Cecil with awards won by his 1929 Mercedes-Benz at a car show
Passion for antique cars was a childhood dream of Cecil Mannappeurma, a son of a school principal serving in difficult areas in rural Sri Lanka in the mid-50s.
“There were no proper roads in the areas where we lived as kids and the only means of transport was the vehicles my father kept for personal and office use. While serving in one school he had to stop the car a mile off the school and cross the river to reach where he worked”, Cecil told newstrailscom.
His father had kept several cars throughout his career in the remote areas where public transport was not developed. He used a Morris Eight made in 1949, a Hillman Minx of the 50s and a Morris Minor of the same era,” Cecil said adding that as a kid he got the first-hand knowledge of how cars worked by attending to minor repairs as there were no mechanics living in the close proximity to their village.
His first job after graduating from the Kelaniya University in the late 70s too resulted in rekindling of his childhood dream. “My first boss was car-mad like me. He was an Englishman married to a Sri Lankan woman and had a fleet of classic cars for office use. He used a 1952 Fiat for his personal and official use and allowed me to use a Czech-made Skoda car for official use.”
In 1983 Cecil left Sri Lanka for the Arabian Gulf to work as an accountant. He worked there for more than 20 years but found it difficult to concentrate on his hobby as there was no sufficient parking in the houses he lived.
“After migrating to Canada in 2005 I started looking for old cars and found some real gems,” said Cecil. But even in Canada he could not start his collection until he found a spacious house with enough parking facilities and today, he owns six antique cars and is still checking the internet and paper advertisements to add more vehicles to his fleet.
The first car he bought was a 1980 Cadillac Deville Sedan and added a 1984 Dodge 600 later. The showpiece in his stable is a 1929 Mercedes Benz manufactured during the Weimer Republic, followed by two Chevrolets made in 1929 and 1930, a 1985 Benz 300 D. He also bought 1956 Morris Minor and two Austin Somersets made in 1952.
Though there are lot of antique cars on sale on internet and newspapers it is hard to find an old vehicle in good working condition, he adds. It is because the collectors are reluctant to sell them. Each car he found has fascinating stories behind them and some had been acquired under strange circumstances.
He bought 1980 Cadillac Deville car from a widow in Mississauga whose husband died 10 year earlier. She kept the car in the basement garage for 10 years and did not allow her new husband to use it. Probably, she had decided to get rid of the car as it reminded of her past too much.
Later, Cecil added a 1984 Dodge 600,a convertible car. This car too was bought from a widow in Mississauga whose husband died two years earlier. The wife used to cry whenever she saw the car in the home garage. Finally, her son decided to sell the car to Cecil against her wishes.
The 1929 Benz was found in North Bay. “A lady advertised the car for sale in the high winter. She lived in a small village and was keeping the car in a tent, but the vehicle was not affected by the inclement weather. She had won numerous awards for that car and wanted to get rid of it to buy another classic vehicle.”
The 1929 Chevrolet was bought from Huntsville where a mechanic kept his car in a 200-acre plot. He was a collector and had got two heart attacks by trying to restore old cars and his wife was forcing him to get rid of his antique vehicles. Her husband had many reasons to have an emotional attachment with this car because he had driven all his children for their church weddings in the Chevrolet, but acceded to his wife’s wishes reluctantly.
Cecil found the 1930 Chevrolet on the internet and it was advertised by a collector who had a collection of 200 classic cars in Leamington, close to Detroit. “He had applied for bankruptcy and when I went there, he had only 25 cars left. I encountered a problem as he had lost all the paper work of the Chevrolet. A family member remembered that he had bought it from Alberta. I had to go to Leamington few times to get the proper documents, he said, adding that his hobby is time-consuming and saddled with many unrecoverable expenses.
The 1985 Mercedes Benz has another personal story behind it. “We had an uncle who had a car of the same model in Sri Lanka with the registration number 4 SRI 4444 and I was crazy about it and decided that one day I would buy one.
Cecil says The Mercedes Benz 300D is one of the best cars produced by Benz company in Germany. He could not find a Mercedes Benz 300D in very good condition in Canada. However, he found an excellent car in Michigan, USA, and it was with the original owner. Cecil had to travel to USA twice to finalize the purchase and to bring the car to Canada.Though he had to pay custom duty at the US border and transportation charges, the registration of the car in Canada was not difficult.
When questioned what car he likes most he said he adores all his cars. His 1929 Benz won the first prize in Mississauga car show for three years consequently and now he does not enter the antique for the contest any more, in order to facilitate the other collectors to win.
“When I won the first prize in one year a man came to me asking whether I am planning to sell the 1929 Benz. I said I don’t have an intention of doing so. He said he has 63 classic Benz cars and the only one missing is the Weimer Republic Benz,” says Cecil adding that the collector gave his visiting card asking to contact him whenever he decides to sell the 1929.
“But if you are a collector or not, people are always fascinated by the old-world charm and the history attached to the classic cars. Many people on the road take selfies with my cars and some people take rides in them,” he says.
The problem with finding classic cars is that the serious collectors don’t sell them.
“Many young people today like flashy, fast cars rather than the antiques,” says Cecil adding that he has noticed that everybody has a fascination with the charm of antique cars when they see them on the road. – newstrails.com
