With an abundant passion for classic cars, Bernard Marreyt laid the foundation of the Marreyt classic car story in 1988. More than thirty years later, he is a prominent figure in the Belgian classic car community and beyond.
His fascination for the world of classic cars in combination with his knowledge of them and a personal preference for refined English and Italian cars, is unsurpassed. Testament to this are Bernard’s considerable library of reference works, his own unique classic car collection – which he invariably makes the most of at leisure times and on weekends – and the Brussels Retro Festival that he organised from 2000-2010, which grew into the foremost classic car event in Belgium with an international character.
An anecdote of Bernard’s that further illustrates his obsession with classic cars is that he studied Italian for six years in evening school in an attempt to find another hobby, something unrelated to classic cars. In reality, he did learn the language and now uses it to share his enthusiasm with equally passionate Italian classic car owners.
My all-time favourite classic car? The last one I bought.
Thanks to his extensive knowledge of classic cars, Bernard is also a board member and one of the four members of the technical committee at the Belgian Federation for Old Vehicles. He regards a classic car as heritage that should be restored and experienced in the spirit of the time. Whether it is the exact gloss of the paint, the fabric composition of the carpets or the pattern of the wiring harness casing, he eagerly delves into the history of the car with infinite patience and depth so that it can be restored in a historically correct manner.
Feeling the cars and sensing their history, that’s the reason that he is passionate about the profession.
Luc Swerts has been the mechanical brain and heart of Marreyt since the early years. Thanks to his many years of craftsmanship, his extraordinary work ethic but above all his distinct drive to find a solution for every mechanical challenge, he recaptures the true, authentic beauty of every classic car entering his workshop.
Luc is a master of restoration and repair and carries out his work with the utmost respect for the soul of the car.
My favorite is a pre-war Bentley. Because it’s the most difficult.
Whether it’s an aesthetic, mechanical or performance-based old-timer restoration, every detail matters. The right spare parts, the right material and the right technology ... Luc aims for nothing less than perfectionism. Or as he puts it himself: “There’s a solution to everything”.
If a spare part is no longer available Luc will make joints de culasse or whatever is necessary, entirely according to the rules of the art and the size of the car. Unravelling the complexity of the classic car is what motivates Luc.
Engineer and classic car enthusiast Koen Matthijs came on board in 2020. Thanks to his professional experience in various companies and in being a Marreyt customer himself, Koen knows better than anyone what the classic car service partner needs next to take the company to a higher level.
A few years ago, he experienced the magic of the Marreyt-Swerts duo first-hand when he visited the Brussels showroom and left with not one, but two classic cars. Since then, he has been a loyal customer and fan of Marreyt’s craftsmanship and passion. Koen had no reservations about joining Bernard and Luc’s journey.
Every day I am amazed by the formidable range of classic car models, and I am constantly in awe of the technical accomplishments I see in our workshop. The combination of passionate craftsmanship and iconic car history is fascinating.
Koen’s background and personality adds the required boldness and scope to Marreyt and thus provides “the wings for the quantum leap”.
Together with Bernard and Luc, he wants to add colour to the ambitious Marreyt ideas and translate them into reality. Koen’s arrival also guarantees the continuation of the Marreyt business in the future.