TheMotorist visits Crossley and Webb Cape Town

Can I get two V8’s in my coffee please?

It was by accident that I stumbled on this place, here’s a short prologue as to why. To put it simply, I ran out of accommodation throughout my holiday. What happened was that I was kindly asked to house sit a home in beautiful Cape Town during the holiday season. As any sane person would, I agreed. This is only because the location of the house that I was asked to sit was as mentioned, in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I generally don’t like house sitting, the awkwardness of another person’s home is often too much for me to handle. The smell of the bedding, the towels, the crockery, although always cleaned in preparation is just not the same as your own. So as I booked for my ticket, I clicked in the dates of my departure and the date of my return. “Hmm” I thought to myself, why does it cost thrice the amount to return home than it does to fly there? I questioned. Moving my return flight by three days later I noticed a substantial drop in price, so I decided to book. The only problem was that for those three days I had to either pay December rates for a hotel or ask to stay with one of the many friends I have that reside in the Cape, I chose the latter.

I chose to stay with my quieter more serious friends, he is known for being clean and neat and it was for this very reason that I decided stay with him. As I arrived at my place of stay I noticed that from one corner of the room to the other, there was a large number of car magazines piled up against the wall. One would normally judge this kind of obsession, but my friends pile bared a striking resemblance to mine. So as any car loving person would do, I looked into my friends eyes deeply and gave him a look that said, “I understand bro, you’re not alone.” We then proceeded to chat about cars for hours until we realised that it was far too late, plus he had work in the morning whilst I had a holiday to not wake up for the next day.

 The next day my friend came home early and we decided to go for a drive. The car talk continued only this time we were feeling peckish so we decided to do it over a coffee. “Oh I have an idea! Let’s go have coffee at Crossley and Webb” my friend said. Thinking this was a fancy name for a coffee shop, I agreed without enquiring further. As we arrived I saw no coffee shop signs and no hipsters so I began to wonder if we were at the right place. My friend confidently walked into a show room of sorts and I followed, thinking that perhaps we were dropping off something at a client before we fuel ourselves with caffeine and croissants. Walking in I felt the same way I felt when I first had a bowl of what was then called “Choc-O’s”. My senses tingled, my mind could not fathom the sights my eyes were seeing. It was as if someone had entered into my brain and placed  most of the cars that I have wanted to own in a show room and said “Here you go”. Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Lancia, Mini. All those brands ranging from classic 2002’s to GT3 RS 4.0’s to an Aventador. All that was left was there to be a McLaren F1, If that were the case and a McLaren F1 were there, I would have asked for the owner and requested an immediate adoption.

So what is this super car heaven that my friend brought me to? It is the well known Crossley and Webb showroom. A unique place that services, maintains and sells classics and exotics of all shapes and forms. It is the brain child of Gareth Crossley and Bryan Webb, together they have created a space for enthusiasts to feel like a small child visiting Mr. Wonka’s chocolate factory. Instead of chocolate you have Porsche 356 Speedsters and Mercedes 230sl Pagodas to gawk at, and gawk I did. So apparently this is how it works, if you want to purchase a classic or exotic car, restore a classic, store your exotic or even service your exotic, look no further. This is truly a one stop shop for the enthusiast. Upon entering we were greeted by friendly staff who obviously are passionate about what they do. This was evident by the way they looked deeply into my eyes with that same look I gave my friend.

The only problem I faced was the fact that I came unprepared to this supercar candy land. Like I said, we just happened to be craving some coffee. I managed to have a brief chat with the co-founder Gareth Crossley, who was as chilled as can be. I told him what I do and he gladly agreed to allow me to take some amateur photos with my cell phone and do a brief write up on the brand. So if you are in the western cape and you have a thing for motor vehicles, pay Crossley and Webb a visit and see for yourself what lies in their building. The company also hosts some exciting events so hopefully I will find myself in the Cape to report on one of them soon. By the way besides all the cars they do have coffee too, good coffee at that.