Page 19 - May2022

Cave , cont inued form page 18

March 17th was the day of my first, in person, sighting of a Riley automobile. ( An Alvis is also on my
bucket list in case there's anyone out there listening.) I had been promised a ride, top down, in this car
that some members of the NBCC call 'The Queen Mum'. Knowing its worth, The Lynx would have, I
believe, given me a royal wave if I'd thought to bring a bouquet. While I am taken by the ?look?,
t
including the thoughtfulness and beauty of both the design and the mechanicals , I also can? help but
notice that the touring car in front of me is in what's best described as existing in a state of
?preservation as found?.

This is an obscure term used by museums and historical interest sites, coined in 1962 when the state of
California took over a former boom town, Bodie, abandoned by the majority of its occupants when the
easy pickings gold and silver dried up in the area. Bodie's last resident, a caretaker, left the high desert
and remote town, located northeast of Yosemite National Park, in 1944, when the federal government
ordered all gold mining to cease during World War II.

[See the sidebar on p. 23, If You Go There, to get a look at what preservation in place looks like if you were to
make the drive to see an authentic ghost town. It's worth the effort. ]

When applied to sites like Bodie, "preservat ion as found", is also called ?preserved in place?, or
uncharitably, preserved in a state of "arrest ed decay?. This means that a site ( or in this instance a car)
is maintained only to the degree necessary to ensure structural safety, its artifacts left in place, telling
by its appearance the story of how things change over time, even as enthusiasts are left to experience
the natural aging. It?s a far different approach to honoring the past than using a standard
preservation or total restoration point of view, which aims to recreate what a car or place looked like

when new. Continues on p. 20
Below: An Aut hent ic Example of Preserved in Place

19