A 2007 Waltham ! ( UPDATE II: a delicate area)

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One can admire him, or one can despise him. We learned from his work only yesterday. In our view he is an artist. Frédéric Moortgat from Belgium has finished a brandnew 1902 Waltham only very recently.

Frédéric Moortgat: "Being retired, I enjoy myself with building copies or replicas of early cars, with partly old and completely new made parts. Sometimes I am a bit shy about these activities as "it is not the real thing". Some people are so remarkably informed that they even know how many buttons there are on the fly of the driver, when they examine some old pictures. But do I really have to be ashamed about my work? Fifteen years back I constructed the '1895 Vincke' (edit.:several experts thought it was genuine) and now I have finished the 'Waltham 1902'. The Waltham car is for 60% built with items I bought with the help of your website. Old parts on the Waltham are: the engine, the gear box, the seat, the acethylene lamps, the oilers, parts of the steering, and the rest I built myself, with the exact measurements as I found in my documentation."

Editor: we wonder how many other 'Mr. Moortgat' constructors are among us. You may remember the 'Back' mystery..? [email protected]
UPDATE II by Bob Apalsch:"This is very a very delicate area to discuss.On one hand we have a gentleman that has great talent.On the other hand we have a secondary market place where these vehicles(and similiar items)are sold.Usually the first party is very forthcoming as to the origins of his item.However,after it has passed through several hands the tale of origins becomes muddled and somehow the article has evolved from finely crafted recreation to the genuine(many times with a pedigree!). I have no problem with any recreation. A man can do with his time as he desires. Is this any different than the vehicles produced in South America that resemble very closely Bugattis produced in fact by Bugatti? Yet ,the recreations themselves have achieved a legitimacy all their own. What about the Frazier Nash TT replicas? I suppose it all boils down to ethics on the part of the seller and education of the buyer."
editor: Thanks for that Bob, what I like about this is that the maker stepped forward and honestly told us about his work. As we do not dump stories after a short while but keep them recorded in our back files this car is now documented and known. The BIG difference with the replicas that you mention is, is that parts which are available are used to make these lookalikes. There is no Watham engine in this Waltham. The engien is but it is no Waltham and for sure not a replica of a Waltham engine. Do you catch the difference? So it needs a Waltham expert to say this is no Waltham. Everything is old, except the date of manufacture...
UPDATE I by Frédéric Moortgat:"I found (the engine) near the place where I live where I met a man who had a private museum of old German prewar and war artifacts. He even had on the wall a big picture of a man with a mustache and the right hand uprised catching flies. He had a lot of parts of old cars and I found there for 150 Euro a two cylinder air cooled engine with gear box and diff. assembled. The old engine was brand new and the next morning it was already working. I do not know the year it was built, I do not know the manufacturer and I do not know for what purpose it was built. Nevertheless it is certainly too young for the car, but it suited wonderfully. It has three gears forwards one gear reverse and the clutch."

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