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Demerara Mutual Vintage Car Show 2014…Owner turns down US4M offer for 1959 Humber Hawk
There is the adage that “olden is golden” but in this case it can be taken in its literal context since one of the vehicles on display at the Demerara Mutual Vintage Car Exhibition attracted a whopping US4 million offer from American collectors trading in China.
Kaieteur News was advised by the owner of the antique vehicle McLearen Pemberton, 80, a retired Mechanical Engineer that the offer was made three months ago for his 1959 Humber Hawk by two Americans who wanted to take the model to China.
A 1924 Rolls Royce from GuySuco
Pemberton informed that he bought the car, which was manufactured by DeRousse Motor Company London, England, from the Anglican Diocese on the 17th of July 1980.
According to Pemberton the previous owner of the vehicle was the late Arch Bishop of the West Indies Sir Allen John Knight.
The vehicle has a gasoline four cylinder 1922cc horsepower engine with a manual gear box and has a carburetor and standard ignition system.
Pemberton proudly said at the exhibition, which was held last Saturday at the Demerara Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Company Robb Street and Avenue of the Republic location, that he “bought this car for the sum of $5000.” Of course in those days $5000 was a mini fortune.
The car, the man said, was then restored by him, a process that took two years and culminated in November of 1982. “I’ve got it in my garage all the time. I am a collector of cars. I love auto cars,” said the Mechanical Engineer, who added that he kept the car because he was part of the Anglican Diocese.
Some of the other vehicles at the Exhibition
He said that Guyanese should follow what he is doing and exhibit to the wide world the type of restoration and quality work that Guyanese mechanics could put out. Pemberton told this publication that he has about 40 different models of classics, since that is all he deals with and he said that he would never consider putting a price on his vehicles.
“I have never thought of putting a price on my cars. If I tell you something, you would not believe; I was offered four Million US dollars for this car three months ago by two American guys who want to buy it to take the model into China. I said I don’t want it, I don’t need money. What are you going to do with it? It’s paper pack up high.”
The man said that there are quite a few cars that overseas buyers want to buy from him, “but I told them I am not interested in selling. When I sell it, what will I pass down to my grandchildren?” he related.
According to Melissa De Santos, Legal Officer for Demerara Mutual Life Insurance Society, who is currently acting as Operations Manager for Demerara Fire and General, the first Vintage car exhibition was held in October last year and they plan to make it an annual event.
Pemberton’s 1959 Humber Hawk
“What everybody is saying is that this one is a bit fast on the heels of the other one, but people have expressed interest in bringing their cars, that’s why we put it on so early. We will decide on a date that will be fixed and every year we will have it. The idea really is to have an awareness of the company but also to give people an avenue to display their cars because you have Car and Bike Shows but not vintage.”
She said that there are quite a lot of Guyanese with vintage cars who don’t have the opportunity to showcase them.
“A lot of response so far from people is that they have a lot of Vintage cars but they are fixing them up, so every year we will keep getting more cars.”
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