The Greater in the Smaller

Abdul Majeed walks through the hundreds of metres of toy cars and Porsche memorabilia at the Classic Center Gelderland. Mobile phone in hand, he creates what he calls his passion: social media content. The young collector from Kuwait is known on Instragram as Majeed.casa. His model car content has a huge following. And together with a collector from Chile, he is perhaps the most far-travelled collector here at Heteren in the Netherlands. And without a doubt someone who represents the new, young and modern way of collecting model cars – in virtual as well as real life.

"One of the main reasons for coming here," says Abdul, who is known simply as Majeed on the scene, "is the opportunity to meet people who have the same passion. It's hard to find everyone on social media and get in touch, but here, face to face, talking to each other, it's different and I'm very happy about that.“

In his videos, the passionate videographer plays with the detail of the cars. In some of the videos, people think they are looking at a real car. Then they say, "Oh, it's a model!" Majeed's speciality is serial numbers. "Most of my collection are limited editions with nice serial numbers like 1, 2, 3 or 11, 22, 33. It is always about the numbers. It makes the items very special.“

Abdul Majeed, who is a member of the Porsche Club Kuwait, was raised up with cars by his father, who collected Porsches as well as other brands. What attracted him to Porsche right from the start was that he not only found a great community here, but also a family with a strong sense of togetherness. Like here at the Collectors Day: "This is where Porsche fans, model car fans, the biggest model car collectors and even some of the most important owners of large car collections come together. As a family. That's Porsche for me."

Abdul Majeed from Kuwait is famous on Instagram for his 1:8 scale models.

Billy Karam from Lebanon is one of those great model car collectors. In fact, he has proof that he is the biggest in the world. He has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for his collection of +45,000 model cars, mostly Porsches. He also holds the record for the largest collection of model car dioramas, with +700 items. Now he is aiming for the largest collection of car-themed stamps: 7,777 is the target.

This is his fifth time here and he says, "You really feel at home here at Mark Wegh's beautiful dealership in the home country of organiser Henk Koop. You see so many friends and it is a great opportunity to buy good cars at a good price.“ Billy had already bought boxes full of model cars to be shipped to Lebanon. There are many Rothmans liveries in the boxes. "It's the big comeback of the Rothmans cars," explains Billy, who used to be a Rothmans rally driver in the famous 911 SC/RS. "Since Porsche created the 911 Dakar in the Rothmans livery and colours, Rothmans is back in the spotlight. As a former driver and present collector, I would like to create two new Rothmans dioramas in 1/43rd and 1/18th scale. The 911 Dakar Roughroads, my Rothmans 911 and all the Rothmans cars that have ever raced. So my aim was to buy all the Rothmans I could find.“

Billy Karam's collection can be found in the Guinness Book of Records.

One of the creative masterminds behind the Rothmans hype and the 911 Dakar in Roughroads livery is Thorsten Klein from the Style Porsche studio in Weissach. He took over the special car projects from Grant Larson and is now responsible for the Heritage Editions and has worked on projects such as the 911 Roughroads. As a designer, he also collects model cars. So the question we have is, do you walk through the swap with a designer's eye or rather with a collector's eye? "First and foremost with the Porsche eye," Thorsten tells us when we meet at the swap. "There are so many beautiful themes around Porsche that are worth collecting, that have evolved just like the cars, one from the other, like the posters for example. But as a designer, it's also great to be able to collect the model cars just for the form itself. You can hold the cars in your hands and have something to touch and feel. That's why I call model cars my ’3D library’.“

Thorsten, who designs and builds model cars himself and, by his own admission, owns far too many of them, sees the models as sculptures. And they have to be well made: "Models are also very important in my job and there are many finesses involved. That's why one model looks better than the other, because it's all about the proportions. When we make scale models in the studio to develop a design, we sometimes have to exaggerate the proportions a little – we call that cheating. And that's what a model car is all about. If a model car is simply scaled down, it looks wrong very quickly. Then the overhangs or the wheels look too big or too small. A well-made model car must therefore be deliberately adapted. And the larger a model is, the greater the risk that it won't be coherent."

Thorsten Klein is responsible for the special projects at Style Porsche.

In the end, you're still a big kid, says Thorsten, who also covers the broad Porsche history with his drivable models: a black 356, a black 992 and an air-cooled 911, which he has owned for 22 years. "The saying 'Still plays with cars' sums it up quite well for me: I have a dream job, I get to design cars that I used to play with and bring joy to our customers today."

