It is always amazing to see what hidden treasures are still waiting to be discovered in attics, basements or barns around the world. This was recently proven by a fantastic find made by Campen Auktioner in a barn on the Danish island of Funen, which housed more than 50 Renault cars of various years of manufacture.
Although many of the vehicles no longer work, almost all of them were carefully prepared and waxed before being put into storage for almost five decades. The Danish collection points to an enthusiastic collector with a particular passion for Renault and its importance to families in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
How it all began.
The owner of the cars, Anker Krarup, calmly insists that his collection came about by pure chance; he started it very modestly when he decided to switch from his bicycle to a car in 1968. He chose a Renault 4CV because he was having dinner with a man whose wife drove one. Although the 4CV's heating system was faulty, the vehicle was nevertheless repaired and served Krarup faithfully for many years - it even helped him to win over his future wife.
In 1980, Krarup replaced the 4CV with a Dauphine, but decided to keep his first car. And that's exactly what he did several more times in the years that followed.
When the previous owners wanted to trade in their cars for newer models, Krarup bought them from them. In this way, he collected more and more Renaults until he had almost sixty vehicles filling a whole row of barns. Over the years, Krarup and his wife Marianne and their sons covered countless miles in their Renaults, but they were increasingly annoyed that so many of the cars in storage were no longer roadworthy.
Cars deserve to be driven...
Both were firmly convinced that the cars deserved to be driven, and so the Krarups finally decided to put the entire collection up for sale - in the hope that the new owners would restore the cars.
The auction house Campen Auktioner in Randers, Denmark, will therefore be auctioning off the collection as part of a traditional auction for special and classic cars. Numerous interested parties from Denmark and abroad are expected to attend the auction on March 20, 2016, at which the many Renaults will be the main attraction, as enthusiasts of the brand are unlikely to find such an extensive Renault collection anywhere else.
