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Here - RM Auctions

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Peter body svilans<br />

Born in England to a German mother, Peter spent his early years in the<br />

rural village of Yardley Hastings, before moving to the old German town<br />

of Wolfenbüttel, where he attended school. <strong>Here</strong>, in the cobblestone town<br />

square, was where he was deeply impressed by an astonishing little threewheeled<br />

bubble car, and he was determined to have one someday. The<br />

family immigrated to Canada, and at age ten, Peter began his lifelong<br />

affair with automotive books. His library grew quickly and would eventually<br />

number several thousand volumes.<br />

The ontario College of art, and the purchase of a 1958 austin Healey<br />

100-Six, began a passion for British sports cars, the art and aesthetics<br />

of restoration, and the study of automotive history and originality.<br />

Ultimately, the hobby restoration of austin Healeys became a business,<br />

and to this end, an apprenticeship with a British Master Coachtrimmer<br />

was in order, where he learned the art of crafting leather interiors from<br />

bare hides using the old-world techniques. Having built several awardwinning<br />

cars, he found he was a more obsessive artist than businessman,<br />

and he joined Precision Sports Cars as a restorer, where he spent a<br />

number of enjoyable years becoming intimately familiar with the full<br />

gamut of vintage automobiles. He traveled extensively in the United<br />

States, attending meets often in the capacity of an officially sanctioned<br />

18<br />

18

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