R2000 REWARD FOR RETURN OF 'WORK OF ART'

+ Click to Enlarge RADIATOR STOLEN: The radiator of this 1907 Nordenfelt car - the only survivor of this make in the world - has been stolen from a house in Rosebank, Cape Town.

December 28, 2007
By Dominique Herman

An irreplaceable original brass-rimmed radiator from the only surviving 1907 Nordenfelt car in the world has been stolen from a home in Rosebank, Cape Town, where it was being repaired.

Owner Stuart Halsall, who retired in South Africa from England in 1999, said: "I feel terrible that I brought the car to this country.

"In other countries they'd probably try to sell it whole and there would be a good chance of finding it in one piece.

"But the outer skin of brass and copper fins for which it was probably stolen would fetch very little in comparison with the monetary value of the radiator as a whole.

"If you look at it, it's a work of art. It's quite a unique piece of motoring history."

Halsall said he had been to every scrapyard and reported the theft to the police.

An engineering colleague of Halsall's was repairing the leaky radiator at his home and left it on the verandah of his home for half an hour at about 10pm on the night of December 13.

When he returned, the lock on the gate had been broken and the radiator was gone.

The radiator would not have been visible from the street, Halsall said; he believed the thieves could have seen his colleague working on it.

Fellow Crankhandle club member Jon Driver-Jowitt said: "It's impossible to replace; the real tragedy is that it's been stolen for scrap and will be destroyed for a few rand."

The radiator is about 60cm high with brass-edged horizontal cooling tubes and a brass neck. On the brass at the top is an oval plate with the name Nordenfelt, and at the bottom is the name of the French manufacturer.

Halsall is offering a R2000 reward for the return of the radiator. He can be reached on 082 718 7660.