HISTORY AND BACKGROUND.The basis for this profession was established some 25 years ago when I started to learn about cars (and specifically Classic Cars) from the best by taking a job at a restoration shop while attending College. The process of getting my Masters degree (majoring in Bio-Physics, Mathematics,
Chemistry and Polymer design) involved a LOT of free time, I started to buy; import and sell Classic cars. The early 80-ies were a true treasure cove because barns in the European Countryside were still full of rare alloy bodied Thoroughbreds I now wish I would have kept......... Talk about Ferrari's actually sitting outside for 20 years! Through the years literally hundreds of different
Makes and Models went through my hands. Unfortunately very few pictures survived the fire, here is one after a normal work day in Sittard:
Attending in several (Classic) racing events taught me a lot of the thin line between originality and performance. Winning First Place in the Marlboro Masters with a well prepared but stock looking 1971 Corvette LT-1 Convertible was one of the highlights.
In 1991 I founded Memory Lane Classic Car Garage to accomodate customers even more. We bought,
sold, rented out, serviced and restored mostly High Performance cars which taught me of all the different angles of the business. At the same time I expanded my business into the United States and found out early that Southern California has the best conditions for my line of work.
In the Mid-90-ies, I was instrumental in setting up and providing technical support in several Classic Car clubs, like the Classic Thunderbird Club. People requested to find certain Special Interest cars which started my car shipping business. That took a great knowledge of the requested cars and my experience became notorious in the Classic Car world. Cars were shipped to all continents now!
That way I built a lot of experience with shipping (and thus, insuring) cars and their parts. That initiated a significant demand for appraisals at the point of sale or shipment.
The Appraisal Service was officially founded in 1997 while I still operated a full blown car shop and many high point rotisserie restorations were either done on my own or customer's cars. This, until the fateful
date of September 11th, 2001...... A pyromaniac saw what happened in New York that day and decided to light up some businesses in my City....mine was one of them...... Yes, I was well insured but with my business and (customer's) cars I burned up, too. I decided to not rebuild, let my employees go and move to the US to solely work as an Appraiser. Good choice! I am a member of Technical Advisory
panels for several Classic car clubs. My articles on appraisals have been published in several Insurance Brochures, magazines and illustrations concerning Classic Cars. Who better to appraise your automobile than someone who knows from first hand experience the cost and dedication required to restore a vehicle? My appraisals are accepted by all major insurance companies.
That does not imply I am affiliated with any Insurance Company - I work independently on a very discrete basis; solely for my client.
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