Grandfather find his dad’s 1930s canary yellow open-top car on an auction website while he was looking for pictures so he could make a scale model – and snaps it up for £7,000

A grandfather was left astonished to find his dad’s 1930s canary yellow open-top car on an auction website while he was looking for pictures of it so he could make a scale model, before he snapped it up for £7,000. 

Malcolm Stern, 94, was looking for photos of Talbot Darracqs for his project when he ‘instantly recognised’ the distinctive car and original number plate.

Now he has the model and owns the car used to take the family on picnics when he was a little boy.

This week he took it on its inaugural drive after a major renovation that took thousands of hours and a ‘substantial’ sum of money.

‘It’s quite noisy compared to a modern car, it’s got no power-assisted steering and you have to double declutch – but it’s a pleasure because the car is so beautiful,’ he told the Mail.

Malcolm Stern, 94, was looking for photos of Talbot Darracqs for his project when he ‘instantly recognised’ the distinctive car and original number plate

Mr Stern inside the car. This week he took it on its inaugural drive after a major renovation that took thousands of hours and a ‘substantial’ sum of money

‘Some people have expensive paintings. I have my car.’

Mr Stern’s father, Alec, bought the car while running a garage under railway arches in Waterloo, in central London, in around 1935, and used it to drive in to work from Chingford in Essex and take the family out on day trips.

But he sold it in 1942 to help make ends meet during the Second World War.

Mr Stern, the former CEO of a family firm that made products ranging from office furniture to dehumidifiers, bought a 3D printer in 2019 and made ‘all sorts of models’ before deciding to recreate the memorable car from his childhood.

As he began his picture research for the project, he was ‘amazed’ to see his father’s car on the website of auctioneer Bonhams.

He and his wife, Sharon, 82, went to see it at a preview in Bicester, Oxfordshire, but took the matter no further as it was a ‘wreck’ after a piston smashed through the engine block at a rally, leaving it unused for years.

‘We came home, I slept on it and the next day I said I’ve got to have it,’ he said.

But when the online bids didn’t meet the reserve of £10,000-15,000, it was withdrawn from sale and he thought the opportunity was gone.

However, the auction house then approached him to say the owner would take a private offer and he ended up purchasing it for around £7,000 including fees.

The car arrived at his home in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, in September 2020 and Mr Stern, a father of three and grandfather of eight, estimates renovators have spent around 2,000 hours on it, while he put in another 1,000 hours.

Mr Stern’s father, Alec, bought the car while running a garage under railway arches in Waterloo, in central London, in around 1935, and used it to drive in to work from Chingford in Essex and take the family out on day trips

Mr Stern, his mother and his sister beside the car in Prittlewell, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex

Mr Stern holding up a model of the car. Speaking of the purchase of the real thing he said: ‘Some people have expensive paintings. I have my car.’

The engine was rebuilt, rust was removed from the bodywork, and chrome parts that had been painted over with aluminium paint were stripped and returned to their former glory.

Work is still needed on the interior including the door trim, canvass hood, carpet and leather car seats but it is road worthy and went for its first run on Wednesday.

The public reaction showed it’s not just Mr Stern’s heart that beats faster at the sight of the car, which was made by Darracq and Company Ltd, a firm founded in France in 1896 and sold to an English company in 1902.

‘People’s heads turned and other drivers flashed their lights or hooted. There were one or two waves,’ he said.

The car – which is around 14ft long, has a three litre, six-cylinder petrol engine and, in its heyday, could reach 100mph – will eventually go to the US with his son, Jonathan, who visited this week.

‘I’m still very excited, very surprised that I’m 94, able to be here and do this and still be fit enough to go out in the car for a ride,’ added Mr Stern.

‘I think my father would be very proud. He’d be very excited as well.’

Mrs Stern admitted she hadn’t been ‘terribly enthusiastic’ about buying the car at first.

But she said: ‘It was a wonderful project during Covid. It kept him occupied and out of my hair, although there were pieces of car scattered all over the house.

‘But he’s done a wonderful job, so you’ve got to admire him. I’m so thrilled for him.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk