Mention the 'Flying Doctor' in local motoring circles, and everyone will know you are referring to Paul Sultana, the consultant paediatrician with a passion for fast classic cars.
A well-known subscriber to speeding, his daredevil but calculated exploits in last year's Grand Prix de Malte in his MG Midget consolidated his racing reputation. Those exploits have now become part of local four wheeled folklore.
"Blame it on my elder brother Adrian," he says. "My parents had no interest in old cars. Adrian used to buy the British monthly motoring magazine, Motor Sport.
"Established in 1924, it is still going strong, and features a mix of old and new cars. Adrian and I used to devour it."
Paul's glowing admiration for his brother - eight years his senior - grew stronger when the latter bought a Triumph Herald convertible which he later replaced with a Triumph Spitfire.
For many years, Paul limited this growing interest to reading, subscribing to Motor Sport - his collection dates uninterruptedly to 1975. He also amassed a considerable number of old motoring books.
By 1996, it was time to act. "On my daily drive to work, I used to see a 1961 Midget in British racing green, with a 'for sale' sign on it in front of a Birkirkara garage. One day I decided to stop to ask for details. The asking price was excessive, but after some hard bargaining, I got it," Paul recalls delightfully.
Although licensed, the car was in a very bad shape and not roadworthy. The chassis was bent, the floorboards were rusting and filled with fibreglass - an immediate nuts and bolt restoration was needed.
Paul asked a friend, Gaston Mifsud, the proud owner of a noteworthy classic car collection himself, for help. Gaston recommended two renowned restorers plying their trade in Żebbuġ.
"So many parts needed replacement: we needed 18 different shipments from the UK. But the restorers' craftsmanship in panel beating is second to none". The project lasted 18 months. Such was the perfect state of rehabilitation that when Gaston was taken for a drive afterwards, he remarked that the newly born car, now old English white, had the same feel and perfect hum he remembered he took delivery of his first MG Midget, aged 17, 30 years earlier.
The car was to prove its real mettle 10 years later, when during the 30 laps of the Grand Prix in Valletta, Paul frequently hit 80 mph. "This embodies one of my two main old motoring philosophies - that driving a classic car should be a spot of harmless fun. It should be an experience, a sensation of innovation," Paul insists.
He acknowledges the source of his philosophy is one of his role models, the erstwhile eccentric Motor Sport correspondent, Denis Jenkinson.
Leafing through a thick book, Paul explains that 'Jenks' used to travel from one Grand Prix circuit to another in his 1959 Porsche 356. "Besides filing race reports, he used to compete in circuits. In 1955, he navigated with Stirling Moss in the Mille Miglia in a Mercedes 722, and they still hold the average speed record of the competition section."
Paul has another project in the pipeline: "For 13 years I had been eyeing a red 1969 Fiat 850 Sports Coupe, driven by an elderly gentleman in Birkirkara. The body of this left-hand drive had been designed by Mario Boano, head of design at the Ghia establishment in Turin. In 2002, through the Old Motors Club grapevine, I learnt this car was up for sale. The owner refused my offer outright."
Two years later, while doing a ward round at St Luke's Hospital, he received a call. The Fiat 850 owner asked if he was still interested in the car as he was unable to drive anymore.
"It was in good condition, except for the usual body rust and rot. Mileage was low - 25,000 miles over 36 years. It even had the original Pirelli Cinturato tyres," Paul recalls. He drove it for a year before taking it to the trusted restorers for a complete overhaul.
Parts were procured from Italy, Holland, Germany and the US and he expects a more sophisticated finish than the Midget's when it is completed in November, just in time for the Grand Prix.
Paul's wife is a general surgeon. "Over the years, Angela has also caught the bug, and can now go into the technical details of a Delahaye or a Hispano Suiza!" The couple's travels have included visits to the Schlumpff Bugatti Collection in Mulhouse, France; the Grümd Museum in Austria, where Porsche relocated during World War II, and the Galleria Ferrari and the Maserati Collection, in Modena.
Paul's son Jean Paul is 15 and competes with his father to read Motor Sport first. Daughter Gabriela, 14, makes up this classic car quartet - she thoroughly enjoyed the family trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex this summer.
Paul dreams of owning a Porsche 356, just like Jenks, and taking it through its paces at the Nurburg Ring outside Cologne. "With its 22kms circuit and 172 up and downhill curves per lap, it is the most challenging racing circuit in the world," he says.
The Grand Prix de Malte is uppermost in his mind. "I have travelled the world to see such cars, and now they have started coming here. I cannot forget last year's slow down lap after the racing events had finished; as dusk approached, the atmosphere was punctured by the clapping of the crowd, the gasping of enthralled children, the flashing of the cameras", recalls Paul with nostalgia.
