Mahy – A Family of Cars

Every year, numerous new car books appear on the market. Many of them deal with classic cars, some also with special collections. And yet, in our opinion, there has never been a book like this one. “Mahy – A Family of Cars” deals with the family history of the car-loving Mahys from Belgium. Over three generations, they have built up a collection of cars that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. In total, the family owns around 1,000 vehicles. Of these, around 200 have been transferred to the Autoworld museum in Brussels about 30 years ago. There is also a second, less well-known museum in Leuze-en-Hainaut. There, the cars are housed in former production halls. But it all began in 1939 in a former winter circus in Ghent. Or was it already a few years earlier? In any case, the Mahy family is all about four-wheeled vehicles.

In contrast to other books, which overwhelm the reader with technical data on the cars presented, the Mahy book is completely different. Here, individual vehicles from the extensive collection are presented through anecdotes and stories from the life of the family. For example, one learns that the founder of the collection, Ghislain Mahy, was a stubborn man and had no interest in certain brands. Mrs. Mahy once had to drive a cheaply purchased hearse to Ghent without notice and broke down without petrol. And it all begins with the words: “A long line of factory buildings in the rolling hills of Belgium’s Hainaut celebrates a solemnity of brick and red-tinted steel, framed by rusty railroad tracks and a strip of asphalt from nowhere to somewhere.” Curious? The book “Mahy – A Family of Cars” is published by ACC Art Books UK under ISBN 978-9-4014-5523-7 at a price of £ 40.00.

Images: ACC Art Books UK, Matthias Kierse (pictures from the German edition)