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About us

Ernest Praag

Ernest Praag (year of birth: 1967) owner / director

Married with Maartje
2 children: Marjolein and Vincent

My very first car was a yellow Honda Civic 1st type from 1973. It cost 750 guilders at the time, which is now around € 330. I was very happy with this car and drove it a lot, but after a while he began to consume oil. Not just a little bit of oil, but about as much as he used gasoline. I even had cans of oil in the back of the trunk to add oil when needed. In 2018 I found a fully restored copy in Belgium, bought it and I gave it a special place in my own collection.

I studied commercial economics at the HEAO in Breda for 4 years. After school, I worked for a mail order company as a marketing manager for 20 years. After the first 10 years I bought shares within the company, making me from marketing director to marketing general director. In 2006 I decided to sell my shares and to make my job out of my biggest hobby, which are classic cars.

That is why I started E & R Classics in 2008, with which we began in a small building in Kaatsheuvel. At first we had 3 segments: wedding rental of classic cars, selling classic cars and the workshop belonging to it. In 2010 we moved to Dongen, where we went from 1 building to 6 buildings because of the growth over the years. It was too busy for us to keep all of the segments and so we decided to stop the wedding rental and to focus completely on sales and the workshop in 2011. At the beginning of 2014 the beautiful building in Waalwijk became available, I bought it and we moved everything to this building. In the meantime we have 3 buildings in Waalwijk. In 2016 I have set up two other companies besides E & R Classics, which are Sun Classic Cars and a restoration company abroad. At the moment we have 400 old cars in stock and work with 55 people now.

My absolute dream car is a Bentley Speed Six from 1930 in the colour British racing green. I also find a Jaguar e-type series 1 flatfloor outside bonnet lock from 1961 a fantastic classic car. I like it the best in gunmetal grey with a blue interior.

Classic cars have always had a special meaning to me. Every single day I walk in the company and have a look at the cars, I still enjoy the stunning beauty the classic cars offer us, the technique with which they are put together and of course the beautiful unique sound they produce.

Website: http://www.ernestpraag.com