Friday, March 12, 2010

De Jong is Mr Motorvator

PETROLHEAD Nigel de Jong poses proudly with his awesome Aston Martin.

But it could just as easily have been his magnificent Mercedes E63 AMG or prized Porsche Cayenne.

Better still, he might have been parading his pristine Plymouth Barracuda or his classic 1967 Ford GT500.

The Manchester City midfielder is a man with such a love of cars, he set up his own company to buy and sell marquee models.

So whether it's a gleaming Bentley Continental GT that you're after or an extremely rare, vintage Vega Facel . . . then De Jong's your man. And he will scour the world to deliver.

The Dutchman grinned: "I was always interested in cars even as a young boy.

"My grandfather worked for Ford and he used to take me to the factory when the new models came out and told me how they designed and made them.

"The more I knew, the more interested I became. Eventually I would stand looking out of the window trying to see if I could recognise cars in the streets by just their tail lights.

"I used to challenge my friends to a quiz - we had to try to guess what car it was from 100m, then 200m away.

"We'd also try and work out what year, what type of car, what model. That was fun."

It quickly evolved from child's play into a big-boy's pastime and now it is a full-on passion.

De Jong, 25, added: "My interest in cars grew and grew as I got older and finally it persuaded me to do something on my own.

"At first it started just as a hobby when I was playing for Hamburg, to collect cars - old cars, rare cars, vintage cars for myself.

rOB bEASLEY AND Nigel de Jong IN GEAR ... Sun man Rob Beasley and Nigel de Jong

"The first special car I bought was a Plymouth Barracuda, it's a 1970s American muscle car, a drag car. There were only 1,100 built and this was a very rare type.

"For me, it conjured up memories of the film Bullitt and Steve McQueen, that's the best car chase of all time. It took me 10 months to restore it.

"It was in its original state but it was horrendous, it was purple and black and I thought I had to change that and, anyway, you want to do it in your own style. You pimp it up a bit, of course, but not too much.

"It doesn't look like a space ship, no, classic cars like that need their authentic look. That was the main thing but inside you can have some fun."

De Jong enjoyed the project so much that he wanted to do more, much more.

So he set up his Continental Cars company and now has a lucrative sideline running alongside his very lucrative football career.

The midfield enforcer was brought to Eastlands by former boss Mark Hughes from Hamburg in January last year. And he has remained a regular under new manager Roberto Mancini.

Now the race is on for fourth place in the Premier League as City go bumper-to-bumper with Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa.

De Jong uses his cars to escape the pressures of the Premier League and since his Barracuda, there has been a fleet of classic cars brought in.

He said: "The rarest car was probably the Vega Facel - you don't know that one? I'm not surprised, there's only 200 built, a beautiful old car.

"There was a Mercedes 300SL, you know the one with the flying wing doors and lots of old Mustangs, especially the GT500s.

"I love these old, vintage cars and I always love to drive them myself if I can before we sell them.

"The whole feeling of driving a different car is special, they all have their own individual feeling. There's the taste of it, the smell of it, the feel of it.

"The best car of all? I would have to go for the Bentley Continental GT - it's got comfort, it's got speed, it's got space - it's got everything."

But, funnily enough, De Jong does not own one. It's not that he cannot afford one... he is just happy with the five cars he has got, for now. De Jong added: "There's two classic cars - the Barracuda and Ford GT500 1967 - then the modern ones.

"An Aston Martin, which is cool, and then the family cars - the Porsche Cayenne and the Mercedes E63 AMG family. I say family car but, you know, the Mercedes goes as well, so when I'm on my own I have some fun."

It is all a far cry from his first driving experience as a teenager in Amsterdam.

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