Honda, a relative of Siegfried Anna Meirovitsa, will continue its journey in the Riga Motor Museum / Article

“Love at first sight”

Ingrīda Meierovics bought the bright red “Honda Accord” in 1989 in Munich. At a time when the celebrated revolution had already begun in Latvia, but the restoration of the country’s independence still seemed like a dream, Mrs. Meierovicas, a refugee child of the Second World War, returned to Europe after living in Australia and America to work in the Latvian editorial office of Radio “Brīva Eiropa”. The year 1989 is also the moment of the birth of the Riga Motor Museum, but its employee Valtas Ceplevičas was only one year old at that time.

Recently, the owner of “Honda” decided to hand over the keys to Ceplevič, so that the car would then end up in the museum’s collection. Currently, Ceplevičs is in Sweden with this car – on a trip of the Latvian Antique Automobile Club.

“The story has turned out that the car will go on almost the same route as Mrs. Meierovics traveled to Latvia. Tomorrow evening we will get on the ferry and drive to Travemundi, via Copenhagen up to Gothenburg, then to Stockholm, no longer with the “Iļjič” ferry, but “Stena Line” to Ventspils and back,” said Ceplevičs.

When Meierovica bought this car five years before returning to Latvia, the bridge connecting Copenhagen and Malmo, over which Ceplevičs drove the car in those days, had not yet been built, and the new “Volvo” museum in Gothenburg, which the members of the antique car club from Latvia had just visited on their trip, had not yet been built. conceived.

Meierovica, who has lived in America for a long time, was already quite an experienced driver in 1989. Her husband, Gunārs Meierovics, was an even bigger fan of cars – the son of the first foreign minister of the Republic of Latvia, Siegfried Annas Meierovics, whose United Baltic Committee, established in Washington, had considerable merit in the restoration of Latvia’s independence.

About the red Honda car, Meyrowitz said: “It was love at first sight, as you might say. I lived in Munich and I had a small Honda, a Honda Civic, which for Germany’s big roads and the speed with which people drive there, It didn’t quite fit. I went to a nearby Honda dealership. They had this red Honda on display. I asked if it was for sale settled. I left my little gray Honda as a deposit. My husband had come from Washington, and I said to him, “I bought a new car!” Did you buy a car? You? What?” But when he saw the car, he literally fell in love with it.”

Returned to Latvia as part of the family

The time when Meierovica gradually paid off this car is long gone. As a memento from Gunnar, she also kept and gave to Ceplevič a retro goatskin cloth, which was bought for polishing the car by her now deceased husband, who cherished this car like a baby.

Meyrowitz said: “First of all, it was a very powerful car, very suitable for German roads, because you could pick up speed very quickly. I could almost compete with all BMWs and Mercedes. Years passed, we drove almost all of Europe – including Austria , both Switzerland and Sweden. The time came when we could return to Latvia, he was already active in politics. I had done my job well, Radio “Free Europe” was no longer there , what to do, although it continued to exist, but moved from Germany to the Czech Republic.”

Meierovica returned to Latvia with her beloved red Honda car, full of belongings. She believes that it is the most important stop in the life of this car and also the fulfillment of her own life. From Travemunde in Northern Germany by ferry to the port of Gothenburg, across the whole of Sweden to Stockholm, from where the already mentioned ferry “Iļjič” ran to Riga. Both “Honda” and its owner had to get used to the cold, wet Latvian winters and the road quality of the first years of independence.

“At that time, Latvian roads… had more potholes than smooth asphalt, and I often got scolded by my husband for breaking my Honda by driving too much in the countryside, and once I even had my muffler ripped off because I had run over a corn field,” Meirovica said. .

Watched by caring craftsmen, the red “Honda” continued to carry out its mission, since 2007 also taking the mistress to the Meža cemetery in Riga to her husband Gunnar, and every year on August 22, the day of Siegfried Anna Meierovics’ death, to a place near Brizule near Tukum. where 99 years ago Latvia’s first foreign minister died in a tragic accident and where the erected monument also survived Soviet times.

For Meirovitsa, this “Honda” is something more than just an ordinary car – hundreds of memories are associated with it. The former owner emphasized that she drove it for so long also because of its really excellent quality. Although everything else about the car, except for the red color, is inconspicuous, she happened to experience moments when connoisseurs on the side of the street show thumbs up, she recalled with a laugh: “Many newer models just don’t last bruisesbecause machines are manufactured differently than several decades ago.”

The car could end up in the collection of vehicles related to Latvian statesmen in the Riga Motor Museum

Meierovica thinks that “Honda” did not stand out as a special status symbol in Latvia even in the 90s, Western cars appeared here at the speed of an avalanche. However, Agris Šmits, director of the Riga Motor Museum, which is under the management of the Road Safety Directorate, sees a place for it in the collection of vehicles related to Latvian statesmen, where, for example, the service car of ex-president Vaira Vīķes-Freiberga has already been included.

Schmidt said: “That car, thank God, was not scrapped or thrown away. When it finished its service life, it was handed over to the armed forces. We have a good relationship with the armed forces and the men who keep these cars. One part of them, maybe , is used for spare parts for other vehicles, but this was the unique case where the vehicle was neither dismantled nor abandoned, and we had a chance to get it.”

While Vairas Vīke-Freiberg’s former “Mercedes Benz” is still being cleaned and is waiting for display in the museum exposition, Meierovic’s “Honda” in good working order will participate in the 35th anniversary trip of the Baltic Road from Tallinn via Riga to Vilnius in August, which is organized by the antiques of all three Baltic countries. car clubs. Motomuseum employee Ceplevičs promises to invite the long-term owner of the vehicle.