The Cadillac 1954 Fleetwood Sixty Special and Ambassador 1969 Mark II may not have the speed of the SUVs of today but are in a league of their own — one that goes beyond numbers and scores heavily on nostalgia. Founder of Cartist, a platform for automobile art and car restoration, Himanshu Jangid’s coffee table book, The Art of Restoration, is about salvaging these four-wheeled marvels from the ravages of time. It will be launched soon.
“The idea of writing the book came during the pandemic in 2020 when I was penning down stories, about the cars we restored, on social media. People wanted to know more about the process of restoration,” says Himanshu, who has been reviving vintage cars in Jaipur for 15 years with his father. He continues, “Accidentally, we designed and helped publish a limited-edition book, Under the Mask, in 2022 for Himmat Shah, an artist friend who is a well-known face in the art world. This helped us start this project, The Art of Restoration, after which the book has been named, and document the process of car restoration in India in the form of a coffee table book.”