What the color black for the vehicles is for Thorsten, the color blue is for Daniel Necker. Born in Hamburg, he is a passionate Porsche collector and has travelled all the way from Chile to attend this event. The co-founder of the Porsche Club Chile collects all his 1:1 vehicles in blue. And this has a family background. Harald Wagner, nephew of Ferry Porsche and long-time Porsche sales manager, was Daniel's godfather. And his godfather only drove blue Porsches.

Comes from Chile to find rare exhibits here: Daniel Necker.

But when Daniel talks about his real passion, it's for model cars and Porsche-related accessories. What Daniel collects is mostly handmade and unplayed. "And hardly available today. I simply collect everything related to Porsche, all in their original packaging if possible.“ He collects the world of Porsche as a reflection of everyday life, whole and complete. Porcelain, bowls, plates, bicycles, sledges, pinball machines, glasses, scarves, ashtrays... He has travelled all the way from Chile because he knows he will find top quality dealers here, and maybe one or two items that he does not yet have in his collection.

"Many collectors like Daniel Necker were already here this morning and were able to buy very beautiful and rare items," reports Henk Koop, the mastermind behind the Porsche Collectors Day and President of the 550 member Porsche Model Club Europe. "We have sellers here from eight countries and we have about 15 to 20 nationalities as visitors." Henk is talking about around 2,000 people who come to the Classic Center. "Including the really passionate collectors with their large collections and exhibitions." But also many Porsche fans. "We are very happy that the fan community is growing. Just as the entire Porsche community is growing, so is the model car community. And alongside the big names such as Billy from Lebanon and Daniel from Chile, Ernesto from Cuba and some high-calibre players from Sweden, France and the USA, the youngsters are also here. For the new generation, everything is increasingly virtual and online, but here they can see and touch everything. For them, we are 'Ebay live', so to speak," jokes Henk.

Chief in Gelderland and a fantastic host: Mark Wegh. He proudly owns the largest and most complete Porsche 356 model collection.

President of the Porsche Model Club Europe and leading collector of the model community: Henk Koop (right).

And he also sees that young people are changing the scene. "You see new and younger people with a passion for the new Porsche models." He notes that with this new generation and the new focus on GT and race cars, new model cars have also come onto the market. For example, the models from Minicamps, the latest models from Porsche AG or the Porsche Lego kits. Also, models from the 70s, such as Diecast models, are becoming more important again. "Models can now also be cool and hyped. What was perhaps a typical collector's focus in the past, tin toys, is now a vintage collecting field, which is taken care of by a few selected and very specialised experts all over the world.“

Henk gives us a glimpse of next year, when the Collectors Day will take place twice, with the traditional spring meeting in Gelderland and a Collectors Day at the Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk in Anger in the fall. "On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Traumwerk in Anger, we will create a second event for collectors and Porsche enthusiasts in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy as a German Porsche Collectors Day in addition to the International Porsche Collectors Day.

This will then be a home game for Sven Bössow and Hannes Reithmayr. The two gentlemen from the Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk in Anger both know a thing or two about Porsche and tin toys. Sven Bössow has been the new managing director of Porsche Traumwerk since last year and is no stranger to the Porsche Club community as a tractor specialist. And Hannes Reithmayr is responsible for Hans-Peter Porsche's private collection and his boss's many and varied collecting passions.

Sven Bössow and Hannes Reithmayr from the Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk are looking forward to 2025, when a Collectors Day will be held in Anger.

"We both are very impressed with the event and the people we have met. This is a10 out of 10,“ Sven summarizes his impressions after visiting the Collectors Day for the first time "We came to represent the world's largest and most unique collection of tin toys, as well as a huge collection of Porsche collectibles and memorabilia, but also to socialise with collectors and exchange ideas with the world of Porsche memorabilia enthusiasts.“ Hans-Peter Porsche not only collects tin toys and has a huge model railway installation in Anger, but also lives his passion for everything to do with Porsche and Porsche model cars. "For the future, we want to be an open house for all enthusiastic about Porsche collector items,“ Hannes adds. However, Hannes didn't buy a new collector's item at the Collectors Day, but something he needed for Hans-Peter Porsches vehicle collection: two fitting rear-view mirrors for a 356 American Roadster. He had been looking for them for ages and now found them in Gelderland. Next year will be easier for him: Collectors Day will come to Anger.

Racing legend Gijs van Lennep was also at the Porsche Classic Center Gelderland. And was happy to sign autographs on his former race cars.