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Originally Posted by DKG Harit, sorry to say but I don't particulalry like the end result of the Bangalore Wolseley. Its lost something, looks too made up now. Like an old hag with loads of make up , worse still the wrong make up !!
Its easier to paint and polish old cars, but to retain their original look is close to impossible in a restoration. For this reason alone I wish they leave these cars as they are. I believe they make a precious exhibit of what 100 plus old cars look like.
At the most they could repair the damage to the roof pillars of one of the Napiers without making it look like a restoration.
I think SF Edge had a marketing arrangement for Napier cars, ie all cars were sold through him. I could be wrong but I vaguely remember reading he set up a company in the US and sold cars through that company. Which meant cars were shipped first to US and resold from there all over the world. |
Hi DKG,
I look at this in a different way.
Many of us always knew of the existence of these cars, but had never seen them. Some lucky few may have had the opportunity to see them, but photos were not accessible to me. So when you took the trouble to get them out and put on display, there were photos put up by you and we finally could see the cars. And not to forget the effort and trouble which you took to shift and house the cars properly.
Recently I was sent a forward written by William Dalrymple about the first wife of the present Nizam, Princess Esra, coming back, taking charge of what was left of the Nizams estate and doing some preservation/conservation/ restoration. She focused on settling issues like the court cases, claimants, issues with the government and stopping the looting. Then she sorted out property issues and started the restoration of palaces. See, restoration was carried out, not just conservation. There must have been 100's of paintings, so few were selected for restoration to start with. But again, they are being restored. In the palaces restoration work was done, furniture, draperies, restored and not just cleaned up. I am sure that now after such restoration the grandeur is coming out for all to see. Would just a wash and clean up sufficed? Doubtful.
Now coming to the cars. These were magnifiecient and noble cars, but now are really not in a good state of preservation. In the throne car Rolls, the headlining is hanging down. Now if India had 100's of such cars, then one could consider to let them be preserved. But we have very few running veteran cars in India. The 1903 Humbrette is sadly also not like to run again, the Rover and Cottereau in Delhi are runners, having been worked on by Julian, but you do not get to see them on the road. I believe the Indore cars are not running at all. A few have managed to get their cars running, Mallya's Darraq, some Wolseleys, Renaults etc do run. Sometimes in a rally the earliest car participating is built after 1920! Here we have extremely fine examples of pre 1920 cars which, if they were alive and not dead cars would really have much more appeal. Now they look like barn finds. And the princess did restore her palace, did she not? She restored the grandeur of the palace, why not restore the grandeur of the cars.
I am aware that there is a preservation class now even at Pebble Beach. But for that there must be some reasonable original substance of the car left to be conserved. Here, there is really not much left. Look at the wheels, should they really stay like that? At least you have agreed that the roof on one Napier could be fixed. Why limit to that? These cars can be done nicely, keeping the colour shade near to original and search for upholstery to be replicated by some textile mill. An original car wouldl show some wear on upholstery, in these cars it is destroyed, moth eaten, torn, chewed by rats. A preserved car will show some wear on the paint, here paint is often just about existent, mainly seen in patches. And the cars do not work. On the other hand, the Nizam's Rail fire engine does work, ask Tonrag if he would also like to drive a Nizam car one day. I am sure that he would. And that will keep enthusiasm alive for all, even general public. Of what help is it to preserve the tires which are now on the cars, leaking air? Many cars have no tyres, just strips of rubber as you would put on a handcart wheel. Fresh rubber will look much nicer.
I almost agree with DKG on the blue Wolseley which I just gave as an example. But remember, that car when found was not complete. The body above the cowl was cut and it was used as a temple car. I personally may have used less of brass, and surely used a different colour combination, but today the car is whole again, running and a center piece of attraction when on the road. And after seeing such a vehicle running many more collectors now have a desire to have pre 1920 cars.
We know that these restorations can be expensive, so perhaps a sympathetic restoration could be started on one car and see the result. There are also complete cars like the Packard, Buick and Ford, what about sprucing them up? To start with one could remove the radium tape.
India has many archeological sites and all cannot be restored. India has 2 major sun temples, one in Konark in Orissa and one in Modera, Gujrat. The temple in Orissa is world famous, it is complete and being maintained. The Gujrat temple is a ruin, destroyed by invaders, the government has cleaned up the area, made it a nice tourist spot preserving the remains. But where to people prefer to go? To Konark, to see the complete sun temple. Restoring the temple in Modera is not practical, too much has been damaged. But in India we do try to restore some monuments, I think in the Qutab Minar complex they are doing rebuilding, in Elephanta Islands they have rebuilt some pillars.
Lastly, S.F.Edge was an Australian business man and racing car driver,who came to Britain, was in contact with Napier, did engineering work on the cars and sold improved Napier cars from London, to customers all over the world. Courtesey Wikipedia.
My view unfortunately differs from yours, but that should not create any acrimony. In the end it is for the authorities who control the cars to decide.
Cheers harit