Muzafer Celigija, director of the company Moto Tours from Vogosca is working in the auto industry his entire life, and at the urge of his friend, he started with the restoration of old-timers two years ago. He did not believe that he will succeed, and now he is turning rusty old-timers into expensive vehicles with the authentic appearance for billionaires from Saudi Arabia, America, and Europe.
Celigija completely restored his first vehicle, Mercedes Series V1, S-Class from 1963, by himself, without any help. Today he is organizing the job, purchasing parts and negotiating with clients, while restoration is manually done by his employees, who were mostly trained by his father. So far, they restored five old-timer cars, and they are working on seven others.
“I was preparing to somehow get into the job for two years. When I decided to deal with the restoration of old-timers, my father Mehmed told me that I am crazy. However, when he saw what it was all about, he returned from retirement and started working again,” said Celigija, and added: “It is a misconception that someone does this as a hobby. My father started working in a small store and with loans and hard work for the last 20 years, we came to this that we have now.”
There are other unusual models of old-timers from the 60’s in the company Moto Tours, including Mercedes Pagoda, BMW Series 2002, Mercedes Coupe 220, Mercedes SL 450 and the red Land Rover that, according to Celigija, belongs to a famous Austrian politician from BiH.
Besides cars, the workers of company Moto Tours also restored a carriage at the request of one Austrian, and it was a special challenge for them.
For the restoration of one old-timer is needed between 8 and 12 months, depending on the shape of the vehicle. When the car is transported by ships or trucks to the company Moto Tours in Vogosca, its workers disassemble it, clean rotten parts, renovate car body, paint, and seats, and the most important part is that the vehicle keeps the authentic look.
Celigija visited many villages in BiH and saw interesting old cars, but many vehicles have lost their value because they have no origin and papers.
When asked about his opinion on the models of the Golf 2, he said that he is “sorry that people do not know to preserve that car.”
(Source: Dz. C./Klix.ba)
