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profile events for marketing.Vintage car collectors in Thailanddo not receive much help. The help that the group needs is not financial, Mr Kwanchai said, but better policies on car registration and taxation. “In foreign countries, you see beautiful vintage cars on the streets because the law and car registration tax understand these cars to be classic collector’s items. Registered vintage cars will be given historical licence plates and the car registration fees will be collected based on actual use, not a flat rate. But the law in Thailand classifies cars from their years of usage. There has been a policy to phase out old cars, such as a long imposed ban on importing used cars into the country. That policy comes from the mindset that old cars are obsolete and polluting and need to be phased out.”At the concours, this stereotype is challenged. By any standard, theyare museum-quality – shining, well maintained – much like sentimental heritage passed on between genera- tions, not simply “old cars”.A much photographed model is “Black 1904”, an American car owned by a former Democrat MP, Attavich Suwanpakdi, who is secretary general of the club. “Black 1904” is among only 13 remaining in the world, made by Sears, Roebuck & Co from 1904 to 1912, the same time that Henry Ford created the legendary Model T. Others are equally splendid – a Jaguar XJ6 from 1972, Jaguar Mark V Saloon from 1951, classic 911 Porsche from 1975 and many Volkswagens.Most vintage cars are European, following by American cars. Japanese cars, says Mr Kwanchai, are not so popular, as their bodies are not made to last and are beyond repair after 30 years.For the concours, judging criteriais based on the quality of restoration work, for example the paint quality, restoration detail and respect for the original.“Vintage car collection is like an art, as their beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some may think 50,000 baht is too expensive, while some collec- tors might be ready to pay up to 500,000 baht. So a car’s value is quite sentimental and subjective.”And what is the joy of collecting vintage cars, or from transforming a discarded car from the junkyard into a collector’s item?“It is the joy of breathing life into an obsolete object. It is happiness to see objects that we believe in survive in splendid condition.”Elite+ 69