The images of the cars offer a special glimpse into Aarschot’s automotive history.
Garage Minerva Aarschot – source: Aarschot weleer
Arthur (photo: 3 September 1939)
Arthur’s quintessentially Belgian Minerva is one of the first cars in Aarschot.
Next, Arthur acquires a Dodge in the Jozef II-straat in Brussels, with which he and Clementina visit the wholesalers in fashion fabrics every week (including where the comic strip museum is now located). If an oncoming vehicle approaches on the Brusselsesteenweg, Arthur quickly pulls over to the side to prevent an accident!
A black Beetle with two separate rear windows is Frie’s first car
PORSCHE
Antoine Dufilho – technique: aluminium & stainless steel – 80 x 36 cm
(1962) “They can’t even afford a house yet and they drive a Porsche.” – Jos VK complains to mother Tineke
“The white (really white, not ‘ivory’ white) Porsche (with a ‘W’ number plate, I remember) was admittedly not the hyper-rare and hyper-fragile racing version 356 Carrera GT 2000GS. It was the 356 C (judging by the flattened hubcaps and the two exhausts in the rear bumper) with a 1600 engine and 95 DIN hp, and disc brakes. It already moved along wonderfully well, because the weight was just 900 kg.” – Arie
“I still remember this Peugeot 404 well: it was an ‘Injection’ as stated at the rear to the left of the number plate in discreet but elegant letters. It was light blue, non-metallic, in Frie’s words called ‘lark blue’.” – Arie
Leyland Princess (1975-1981)
On the corner of the Elisabethlaan and the Pastoor Dergentlaan, next to the notary’s office, Maria Walschaerts runs a Gulf petrol station. As a little boy Pieter comes to the garage almost daily. He likes the smell of petrol. Benzene, the substance that plays an important role in the smell of petrol, provides the sweetness in his nostrils. The drunken gravedigger Jef Kist comes to fill up with his hearse with a corpse in the back. Around the petrol pump it is a meeting place that prompts spontaneous conversation. At the same spot Maria’s husband is the British Leyland dealer. Garage owner Cyriel is also a volunteer fireman. The annual open-door week grabs Pieter from the first second. Godfried lends Cyriel his large underground garage so that he can park the new cars there at night: Mini-Coopers, Allegros, Princesses, TR7s … . During a purchase price negotiation a prospective buyer asks “for a bit more off”. Cyriel answers drily: “Well, for you I’ll take a bumper off…” At night street races are occasionally organised in Aarschot. The souped-up Mini-Coopers, Simca 1000 Rallye 2s and Renault 8 Gordinis gather in front of Cyriel’s garage because his son Robbie joins in with a Mini-Cooper. Pieter peeks from the window at the street racing. Residents who are completely fed up with the situation sound the alarm. “The Elisabethlaan is used at night as a race circuit. That leads to life-threatening situations.” But fortunately the street racing simply carries on.
Mentions of garage owners’ names are removed. If Frie has the top version of a type, the number plate has to be taken off. With an entry-level model he leaves the plate on. Incidentally, in Aarschot you must not be seen with branding on carrier bags either. When shopping, the bag is first turned inside out.
Welcome and highly regarded guests at home are Baron von Strydonck de Burkel and his wife Viscountess de Spoelberch. The viscountess is co-owner of Stella-Artois. The nobles are sickened by flashy cars and cruise from Brussels to Wolfsdonk in a Toyota Corolla Liftback. The exclusively French-speaking nobles deliberately choose a simple, inconspicuous car. They mock nouveaux riches bling. Subsequently Godfried swaps his Mercedes S for a Citroën.
Citroën CX Pallas (1976-1980) wonderful comfort with hydropneumatic suspension.
“The garage owner admits that it is a ‘Monday morning car’.” – Frie
Suzanne Valadon – Le Sacré-Coeur – 1916 – oil on canvas
The CX – Pallas takes Godfried, Mia, the children and grandma Colette to Paris at dawn. For the children it is a first time in the City of Light. In the afternoon a visit to Montmartre with déjeuner at “La Mère Catherine”.
The sons are dropped off at the school gate. If Frie notices kissing students on the way, he calls out to them: “Shall I bring a mattress tomorrow?” Very embarrassing to cross the boyfriend later in the school corridors. Afterwards Pieter goes to school by bicycle.
Frie buys a second-hand Renault van from Gervais Danone for 10,000 francs. Saturday afternoons: In the Aarschot area Pieter helps to put up notary sale signs on building and agricultural land. With a screw anchor deep in the ground and then hammering on it so that they sit firmly. Frie measures out plots by pacing. Then go and fetch horse feed in Testelt. Pieter finds all of that boring but does not complain.
(around 1975) Every weekend the concierge’s son visits his parents. Godfried is annoyed by his yellow-and-black Kadett coupé GT/E because it disfigures his domain. He thinks the manufacturer should be forbidden to bring such a colour onto the market. Pieter thinks it is a fantastic car.
