Avetik Pandeyan the restorer

Another talented restorer is Avetik Pandeyan, who is known for his passion for European classic cars, particularly for those from the early 1930’s. Pandeyan’s collection includes real jewels of the German pre-war automotive industry.
 This master started his career in the 1970’s with restorations of trophy cars and motorcycles, the most prominent of which was the BMW 327 depicted in the photo with its new and happy owner from Europe.

 The next project was personal and planned to be implemented in the mid 1990’s. Back in 1984, Mr. Avetik managed to get a trophy convertible BMW 320 of 1938 production. After the war, the car was brought to Rostov, where it was used by an officer’s family. After some time, the car was in Shushi, a city in Nagorno-Karabakh, where, after many years, it was found fallen into decay. The restoration works on this car started in 1995. The body of the convertible was in critical condition. The doors, front wings and side steps had to be newly made in accordance with original drawings. The aluminum side panel of the hood with its tilt control mechanism and ventilation hole patterns, as well as the gills of the radiator grille, which has always been considered as the trademark of the BMW, had also to be reconstructed from scratch.
It should be mentioned that despite the pitiable state of the body, the original components were almost in an excellent state of preservation. In technical aspect, the car virtually remained 100% original, including the engine, manual transmission, drivetrain, front and rare suspension. Now, add to all this a lovingly restored interior and we have a perfect classic BMW, the owner of which will be looked at with envy.
The restoration works of this car, with some pauses and delays, lasted about 15 years.

Presently, Pandeyan is engaged in restoration of another pre-war German trophy convertible. This time this is an Audi produced in 1934. This model Mr. Avetik acquired in the territory of the former Soviet Union, but he refused to go into details about the exact country. The restoration project, which started 16 years ago, now is nearing to completion. The works on the body and its wooden structure is already completed.

The master complains that it takes quite a long time to find the original missing parts of the interior. Similar to the BMW 320, this instance also pleases with its completeness. All the elements of the technical part were produced more than 80 years ago and belong to Auto Union AG, the immediate predecessor of today’s Audi.