Our garage on the Kerklaan.
Sadly, the building is no longer there. At least, not the showroom directly on the Kerklaan. A few years ago it burned down completely.
In the early 1970s my father developed an entirely new concept here: a showroom where several makes of car could be admired side by side. Makes such as Datsun, Simca, Ford, Opel, Volkswagen, Porsche and Mercedes. In effect a mini Auto RAI in Heemstede — a little version of the big Amsterdam motor show.
The showroom's first name was AUTOSCOOP. The press releases had barely gone out before the lawyer of the magazine of the same name (Autoskoop) ordered my father to take the name off the front of the building.
So the name was changed to AUTOTOON. Toon not as a reference to his first name — he was not that vain — but to the Dutch word toonaangevend, meaning 'leading the way'. At least, that is what he told us all, and who were we to argue.
The concept worked very well and gave the dealers in the region a nice extension beyond their own territory. And that was perhaps also the beginning of the end. 'Jalousie de métier' was no stranger to the trade here either, and so under pressure from other dealers more than one importer started to object. Where one leaves, another smells an opportunity.
Slowly one make began to dominate the showroom: Datsun, a relatively new Japanese make at the time. Gratama — see the name in the photograph, where I am standing with my father in front of the showroom — was the Datsun dealer for Overveen and the surrounding area, and was well represented within my father's concept right from the start. With, among others, the Datsun 100A Cherry and the Datsun 240Z. What a beast of a car that was. And if I remember rightly there was also a Nissan Skyline, from the same factory.
Once it began to look as if most of the dealers would have to leave, Wolter Gratama saw his chance and took over the whole building. That immediately made him the dealer for Heemstede and the surrounding area too.
I have wonderful memories of Wolter. Not least because, right after I passed my driving test, my father bought a used 1965 Volkswagen Beetle 1200 from Wolter. I will come back to all my adventures there in later stories.
My father did keep the petrol pump in front of the showroom and the business premises behind it. At the time he also ran a very successful anti-rust treatment business there.
Cars were collected from dealers far and wide and delivered back again. Along the way the cars were also made 'ready for delivery': removing the protective paraffin wax, polishing, and fitting seat belts and number plates. A labour-intensive process, but — as it turned out — an excellent business model.
Rust was a monster for every car owner. There were makes, so the story went, that rusted while you stood looking at them.
Then the Swedish DINITROL anti-rust system came onto the market as the ultimate protection for car owners. My father smelled an opportunity, and that business really took off. Dinitrol was, by the way, the rival of Tectyl. I have to say Tectyl had its marketing well in order — the verb 'tectyleren' (to tectyl a car) is still in the Van Dale, the standard Dutch dictionary, and is a recognised term for rust prevention.
These days the steel used is of much better quality, and as far as I know only classic cars are still given protective coatings.
