Detour Pit Stop #109: Classic Car Cafe, Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa
An old tannery outside of Cape Town has been repurposed to house this charming cafe with dozens of classics on show.
About an hour’s drive inland from Cape Town is the dorpie (little town in Afrikaans) of Wellington. It is one of a few that are dotted through the rolling landscape of the Swartland wine region, an area that has great driving roads for long Sunday drives.
Wellington, shadowed by the Groenberg Mountain, is one of the larger towns of the region, relatively speaking. For a long stretch of its history it housed a tannery. Thanks to the foul odours emanating from the leatherworks the town earned the unfortunate alias Smellington. The tannery closed in the early 2000s, but the site was revitalised just a few years ago.
The mixed-use premises, which still maintains its original, albeit rejuvenated, appearance, but thankfully not the smell, houses a few new businesses that are quite far-removed from the leather industry. There is a dance studio and gin distillery among others, however, most notable among these for petrolheads is the Classic Car Cafe.
The industrial-looking space with sealed concrete floors houses a coffee shop and the private collection of one man. TR, as he shall be known, had the classics tucked away in a nondescript warehouse far from public view. That is until he decided that his prized possessions should be hidden no more.
The almost two dozen cars and bikes on display are just part of a larger collection that will all soon be shown at the tannery. American classics dominate but the star sits large in the middle of the room. The British Racing Green 1930 Bentley 6,5 Litre (long ago uprated to 8 litres) Le Mans Tourer seems completely at home considering the history of the surrounding premises.
Sit down for a toasted sandwich or coffee and cake among the classic machines and you can drink in the motorsport and motoring paraphernalia on the walls. If you prefer a real drink you can pop next door for a hand-made, hand-labelled and hand-bottled Garagista beer at the Old Tannery Brewery.
Words and Photography Sudhir “Banzai” Matai Twitter | Instagram