The Amazing Frikkie Esterhuizen Model Car Collection

Every car enthusiast probabaly owns a model car or two. But some enthusiasts have expansive and truly impressive collections. Car collector Frikkie Esterhuizen is one of them. 

Words: Wilhelm Lutjeharms

A smile broadens on Frikkie's face as he unlocks a door in his office and guides me into a room where his collection of model cars is on display; a collection he has lovingly been building from his childhood years. It is fantastically comprehensive and includes sports- and racecars, classic cars and trucks. Even though there are hundreds, he can point out individual examples and will tell you exactly how old he was when he got them. 

For many of us scale model cars represent the starting point of our love for these objects of desire. It might have been one we were given as present when we were very young, or maybe a model car that came from another family member.

Frikkie Esterhuizen is no stranger to SentiMETAL, as he kindly drove his Chevrolet Firenza Can-Am with enthusiasm for our YouTube video. We’ll have a look at his full car collection at a later stage but first, let's take a walk through his model car room.

Having seen a number of model car collections over the years, this is one of neatest and most impressive I’ve come across. There is every imaginable size while there is also the complete range of classic brands, be it Matchbox or Dinky Toys.

• Start (or expand) your own scale model car collection by browing our stock of 1/43 and 1/18 scale models here.

He shows me one of the most valuable models, which happens to be a truck in, I think, 1/43 scale, as well as the newspaper clipping indicating the amount a similar one sold for in the UK more than a decade ago.

He has even taken booklets from these model car manufacturers and replicated a full downtown diorama scene exactly like it is portrayed in the booklet – very impressive indeed. I take a closer look and appreciate a specific model like an OXO delivery van.

Being a huge enthusiast of the Ford vs Ferrari racing story and owning a GT40 replica that Peter Lindenburg raced, Frikkie also has a number of 1/18 scale Ford GT40s in his collection. That is also case with Ferraris. Some of prettiest and most detailed models in the collection are of Ferrari’s most desirable cars over the decades, from both the road and racing circuit. Some models are neatly stacked and displayed in cupboards behind glass, while other models are openly exhibited. 

 All cars, whether they are big or small, have a place in this collection. “I was six-years old when my grandmother bought me a model car. That was where it started and I still have it. It is a Corgi truck model. I remember the event to this day.”

Tell us about your first scale model car in the comment section below.