Bucharest museum celebrates decade of classic cars

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Car enthusiasts in Romania are able to enjoy a spectacular collection of rare and vintage vehicles carefully curated by one of the country’s most famous sportsmen. 

Former tennis star Ion Tiriac has been running his exceptional car museum near Bucharest airport, with models from hundreds of vehicles manufactured since 1899, for the past decade. 

The cars range from high-performance models to Formula 1 single-seaters. 

“All the cars in this collection, the cars that are here, are 100% functional,” Tiriac tells Euronews. 

“Or at least, that’s how it should be. And at every 40 days or so, they go 3-4 times around the block, at least 1-1.5kms, otherwise it would all go to dust,” he adds

The museum isn’t just a place to display the shiny cars, but also a working garage where several have been restored over the last decade and are now available for the public to enjoy. 

Among the rarities in the collection are six classic Rolls Royce Phantoms, which were all produced before 1972. One of them was owned previously by superstar Elton John. 

The artist commissioned a pink and white painting to go with the car, and matching interior. 

At an event marking ten years since the museum opened, Tiriac was joined by his former doubles partner Ilie Nastase.