Louis Coetzer from Bloemfontein was well known in the classic car industry of South Africa with one of the biggest Mercedes-Benz collections. The loss of Louis Coetzer and his wife, Hermien, at the beginning of this year was felt throughout the classic car industry. Uncle Louis was known as a kind and friendly man who was knowledgeable and a highly respected collector and lover of classic cars.
His collection had more than a 100 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, some of them with a rich and colourful history. An example of this is a 1951 Mercedes-Benz ‘bakkie’; former Foreign Affairs Minister, Pik Botha’s 300SE sedan, and King Moshoeshoe II’s 600 Grosser limousine. Louis Coetzer started collecting at a very young age, whilst still in primary school, but as he could not afford the cars at that stage, he started buying and collecting Dinky Toys.
He also went from scrap metal yard to scrap metal yard in order to buy wheel caps – at that stage for 1c each. These Dinky toys were his companions and playmates until he was in Matric and according to him, girls were not a priority at that stage. This apparently changed in 1971 when he married his wife, Hermien. Louis realized the value of the Mercedes-Benz brand in the middle 1980’s and from there his collection of old beauties just flourished, his favourite being a 1968 250 SE Cabriolet.
This story is from the Edition 110 edition of SA Hot Rods.
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This story is from the Edition 110 edition of SA Hot Rods.
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