Artcurial Motorcars will offer the Thierry Dehaeck Collection for sale during Paris Car Week in February 2027, presenting the 60-car grouping as one of the most significant private collections to reach the European market. Entitled In Praise of Excellence, the sale is estimated at €15m to €25m and will also include more than 100 automobilia items and a fully operational Belgian carousel dating from 1953.
Dehaeck assembled the collection over more than four decades, in parallel with the growth of Pidy, the family-owned business that became a world leader in ready-to-fill pastry products.
Documentation is central to the collection. Each car is accompanied by a detailed historical dossier assembled by Dehaeck over many years, including factory archive material, correspondence, ownership records, period photographs, press articles, technical documents, certificates and expert reports.
“Some collections impress by their size. The Thierry Dehaeck Collection impresses by its exceptional standard of excellence – in terms of condition, rarity and historical documentation. Every car was acquired as the benchmark example of its model. Each tells a unique story and is distinguished by exceptional provenance or outstanding historical documentation,” said Matthieu Lamoure, president of Artcurial Motorcars.
The strongest marque focus is Citroën, particularly the SM. Highlights include one of seven SM Opéra saloons, one of five SM Mylord convertibles, the SM Espace by Heuliez and The Rig – the SM that set a Bonneville Salt Flats speed record of 325.6km/h, or 202.3mph, in 1987. The collection also includes several Chapron DS Cabriolets, among them cars exhibited at major international motor shows when new.
Further highlights include five Ferraris spanning five generations, including one of six 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyders delivered in this original specification. The sale will also include significant Maseratis, notably a rare Quattroporte II shown at several international motor shows, plus Rolls-Royce and Bentley convertibles, Jaguars from the XK120 to the E-type, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and Roadster models with their SLS AMG successors, and American cars ranging from a Chevrolet Impala to a pair of Shelby GT500 King of the Road models.
The cars were not kept as static exhibits – they have been maintained by an in-house workshop and dedicated mechanics, and have appeared at events including Villa d’Este, Chantilly Arts & Élégance, Hampton Court, Knokke, Château de Coppet and Pebble Beach.
As the collection was announced, Magneto spoke to Thierry Dehaeck about why now is the time to sell, how it all began and some of his personal highlights.
“I bought my first car when I was 20 years old; my father had a Chevrolet Impala that he bought in 1960, so when I was 20 I bought a Cadillac, because at that time Cadillac was the American Rolls-Royce. That was something big, and I was crazy about those big cars,” Thierry explains. “Then I sold that car, made some profit and, with the profit I made, I bought another one. Each time I had the chance to upgrade.”
The family business, Pidy, set up a factory in the United States. “I was travelling every two months to the US, where I would visit the factory, visit customers for Pidy, but also buy cars, import cars and sell them,” Thierry says. “Because I was able to sell hundreds of cars that were imported into Belgium, I was able to make the good choices and the right choices, to each time upgrade my collection for cars of always better quality and cars with a better history.”
However, it is his love of the aforementioned Citroën that marks his collection out. “The marque is special for me because, when I was young, I had very good friends of my parents in the north of France, in Berck: Maurice Timmermans and his wife,” Thierry recalls. “I remember back in 1971 that he visited us in Ypres, I think, in an SM. I had never seen such a car. Maurice asked: ‘Well, do you want me to give you a tour with the car?’
So I was able to sit next to him, and then we drove the car out of the town. Then he pushed the throttle and it had one of those incredible accelerations. These are moments we never forget. When I started building up my collection, I said to myself that an SM should absolutely also be part of my collection, because it is part of the good memory I have from when I was young. As for the DS, when I was young I remember that each time I saw a convertible one, I was really ‘flashing’ on that, so that was absolutely something that could not be missing from my collection.”
This has led to a collection of the rarest and most spectacular examples of the DS and the SM – which has also led on to collecting Maseratis. “They are equipped with the Maserati engine, of course. It was a very logical way to say, well, since they have the Maserati engine, you must also not forget that back in the late 1960s Citroën bought Maserati from the Orsi family. It became the only owner, the only shareholder; Maserati belonged to Citroën. Their histories are extremely well linked together,” Thierry explains.
“My Maserati Quattroporte Prototipo Frua was ordered by the Maserati management back when the marque was not part of Citroën, but by the time the Frua Quattroporte was ready, Citroën had taken over. So they had to ask permission from Citroën to have this car as the Quattroporte Series II, and that is where Citroën would say: ‘No, we do not agree with that. The Quattroporte II will be a Citroën SM on which you will have your coachwork.’ That was then made by Bertone. So you see, the histories of those two brands are really linked together.”
His Quattroporte II was to be a one-off, until the Aga Khan saw it and demanded his own. Elsewhere in the collection there’s a one-of-125 Ghibli Spyder (one of 55 European manuals), a Mexico and a Khamsin. It’s all part of what Thierry describes as a wider calibration of the collection. “For instance, we have the Mercedes Gullwing and the Roadster, and we have the SLS Gullwing and the SLS Roadster. If I say I want to keep the Roadster, then the family is not complete enough any more,” he says. “If I want to keep the Ghibli Spyder, I have the Daytona Spyder, I have the Daytona coupé, I have the Ghibli coupé and I have the Ghibli Spyder. So if you take one out, the collection is not integrated any more.”
The addition of the carousel to the Thierry Dehaeck Collection goes back to the heart of learning about cars. “The first time that I, and probably also you, were sitting in a car alone at the steering wheel and having the gearshift in your hands was on such a carousel. So that was, I would say, absolutely the first contact that a child had with a car, whether it was in a racing car, or whatever other car. It is our first contact with automobiles as boys,” Thierry muses. “I thought that having such a carousel in the collection was perfect. It gives you that nostalgia, those nostalgic feelings that you can have about your first contact with cars.”
Surely there’s one car that he’d like to keep from the Thierry Dehaeck Collection? “I have visits to the collection, and somebody will ask ‘What is your favourite?’ or ‘What are your favourites?’ I always say the same: ask a father who has eight children which one he prefers,” Thierry says.
“They are all my babies. I am not going to sell those babies because I want to. I am getting older and, at a certain point, I will not be able to really take care of them as I take care of them now. My son is not willing to do this, so I do not want to let all those babies deteriorate in time. They are loved by me, and I want them to find new owners who hopefully will love those cars as much as I love them.”
Just keeping one would upset the equilibrium of the collection he’s tried so hard to maintain. “I have set up this collection with a very good balance, choosing the iconic models and the best and most powerful engines in each marque,” Thierry explains. “But if I take one out, the crystal is not complete any more. So although I would like to keep one, or three, or four cars, the collection would not be presented in the way it has been set up.”
He continues: “Your age is there. You do not have succession. You want those cars to go on, to be further loved and taken care of. All my cars have extremely well documented histories. Some have five, six, eight binders with all their history, with maintenance invoices, owner manuals, pictures of the family they have been with, pictures and documentation of concours d’elegance, and validation. They are extremely well documented.
“I want to go to the third phase of my life, where I want a much more relaxed life, taking much more time to enjoy a quiet life with lots of travel. I have never travelled longer than two weeks, because this collection is really so binding. But I want to visit China. I want to go to Australia. These are on my bucket list, and now is the time I can do it, while I am still healthy and mobile. When you are 73 years old, you don’t have plenty of time left.”
The Thierry Dehaeck Collection auction will be preceded by a public exhibition at Artcurial’s headquarters, 7 rond-point des Champs-Élysées, on February 3-5, 2027.
More details on the Thierry Dehaeck Collection sale are available here.
