New member from the Netherlands

Hi guys,

A couple of years I ago I started reading here, but I think it's time to introduce me here. I'm a 32yo car nut from the Netherlands (living in a place called "Alphen aan den Rijn"). Last year my girlfriend and I have bought a house with an attached garage next to it.

The garage is tiny, but I love the fact we found a house with a garage at all. Houses like these are hard to find here within a 'normal' price-range. You can see my topic about it here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76047

I'm self employed and do several things. Thirst of all I'm an executive driver and advanced driving & racing instructor. Besides that, I'm writing some books (novels) and do some car journalism and testing. I used to work in real estate, but I wanted to do more with my passion for cars and writing. I'm glad I was able to make this jobswitch, it made my life much better. Sitting behind a desk all day made my sad, sitting behind a steering wheel makes me feel happy.

In my spare time we make roadtrips. I can't get enough of driving. We love nature, art museums and walking through cities, drinking espresso etc.. La Dolde Vita. My girl likes shopping, I like her to be happy.
Classic rallying is also I thing I do. Not on a regular basis, but now and than with some of my friends. Most of the time I'm the navigator, but when my girlfriends joins, I'm driving. She loves sitting besides me, even while we drift around. She likes me to be happy.

Sometimes we do roadtrips with cars I test, but most of the time we travel around in our own cars. I've owned many cars, but right now we have a '93 Saab 900 Classic, '93 Citroen BX (the cheapest way to own a Marcello Gandini designed car! lol) and a road legal tracktool: '86 BMW 325i (E30) .

The Saab. It's not a fast car, but it has character and it's good enough for travelling around Europe. I like it a lot, although I'm adepted to RWD. I do all the maintenance myself since I found it as a barnfind 3 years ago. It has done 383.000 km. (=237985mi.) so far.


The Citroen BX. It will be sold soon. Yeah!


The beamer during a driftchallenge:

I have this picture also as a painting, which will be hang in the garage soon. I like art a lot, especially car/automotive art.

That's it for now. I love this site and hope to spent many more years here. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Dennis 'Cavallino' Drenthe

P.s. Cavallino is my nickname for a long time on the internet.

Welcome to GJ, Dennis. With your talents, hobbies and collections, you will fit in well here. Feel free to browse around and ask any questions you have. You may even get answers that are helpful.

Yes, Jack's garage is an inspiration to many of us here. I look forward to following your garage makeover.

Welcome from Florida!

Good to know you, Dennis.

Because of our tiny single-car garage, we bought a tiny car.







It's an original Mini 1000 ('79). It's rock solid, because it had its anti-rust threatments, but right now the snow hits the streets and so does all the salt on the roads.... Thankfully the Mini is stored dry and warm every night in our garage.

First upgrade already made: 10" with worn tyres replaced by 12" wheels with fresh winter tyres. I'll buy some new 10" tyres at the end of the winter. It handles great on dry tarmac, but I love the fun of driving 'full speed' in the snow, while everybody else takes it slow.

Next upgrade will be the restauration of the interior. I want to keep it original as possible:

BTW, we sold the Citroen BX. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a more interesting Marcello Gandini designed car one day.

Welcome Dennis. Your effort to keep your lady happy speaks highly of your intelligence Not sure where Alphen aan den Rijn is but I traveled to Sliedrecht many times on business before I retired. Regards

Thanks

Alphen aan den Rijn is a bit north of Sliedrecht, it's in between the cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Leiden and The Hague.

What did you do there?

I retired from Allison Transmission Inc. and we had an office in Sliedrecht. I can't recall the name of a little bar in "downtown" Sliedrecht that we would visit. It was named after a canal (although it was not on or near the water). I do remember that it had good food and plenty of Flügels and Heineken Zeros.

It's time for some updates.

Family
5 month's ago I became the proud father of our daughter Nina. A beautiful girl, who just can't stop smiling all day long. And so do we.



Cars
We sold the Saab 900 Classic and Mini 1000 Classic last year. We bought a nice '97 Jeep Cherokee XJ and an 'eco friendly' Citroen C3 e-HDI. The C3 is a small car for 4 persons with a small, but nice running Diesel engine, without paying any road taxes until 2014.


I use this XJ as my daily and we will go on road trips with a roof tent on top.

My BMW 325i E30 got a 'little' attention with the help of a friend, who's selling it for me. He found a very nice abandoned workshop for some pics. I think you guys like the space.




Work
Last year I was asked to join a family company to develop their business. It's a machine shop. We do all kind of metal and plastic work. We have conventional and CNC machines. Milling, grinding, cutting, welding, assembling etc. etc. You GJ-guys know the stuff.

At my department we design/build/sell machines and equipment for waste water treatment plants around the globe. Mostly screens, presses and sludge dewatering/treatment machines. Although I work at the office, I also have to work in the shop (build) and at the plants (maintenance) to learn everything about our machines. Sometimes it's a dirty job, but I love it.

Welding some frames for our screens




I'll show more pics soon.

Garage
The only unfinished business is the garage at my house. I'm going to do a lot in the next couple of weeks (or months). The attic on top of the garage will be transformed into a room where Nina can play and we can read a book, listen to music and just sit back and relax. Richt now it's storage with a messed up working bench from the previous owner.

The floor in the garage is bare concrete at the moment and all my tools are laying around. It's mess to be honest. Haven't got time lately, but I know when everything is clean and organized I will spent more time in my tiny garage. Therefor I'm planning to finish the floor and throw away stuff I won't use anymore. I'll keep you posted on this project.

I used to go to Leiden at least once a month a few years ago. I had to shuffle between there and Yokahama Japan for work. 3 weeks in Japan and if I was lucky a couple of days in Leiden. I was stuck there when the volcano went a few years ago. If you are going to get stuck anyplace, Leiden is a good place to be stuck!!!!
I was taking care of a DNA sequencer at LUMC and had to do PMs on it as well as upgrades.
I wish I was still going over there!!!!!!!!!

Leiden is a great place! Just 15 - 20 minutes from our house. My girlfriend works there (high school teacher). The city center is beautiful and attracts a lot of tourists all year round.

Great collection of cars you've got btw

I used to stay in the old part of town. Right by the bridge in the Rembrandt hotel. I could sit out in the old beef auction area at the Pankakehause for dinner and a cold beer, I'm sorry but forgot what that market area is really called. The view across the square and the canal was so relaxing. All those old buildings and boats, it was so cool.
I sure miss that place! Food was awesome, people were so nice and the beer was great.

It's called Beestenmarkt (beast/animal market).

This is the (famous) pancake restaurant: http://www.oudtleyden.nl/index.php?lang=en

Awesome to have you here. I love that Jeep you've got. Good luck with the little family and keep in touch.