MF Hussain British made vintage car auction ends for Rs 17.74 lakh
New Delhi : Vintage vehicles are close to heart for some people. While many of us look for new brand cars, there are a few people who have craze for British-made car which are rare in today's India. Likewise, a 1937 Morris 8 car once drove by artist MF Husain was sold to a Mumbai-based businessman for Rs 17.74 lakh in an online auction that ended on Wednesday night.
The 1937 model of Morris 8 was with artist MF Husain’s family since 1991. It was originally painted grey and black when Husain used it. But after his death in 2011, it was restored, repainted beige and black, and kept at his Mumbai home. The Morris 8 sale was part of a vintage car auction by auction house AstaGuru, which estimated the value of the car, with all its original sections and accessories intact, to be between Rs 8 lakh and Rs12 lakh.
The new owner of Morris 8 car wanted to remain anonymous. However, he told HT in an email response that he collects vintage and classic cars and that there were two reasons he bought the Morris 8.
“This model had made the company (Morris Motors) Britain’s largest car manufacturer at the time. The history of the car, its rich, artistic provenance and definitely, its looks, attracted me towards it,” he said, adding, “The fact that it was owned by a very renowned artist of our country made it even more appealing to me.”
Though we could not find a single family members of Hussain family, AstaGuru said the car has been in the family since 1991. “The car is in working condition, and is a rare model as there are only a handful of them in India,” said Siddanth Shetty, vice president of strategy at AstaGuru. “There have been no changes in the parts of the model since 1937.”
Shetty added, though cannot be called a revolutionary car, its vintage look and feel makes it appealing to collectors. It is not a very expensive car to own, so people can begin their collection with it.
Record says that the Morris 8 model was in production between 1935 and 1948, inspired by the popularity of the Ford Model Y, the production of which began three years earlier, in 1932. According to data from AstaGuru, 1,16,000 Morris 8 cars were sold in the first three years of its production, with experts crediting it as the model that saved the brand.
Along with Morris 8, other vintage cars at the auction included a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith 1947, which got the highest bid of Rs 1.70 crore, and a Chrysler Airstream 1936 that was auctioned for Rs 48.21 lakh.