The Flying Doctor is revving to go.
http://www.oldmotorsclub.com, info@oldmotorsclub.com
• Mr Busuttil is PRO of the Old Motors Club
A well-known subscriber to speeding, his daredevil but calculated exploits in last year's Grand Prix de Malte in his MG Midget consolidated his racing reputation. Those exploits have now become part of local four wheeled folklore.
"Blame it on my elder brother Adrian," he says. "My parents had no interest in old cars. Adrian used to buy the British monthly motoring magazine, Motor Sport.
"Established in 1924, it is still going strong, and features a mix of old and new cars. Adrian and I used to devour it."
Paul's glowing admiration for his brother - eight years his senior - grew stronger when the latter bought a Triumph Herald convertible which he later replaced with a Triumph Spitfire.
For many years, Paul limited this growing interest to reading, subscribing to Motor Sport - his collection dates uninterruptedly to 1975. He also amassed a considerable number of old motoring books.
By 1996, it was time to act. "On my daily drive to work, I used to see a 1961 Midget in British racing green, with a 'for sale' sign on it in front of a Birkirkara garage. One day I decided to stop to ask for details. The asking price was excessive, but after some hard bargaining, I got it," Paul recalls delightfully.
Although licensed, the car was in a very bad shape and not roadworthy. The chassis was bent, the floorboards were rusting and filled with fibreglass - an immediate nuts and bolt restoration was needed.
Paul asked a friend, Gaston Mifsud, the proud owner of a noteworthy classic car collection himself, for help. Gaston recommended two renowned restorers plying their trade in Żebbuġ.
"So many parts needed replacement: we needed 18 different shipments from the UK. But the restorers' craftsmanship in panel beating is second to none". The project lasted 18 months. Such was the perfect state of rehabilitation that when Gaston was taken for a drive afterwards, he remarked that the newly born car, now old English white, had the same feel and perfect hum he remembered he took delivery of his first MG Midget, aged 17, 30 years earlier.
The car was to prove its real mettle 10 years later, when during the 30 laps of the Grand Prix in Valletta, Paul frequently hit 80 mph. "This embodies one of my two main old motoring philosophies - that driving a classic car should be a spot of harmless fun. It should be an experience, a sensation of innovation," Paul insists.
He acknowledges the source of his philosophy is one of his role models, the erstwhile eccentric Motor Sport correspondent, Denis Jenkinson.
Leafing through a thick book, Paul explains that 'Jenks' used to travel from one Grand Prix circuit to another in his 1959 Porsche 356. "Besides filing race reports, he used to compete in circuits. In 1955, he navigated with Stirling Moss in the Mille Miglia in a Mercedes 722, and they still hold the average speed record of the competition section."
Paul has another project in the pipeline: "For 13 years I had been eyeing a red 1969 Fiat 850 Sports Coupe, driven by an elderly gentleman in Birkirkara. The body of this left-hand drive had been designed by Mario Boano, head of design at the Ghia establishment in Turin. In 2002, through the Old Motors Club grapevine, I learnt this car was up for sale. The owner refused my offer outright."
Two years later, while doing a ward round at St Luke's Hospital, he received a call. The Fiat 850 owner asked if he was still interested in the car as he was unable to drive anymore.
"It was in good condition, except for the usual body rust and rot. Mileage was low - 25,000 miles over 36 years. It even had the original Pirelli Cinturato tyres," Paul recalls. He drove it for a year before taking it to the trusted restorers for a complete overhaul.
Parts were procured from Italy, Holland, Germany and the US and he expects a more sophisticated finish than the Midget's when it is completed in November, just in time for the Grand Prix.
Paul's wife is a general surgeon. "Over the years, Angela has also caught the bug, and can now go into the technical details of a Delahaye or a Hispano Suiza!" The couple's travels have included visits to the Schlumpff Bugatti Collection in Mulhouse, France; the Grümd Museum in Austria, where Porsche relocated during World War II, and the Galleria Ferrari and the Maserati Collection, in Modena.
Paul's son Jean Paul is 15 and competes with his father to read Motor Sport first. Daughter Gabriela, 14, makes up this classic car quartet - she thoroughly enjoyed the family trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex this summer.
Paul dreams of owning a Porsche 356, just like Jenks, and taking it through its paces at the Nurburg Ring outside Cologne. "With its 22kms circuit and 172 up and downhill curves per lap, it is the most challenging racing circuit in the world," he says.
The Grand Prix de Malte is uppermost in his mind. "I have travelled the world to see such cars, and now they have started coming here. I cannot forget last year's slow down lap after the racing events had finished; as dusk approached, the atmosphere was punctured by the clapping of the crowd, the gasping of enthralled children, the flashing of the cameras", recalls Paul with nostalgia.
The Flying Doctor is revving to go.
http://www.oldmotorsclub.com, info@oldmotorsclub.com
• Mr Busuttil is PRO of the Old Motors Club