SentiMETAL Gathering: Serious Muscle at Lourensford Estate

With well over 100 cars in attendance, visitors and participants of the first SentiMETAL Gathering of the year had a lot of metal to admire.

Images: Diwan Krige & Hannes Oosthuizen

The Western Cape's petrolheads descended upon the spectacular Lourensford Estate this past weekend for the first SentiMETAL Gathering of the year, hosted in partnership with J1 Auto SA. Though not, officially, a car show, this car-meet attracts a wide variety and large enough number of cars to justify a drive out to view the classics. Besides... participation (and entry for visitors) is free, and the relaxed atmosphere creates a lovely backdrop for a morning spent with likeminded folks.

Although the weather was unpredictable, well over 100 cars ended up parked on the immaculate Lourensford lawns, behind the Abru Motor Studio, which itself houses a number of spectacular classics. As the organisers of the meet, the Cars.co.za team arrived first - some of their steeds included Hannes Oosthuizen's recently re-acquired 1971 Opel GT as well as his rare Subaru SVX. Ciro de Siena brought his incredible Mazda RX-7 for the day, and Marius Boonzaaier of Apex magazine gave SentiMETAL's own Opel Kadett Superboss an outing. 

It soon became clear, however, that it was going to be a day with a surprising number of seriously beautiful American muscle cars. A cherry-red Ford Mustang Mach 1 roared into view, joining a spectacular lime-coloured Valiant Charger restomod. The Mustang was later judged to be the crowd favourite, with its owner winning a custom photoshoot with the Cars.co.za team, worth R5000.

Second prize went to another Ford, this time a beautifully customized Ford F-100 pick-up. The owner's prize is a detailing service to the value of R2 000 by J1 Auto SA, co-hosts of the event. Another American car finished in third place (no prize, though) - a truly rare sight on local roads, a Dodge Viper ACR!

But it wasn't all about American horsepower though. For fans of French cars, there were no fewer than three DS's on display, as well as a gorgeous Renault R8 Gordini and racy little Renault Clio 182.

Italian car aficionados enjoyed the sights (and sounds) of a mint Ferrari F430 Spider (recently imported into South Africa), a Fiat Uno Turbo, Alfa Romeo 4C and even a rare example of the Alfa Romeo 6, proudly proclaiming the presence of its 6(!!) DellOrto carburetors with a huge badge on the bootlid.

Quirky cars that you don't see often included a wicked Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, Dieter Losskarn's beloved Checker A11 New York taxi, a stunning Mazda Capella rotary, GSM Dart, TVR 3000M and many more.

"We were thrilled with the diversity of cars parked on the lawns, and also very happy to see so many people make the drive to Lourensford purely to come and see the spectacle," said SentiMETAL's Hannes Oosthuizen. "There really was something for everyone here - I mean where else are you going to see a '34 Custom Chevy parked next to a Maserati GranTurismo?"

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