Colin Crabbe

Excerpts from “The Thrill of the Chase” Part 3

August 3, 2020 By pete

One might think that after discovering and purchasing a Mercedes W125, a W154 and a D Type Auto Union, Colin Crabbe might settle back and relax. But his business, and that of the classic car industry, had just begun. Already a seasoned world traveler, in the 1970s and 80s Crabbe ventured off to the U.S., Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Cuba where dozens of treasures were in wait. We have selected, at random, just a very few stories from his remarkable book.

The answer to “Car 54 Where are You” is here, here! Colin’s find in the U.S. was the famed SCCA racecar driven by Jack McAfee and Oscar Koveleski.

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Excerpts from “Thrill of the Chase” Part 2

July 28, 2020 By pete

Last week we focused on Colin Crabbe’s youth up to the time he enlisted in the Scots Guards. After his stint in the service, he found his calling, establishing a classic car business, and almost immediately began to find treasures around the world. Finding, restoring and racing a Mercedes-Benz W125 Grand Prix car was everyone’s dream, but only someone like Colin Crabbe could make it come true. But first a trip to Italy where he finds the 1938 Alfa 2.9 Touring Le Mans coupe…

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Establishing Antique Automobiles

My resignation from the Scots Guards came through officially in July 1964. I set up a small garage business north of London that would specialise in the restoration and sale of vintage cars. It was important that we got cracking with this idea as soon as possible and find suitable premises before my departure. We soon found an old Methodist chapel in the village of Baston just north of Peterborough in South Lincolnshire, close to the beautiful mediaeval town of Stamford. [Read more…] about Excerpts from “Thrill of the Chase” Part 2

Excerpts from “The Thrill of the Chase”

July 21, 2020 By pete

For those of us brought up in less interesting circumstances, Colin Crabbe’s life is something out of J. K. Rowling and Hollywood. Parents with connections to royalty, castles and ghosts, public schools, the ruins of mediaeval abbeys were all a part of his young life. Colin Crabbe never lost sight of the wonderful past that surrounded him which would eventually drive him to become one of the world’s great car collectors. Below, we have excerpted paragraphs from his autobiography; this segment focuses on his youth, and the next segment will deal with some of the fantastic cars he has found and raced. Edited and published with permissions from the publisher and author. BTW, the publisher is running low on copies, so order now!.