PHOTO AP: Egyptian collector rescued hundreds of classic cars Lifestyle

Cars in the city can withstand the blow – between high temperatures, insidious desert dust and crowded streets. Classic models are not uncommon, but they often waste in dusty alleys or garages. However, one man decided to try to preserve a piece of Egypt’s four-wheeled history.

Car collector Mohamed Wahdan says he has amassed more than 250 vintage, antique and classic cars. Most of them he found inside the country.

A fleet of this size would make him one of the world’s best collectors of classic cars. Experts usually classify cars as vintage, antique or classic depending on the year of manufacture.

The 52-year-old Wahdan runs a travel company that takes visitors to Egypt’s famous landmarks. But he is committed to his hobby. It owns several different garages to hold them all, and has a full-time crew of mechanics to service.

He says that one of the problems is getting car numbers. Civil servants often do not know how to classify them.

Vakhdan’s oldest car, the 1924 Ford T model, owned by Egypt’s last monarch, King Farooq, is a museum piece, complete with a velvet rope to mark the parking space in his garage.

The multi-layered history of the country makes it a treasure trove of antiques. Egypt, a former British protectorate, was the destination of Europeans in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Once upon a time, Italian, Greek, and Jewish communities flourished in Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Its historic markets, or markets, sell many reminders of past times, copies and present.

Vahdan collected many of them. He is also fascinated by turntables, turntables, old newspapers and stamps.

Recently, his cars have also made a name for themselves: one of them appeared in a series of the 1930s. He noted that the interest in car collecting is growing among Egyptians, as it is increasingly drawn to the exhibition of classic cars, which showcases his cars.

One of his most expensive things is his first purchase, a 1970s Mercedes. Like his other cars, he doesn’t drive it often. But he says he will never sell his collection.

“Anyone who is fond of these cars can not do without them,” he said.