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Reporter - Turning Junk heaps into Vintage Beauties

March 30, 2019

Ivan and Zoran are brothers from rural Swabia. They're auto-mechanics with a passion for restoring junked cars as high-priced vintage beauties. They find plenty of dilapidated vehicles on the junkyards of Croatia, their mother's native land.

https://p.dw.com/p/3FwJu

Vintage cars are no longer what they used to be. As time marches on, Fiats and Opels from the 1970s, '80s and '90s obtain antique status. Many of these cars still had unique characters and moving parts under the hood instead of electronic circuit boards. And the market for them is growing. Brothers Ivan and Zoran, car mechanics by trade, have developed a passion for these cars. But Germany's junkyards have little to offer, since most of the cars made from the '70s to the '90s found second and third owners in eastern Europe or even farther afield. So Ivan and Zoran make several trips a year to Croatia, their mother's native country. Their most recent prize is an Opel Kadett. But can they bring it to Germany safe and sound and restore its former glory in time for the next vintage car fair? A report by Almut Röhrl.