one of the 2,640 rooms of the hotel, but at the Auto Collection, which, you may know, is a famous automobile museum, though in reality it is essentially the world’s biggest classic car showroom with hundreds of cars on display, and even more on sale.
Despite the fact that we had hundreds of visitors every day, it was a little sad. I was just one of hundreds of magnificent dames, many with double-barrelled aristocratic-sounding names like mine: Rolls-Royce, Hispano Suiza, Mercedes- Benz, Pierce-Arrow, Talbot Lago. Others were single- barrelled, but big bore nonetheless: Duesenberg, Bugatti, Auburn, Cadillac, Ferrari, Delahaye. I was just one of many. I felt neglected, like I was in an orphanage, despite finding other members of my family, including one that was famous for having acted in the Hollywood film ‘Sunset Boulevard’.
In 2008 I was selected to travel to Pebble Beach to participate at the world famous Concours d’Elegance event. There I realized that I had changed hands; a new guardian had been found for me. was he or they going to be as special as my earlier guardians? Furthermore, I was destined to live in a classic vehicles stable with climate control system in colourful

Colorado I was worried.
But when I met Malcolm Forest, a curator of the classic cars entity that would care for me, I knew I was in good hands. Malcolm, who is half Brazilian and half American, is an ingenious, eclectic and versatile personality who is right at the centre of the Brazilian cultural scene and has been a producer, presenter, speaker, mediator, historian, theatre director, actor, narrator, writer, composer, singer and interpreter...
A celebrity in his own right, Malcolm has something of the crusading spirit of Raja Sajid Hussain, the artistic talent of film maker Muzaffar Ali and the personality and creativity of Led Zeppelin’s Peter Grant. Plus something else that reflects his Brazilian sensitivities and causes. And he’s an authority on my Isotta Fraschini family, taking care of another sibling too. Though the relationship is new, I feel it’s going to be another long, gratifying one. And I think it’s going to be an exciting one too. In November I had visitors at my temporary home at Tired Iron Works in Los Angeles, and one of them was an Indian called Sunil Bajaj. He took some photos of me, sent them off to his friend, the editor of this magazine, who then got in touch with both

Malcolm and Muzaffar, and proceeded to put them in touch with each other. Others from my hoary past were contacted too and each had a tale to tell: Kenizé Mourad about her father’s passion for me, Debashish Chakravarti about my elegance, Tom Roy about my magnificence and Colin Wilson about his correspondence with the late Peter Grant.
But I suspect there may still be a bigger tale to tell in the future as Malcolm and Muzaffar and other actors in my story get together one day. And yes, I would love to travel once again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go and see Brazil? Wouldn’t it be great to revisit Scotland and England again? and wouldn’t it be absolutely fantastic to make a nostalgic trip to India, to Kotwara and the days of the future passed?
Ps: Contact Malcolm Forest, my curator, at isottacars@gmail.com. I would really love to hear from you! if you have any photos of me, or know of spare parts I can use – as you probably noticed, I am over 80 – that's even more of a reason for you to write me. and by all means, come and visit me and some of my family at www.isottafraschini.com.br