he has amassed over 250 vintage and classic cars. Most of these discoveries are in the country.
A fleet of this size would put it among the top classic car collectors in the world. Experts usually classify cars as vintage, antique or classic depending on the year of its manufacture.
Wahdan, 52, runs a tour company that takes visitors to Egypt’s famous historical monuments.
Egyptian collector Mohamed Wahdan drives a 1948 Chrysler in the town of Obour, near Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
An eternal longing
But he is dedicated to his hobby. It has many different garages to store all your cars and uses a team of full-time mechanics to maintain them.
He said one of the challenges was getting license plates for vehicles. Government employees are often unsure of how to classify them.
Wahdan’s oldest car is a 1924 Ford Model T owned by the last monarch of Egypt, haring farouk. It is a museum piece, and includes a velvet rope to indicate its place in the garage.
The mechanic replaced the logo of a 1976 Mercedes on a private collector’s lot in the town of El Saff in Giza, just outside Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The different layers of the country’s history make it a treasure trove of antiques. Egypt, a former British protectorate, was the destination of Europeans in the late 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century.
Italian, Greek and Jewish communities once flourished in Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Its historic markets, or souq, sell many memorabilia from bygone times, replicas, and real objects.
Wahdan collected many of them. He was also fascinated with rotary dial telephones, gramophones, newspapers and old stamps.
Recently, one of his cars was featured in a television series set in 1930. He noticed that Egyptians ’interest in car collecting was growing, and there was an increase in the public attending classic car shows if where they are displayed.
The first car he bought was one he loved most: a Mercedes Benz in the 1970s. Like his other vehicles, he doesn’t drive it often. However, he made sure that he would never sell any of his collection.
“Anyone with a passion for these cars can’t get rid of them,” he said.
AP
Source: Clarin