Frie and Ilse (photo: Champtercier, 1982)
Frederik Willems (photo: 1988)
In ‘de Bemde’ of beautiful Langdorp by Frederik Willems
“I remember an afternoon during the summer holidays of 1988. My friend Pieter Van Kerckhoven came driving up to Langdorp in his father’s jeep.
I was 17 and the urge to learn to drive a car was very much present and was fanned by Pieter, just a little older than me and who already had his driving licence in his pocket.
Pieter suggested taking a ride in “de Bemde” of beautiful Langdorp. Gwendolyn Rutten, my sister Sofie’s best friend, was also visiting. The four of us set off towards Testelt and stopped in the Broekstraat at the Testeltsesteenweg.
Pieter suggested that I take the wheel. It was not the first time that I drove that jeep. Pieter had explained to me several times how to steer a car and all the previous rides had been a triumph (hahaha).
I started the engine and set off. The Broekstraat is an old sunken lane whose walls get steeper and steeper. That created for me the illusion that the road was getting ever narrower. I suppose panic overcame me and suddenly I turned the wheel to the left! A stupid reaction with the result that the jeep drove up the bank and overturned. Panic! But nobody was hurt.
Gwendolyn Rutten in a yellow Holly Hobbie dress with a big bow, together with Sofie Willems on the back seat, got off with a fright.
Dazed, we crawled out of the jeep, tried to calm down and to hatch a plan to avoid having to report it to anyone. I had no driving licence yet, after all.
We decided to phone “Fien Shell”. Her husband would surely help us with his tow truck to get the jeep back on its four wheels.
We went towards the Testeltsesteenweg and rang the bell at the home of Doctor Van Tongelen’s parents. We told what had happened and asked whether we could phone the garage owner (mobile phones did not exist then). The startled Mrs Van Tongelen wanted to call the police. Having the police on our backs was the last thing we wanted. We suggested that the jeep first had to be lifted upright and that we would inform the police ourselves later.
Pieter phoned “Fien Shell” and a little later the tow truck arrived. The jeep was pulled upright and the garage owner saw that there was bodywork damage. I panicked about informing my parents and Pieter’s. Pieter reassured me: “Don’t worry, we’ll sort this out.” The jeep was towed to the garage and we walked back home.
Astonished, my mother opened the front door: “You left in the jeep and now you come back on foot! What happened?” I confessed the adventure and it did not turn out to be my best day.
That evening mother informed my father. I was called on the carpet and reminded that my behaviour was unacceptable (reckless behaviour of a spoiled brat, without a driving licence, etc.). I also had to go and apologise to Pieter’s father.
The next day I cycled to the Steenheuvels where the Van Kerckhoven family lived and offered my apologies. The notary reassured me: “Don’t take it to heart, but make sure that in future you learn to drive properly.” In the years that followed, this incident became an “inside joke” of the family.” – Frederik Willems (2024)
Sophie Willems and Pieter (photo: Côte d’Azur)
“Si un homme ne sait pas vers quel port il navigue, aucun vent ne lui est favorable.” – Sénèque
The first BMW 7 Series made between 1977 and 1987. Frie’s status symbol uses a lot of oil. (photo: 1985) “The richest people I know drive small, discreet cars and laugh at Mercedes and BMW owners.” – Godfried
BMW 325 ix
Two women in Brussels, one parking space – what happened there? “Why does dad let the police commissioner of Aarschot out, deathly pale?” asks Pieter. The day before, Mia (49) was keeping a parking space free for Frie, who was on his way. She had to jump onto the pavement because another car brazenly took the space. Mia pulled open the door of the parked car and gave the female driver a hard slap in the face with her hand adorned with diamonds and gold rings. A witness noted… . The victim has filed a complaint because she can no longer work like this. The trial states: “…Une Flamande d’une quarantaine d’année avec un genre de vison…”. Frie fears he will have to pay for the rest of his life. But Mia’s solid network immediately turns it into a cover-up affair.
In the 1990s the main character of this column drives this Japanese flashy car, a Honda Legend II 3.2i V6 (years of manufacture 1990-1996). “The best car I ever had.” – Frie
Regularly the notary and Pieter go prospecting at car dealers, who show them around with the necessary respect:
F: Car enthusiasts don’t like to replace their car. It is all about the feeling: I dream of it. I would rather have become a garage owner than a notary.
A garage owner chips in: Well, Mr Notary, until we can do a deal like this again!
(1993) Frie notices Pieter’s ‘H’ belt:
F: Well lad, ‘H’ for Honda? Did they give you a belt at the garage? Is it the ‘H’ for homo?
M: Buutt no Frrie. That is Hermès. We can’t afford that, buutt he has come far…
F: The only thing that boy can say is “That’s chic or that’s not chic”. And there is no work in it. Let him just marry a rich man who can keep him.
