Classic Car Collection from Babenhausen wins for the classic American car

The Babenhäuser Classic Car Collection has won the competition with a “refined” Chevy pickup from 1957.

Babenhausen – A pick-up point with an open loading area does not cause any sensation in the surrounding areas. It is different in some regions of the United States, as Marcel Klein knows: “There, the pick-up has its own sense of life,” says the owner, who, together with his wife Tina and three employees, runs the classic car business Classic Concept . which deals with American cars GmbH as well as Classic Car Collection with its own workshop in the old cavalry hall of the Babenhausen camp area.

In addition to the daily business, a team of five people has been working on developing such a car since December – and now it has won an award with it: With a 1957 Chevrolet car, classic car experts from a new car. the Kaisergarten city district competed in the “1. American Open Battle for custom” competition in Langenfeld (near Cologne) against competing models from other car manufacturers.

The competition was announced last fall and work was allowed to begin on December 1st. “We rebuilt the pick-up from A to Z,” says Marcel Klein. The 37-year-old, who is from Münster and whose company was based in Sickenhofen before moving to the camp site, bought the 65-year-old car last summer. “I had it in stock and didn’t have any specific plans for it yet,” recalls Klein, who flies to the United States several times a year with his wife to find new used cars and then transport them to southern Hesse. For American Special Forces – “customized” means an individual rebuild with the basic design of the original car – got a pick-up out of the garage.

What followed was the investment of hundreds of hours of sweat and tens of thousands of euros for reform. “We put 20,000 euros into the painting alone,” calculates Klein. Which is one of the many reasons why he estimates the current value at 150,000 euros. With the understanding that “you won’t find it here, but at this price you can only sell it in the United States. There, especially in the country, many associate their childhood memories with the pick-ups that they packed in their fields.” What is difficult to understand in this country leads to a willingness to pay higher prices for such gems.

The Classic Car Collection also intends to sell their Chevy, which was democratically chosen by classic car fans via online voting, on the other side of the pond. At the end of October, the pick-up designed in Babenhausen will be shown in Las Vegas, but Klein says it has already attracted initial interest. He can understand his own victory – in terms of price, however, “only” given respect and attention: “I think many people who voted for our take saw that we have done everything completely new.” start with “custom wheels that are available only once in the world” for the engine block, the seven-liter V8 block and increased displacement. Klein estimates that the test stand will show an output of 700 hp. However, these results are still pending. The entrepreneur adds that attention was paid to every detail, regardless of how to define it. An example of this: All cable connections are routed out of sight.

The classic car from 1957 got its nickname from its paint color: the team from Imperial Gardens called their work “Brown Sugar”. The car that Marcel Klein says is the car that “every car nut dreams about at night”. And which he will break up again in a few months. (Jens Dorr)