Sometimes you happen to bump into a story. That is how we ended up looking for a part in Noordeloos. At the De Groot car company. We found the part that we were looking for. Not because Henny Groot does in young timers or classics, but he does have a few.
Henny de Groot, the current owner, tells us that in 1929 his great-grandfather Bastiaan de Groot has the premises on Botersloot 
built. The car company is still located there. At the time, it was a bicycle trade, a taxi company and a carpenter's workshop. His grandfather Jan de Groot started in that year as a bicycle repairman in a small shed and also drove a taxi, which if necessary had to be quickly converted into an ambulance car to transport the sick and injured from the entire area to the hospital as quickly as possible. The taxi company took an important place in the village.
Jan de Groot has driven many bridal couples in his car and also at a funeral it was De Groot who provided the transport. A long line of black cars at a funeral was then still quite common. In those years household items were also sold in the store, such as lamps, irons, plugs, etc. In front of the store was the well-known Essopomp where gasoline could be refueled.
At the time, having a telephone connection was not yet common practice at Jan de 
Large was therefore made use of the telephone by many of his fellow villagers.
According to Henny, his father Bas already started trading cars in the 1950s when he was still in school and had no driver's license. In 1955 de Groot BOVAG has become a member and has started selling used cars with BOVAG guarantee, the company grew and was rebuilt and expanded a number of times. The
Groot nowadays has its own sheet metal workshop and 
paint shop, equipped with the most modern equipment and the company now focuses entirely on the purchase and sale of damaged cars, MOT inspections, maintenance and (damage) repair. Today the company is a multifunctional BOVAG recognized car company.
A nice intermediate score after 85 + year. And the succession within the family? That'll be fine too!
Oh, how nice it is to read this. I know this company and have stayed there in my childhood. The orchard was full of all kinds of cars and in the garage I was put to work sanding rims… .not the nicest job. My brother was always allowed in the car, but for some reason I always had to sand wheels…. and Saturday night in the tub.
The company was founded by my grandfather Bastiaan at the time. My father is the first child of his second wife and I am the oldest son of my father ...
Dear Bastiaan,
We really enjoy reading your response. Come by sometime soon, the coffee is ready… and then you don't have to sand rims this time.
Say hello to your father.
greetings from Noordeloos, Henny de Groot