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Roopnarine Partap aka Sonnymoon was well known in the South area for always dressing his best! He was described by many as a colonial Time Traveller who watched South changed in the front of his eyes from Agriculture to Oil & Gas. While times changed, he never did. He was born in 1925 and everyone remembered his immaculately-maintained American-built aqua-green De Soto Diplomat, the chrome so highly polished you could see yourself reflected tenfold off the massive grille as it cruised past.
Partap drove that car for 50 years, up until his death in 2012, at the age of 87. Except for his sons, he never allowed anyone else to drive it. He dismissed countless offers over the years by salivating car lovers willing to pay big money. Apart from his wife and children, it was probably his most important possession.
A very rare automobile
Sonnymoon may not have known, but he was driving a piece of automobile treasure.
His De Soto, manufactured in 1955, is a car so rare it may be the only one still in existence, if not the only one with this particular specification, according to historian Angelo Bissessarsingh. De Soto was a brand that ceased to exist in 1961 and became part of the Chrysler Corporation. It produced upscale cars. The Diplomat was built solely for export markets in South Africa, Australia, India, the Middle East and South America. They were made in Detroit, Michigan.About half of the couple thousand Diplomats made in 1955 were right-hand drive, but Sonnymoon?s car, sold by Southern Sales, appears to have been the only automatic transmission car they ever built.
His car is now sold to antique automobile collector Brij Maharaj, who is restoring the vehicle to showroom condition, with the intention of adding it to the collection contained in the Brij Maharaj Automobile and Heritage Collection to be opened in August in San Fernando, in collaboration with Angelo Bissessarsingh.
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Partap drove that car for 50 years, up until his death in 2012, at the age of 87. Except for his sons, he never allowed anyone else to drive it. He dismissed countless offers over the years by salivating car lovers willing to pay big money. Apart from his wife and children, it was probably his most important possession.
A very rare automobile
Sonnymoon may not have known, but he was driving a piece of automobile treasure.
His De Soto, manufactured in 1955, is a car so rare it may be the only one still in existence, if not the only one with this particular specification, according to historian Angelo Bissessarsingh. De Soto was a brand that ceased to exist in 1961 and became part of the Chrysler Corporation. It produced upscale cars. The Diplomat was built solely for export markets in South Africa, Australia, India, the Middle East and South America. They were made in Detroit, Michigan.About half of the couple thousand Diplomats made in 1955 were right-hand drive, but Sonnymoon?s car, sold by Southern Sales, appears to have been the only automatic transmission car they ever built.
His car is now sold to antique automobile collector Brij Maharaj, who is restoring the vehicle to showroom condition, with the intention of adding it to the collection contained in the Brij Maharaj Automobile and Heritage Collection to be opened in August in San Fernando, in collaboration with Angelo Bissessarsingh.
[attachment=1:233r0ra1]336.JPG[/attachment:233r0ra1]
[attachment=0:233r0ra1]sdfsdsdf.jpg[/attachment:233r0ra1]