When Clément Jamar (58) dies, Mia keeps on driving his Peugeot 404. Pieter gets few toys because he breaks everything anyway, such as his miniature cars which he places behind the wheels of the 404 in the garage on the Elisabethlaan. Mia runs the little cars flat and Pieter gets a smacking.
(around 1975) In Houthalen in his grandmother’s garage stands a hidden treasure: a 1964 Jaguar belonging to the great-uncle of Max Verstappen. Every week Pieter goes and tugs at the door handles in vain. Francis Collignon intends to restore his S Type 3.8 Ltr.
(1974) Golf (photo: with the designer Giorgetto Giugiaro) “Le temps des cerises” and “Sjakie van de hoek” sound in Mia’s light blue Golf on the way to Hasselt and Houthalen.
(1979) Matra Simca Rancho
In the garage Pieter has turned the steering wheel of the Rancho all the way round. Mia notices nothing and when she drives briskly out of the garage she crashes into the wall.
(1983) Honda Civic S Crammed storage compartments with audio cassettes by Julio Iglesias, Joe Dassin, Michel Sardou, Albano&Romina Power, … 154,000 km without a breakdown.
(1987) Honda Aerodeck En voiture Mia…
(1992) Godfried makes no time to buy a next car for Mia. “Our Pieter can go and choose a model at the Opel dealer in Langdorp. They are good customers and decent people who work hard”. Pieter goes for a souped-up Astra 2.0l GSI. When the pimped Johnny-box is delivered Godfried lashes out. Mia finds it funny that suddenly young men tailgate her and race past her.
Pieter – Yamaha 80cc
Pieter (20) cruises in Brussels’ ‘Schwulenviertel’ where he meets a Moroccan muscle hunk who likes to ride on Pieter and with Frie’s Honda. Pieter ends up in a Schaerbeek attic flat where the man lives with his mother and sisters. When the hunk does not turn up for a date, the motorbike has disappeared. “Well, then I don’t have to pay insurance for that anymore either. He nicked my motorbike, in Brussels, for his ‘jeanette’.” – reacts Frie. And the hunk cannot be reached anymore. A little later Pieter sees him touring around Brussels on his motorbike. He lets it be, because it is too much trouble to sort out… .
the Van Kerckhoven brothers (photo: 1984)
(1982) With the burgundy Pacer (years of manufacture 1975-1980) of neighbour Clairette, Pieter secretly teaches himself to drive. “But where on earth did he learn that?” – Godfried. The bodywork consists of more than a third glass and is called “Clairette’s aquarium” in Aarschot. The right door was 10 centimetres longer than the left. During dinners Pieter helps pour wine, plays piano for the guests and then takes the keys from their coats and tries out their cars.
Pieter with Moto Guzzi
The young Pieter feels like an outsider. He longs for freedom, for an existence that is not determined by schedules and plans: “My life was filled in, like a colouring page. The borders clearly delineated by thick black lines.” (photo: Amsterdam, 1999)
A Harley is a perfect example of how Pieter wants to emphasise his masculinity (photo: Paris, 2021)
Vitesse in pictures “Freiheit ist der Wille, für sich selbst verantwortlich zu sein.” – Max Stirner
(2017) Pieter lives part of the year in Hamburg.
The black Rover P5 3 litre 6 cylinder from 1959, once owned by Doctor Gybels, the father-in-law of Paul Van Kerckhoven.
At first house calls are still made by horse and carriage.
ritual: Pieter’s godmother, Leentje Gybels, has her dark blue BMW 3.0 CSi honk three times when she comes driving home. Gusta the housekeeper runs anxiously outside. By making signs she helps madam to avoid collisions when parking in the narrow Capucienenstraatje. (1970s)
“Totally crazy! Never thought I would get to drive an SL for a moment” In the seventies Doctor Paul Van Kerckhoven used such an exclusive red Mercedes SL for house calls. Remarkable: after 10 years Doctor Paul sold his car for the purchase price. Today it is a striking car. In the 1970s/80s several SLs drove around Aarschot without people turning to look.
the Jos Van Kerckhoven vehicle, a Mercedes Benz model W111 – 220 version
(1970s) The white Peugeot 504 in which Jos drives to Provence in one go.
and in the 1980s with a white Peugeot 505
In his VW type 3 1600tl (1961-1973) notary’s clerk Jos Vissenaekens whistles to create atmosphere when he takes Gert and Pieter from Wolfsdonk to the Bekaf school.
In an Opel Kadett coupé (1965-1973) chain-smoking clerk Gaston Weckx brings the brothers back to Wolfsdonk in the evening.
The brown Mazda 323 in which Fonske Steurs from the Elsleuken drives weekly with sister-in-law Josée to mass and to the shop gleams like a mirror.
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