What's the news?
Not sure how you're going to wangle this past your non-car nut better half, but starting from Valentine's Day, one of Ireland's best (and hitherto hidden) classic car collections is going on public display.
The collection is that amassed by the O'Flaherty family - first by the family patriarch Stephen, latterly by his late sons Nigel and Michael - and that's a family that has a deep and abiding connection with motoring in Ireland.
It was Stephen O'Flaherty who originally secured the Volkswagen distributorship for Ireland, and under his auspices that the first Irish Beetle - the first Beetle ever assembled outside of Germany - was built in Ballsbridge, in Dublin. MDL later secured, and still maintains, the Mercedes distributorship for Ireland, and it's from Mercedes that many of the classics on display will come.
While O'Flaherty's Motor Distributors Limited (MDL) would eventually move to bigger premises on the Naas Road, MSL Ballsbridge's current Mercedes dealership abuts the location of that Beetle build, and that's where the rotating exhibition will take place.
The O'Flaherty collection is not exactly secretive, per se, but it has usually been kept tucked away in MDL's sprawling Naas Road location, used for special events and occasions, but only rarely seen en masse in public.
The collection will go on display on rotation in MSL Ballsbridge, starting on the 14th of February, and the displays will be changed every four weeks until the entire collection has been seen.
Centrepieces at a reception to launch the exhibition will be the two most prized models in the O'Flaherty Mercedes-Benz Classic Collection. These are a limited-edition working replica of Karl Benz's famed 1886 Benz Patent Motor Car, the world's first passenger car, and an 1898 Benz Velo Comfortable - the first motor car ever imported into Ireland. Amongst the must-see models that will feature for periods throughout the course of the year will be an extremely rare 1911 vintage Benz model 8/18, the imposing 1935 Mercedes-Benz 200 two-door sports-roadster, a 1936 500 K Cabriolet and a two-door 1955 300 SL Gullwing with its distinctive upwards-lifting doors.
MSL Ballsbridge was recently refurbished as a Mercedes-only showroom, and it has the capacity to show off 30 cars at a time. The classics from the collection will be sharing floorspace with Mercedes' current range.