How beautiful it is standing there, now at Restoration Center Stolk in Balkbrug and soon at the stables of Castle de Haar. After six months of intensive work, the restoration of the yacht break is finished. The cloth cushions are in place like cast, the candle lamps may burn and the Mühlbacher brand shines again as of old. It is finished!

"What was most disappointing at first was the biggest setback," restorer Maria Stolk looks at the yellow-black vehicle, "There was really no improvement in the yellow on the wheels and undercarriage. I almost resigned myself to the fact that it was just not possible to get that yellow cleaner and brighter. Especially on the elliptical springs, but really whole undercarriage, it looked very unattractive." But she persisted. The old, dirty varnish had to and would come off. And behold the fantastic result: the black trim really stands out against the yellow again.

"An always difficult and sometimes very frustrating issue is to make the right color for the hundreds and if not more retouches. There is no such thing as one right color. And restoration paint never gives that effect and depth of the old paint. I have seen quite a few preserved coaches in America, France and England and what is striking is that restorers always choose one color of paint to touch up damages, with the result that even from a distance you quickly see them. If you look more closely at the old yellow at the break, you can also see that it is not one color of yellow. The color has acquired many nuances over time and through the layers of varnish, which in the case of a carriage, unlike a painting, form a whole with the varnish layer. If you fill in with one color, you get a "dead spot" of yellow in the whole, and it's no different with the black. An additional problem is that restoration paint darkens as it dries and you can't really see how it turns out until you put the final varnish over it. A carriage is not a Rembrandt's Night Watch: you just can't keep busy with a magnifying glass on your nose ad infinitum," Maria Stolk is modest, for only a critic with a razor-sharp eye can point out the retouches on the yacht's break.

"Half a year" was allotted for the job that started last October. The break was thus completed perfectly on schedule. This was only possible because Stolk's team worked hefty overtime: "A lot, unfortunately more than anticipated. Anyway, sewing up the patient halfway through is not an option here. You are simply mistaken about the amount of square centimeters. Have you ever cut a large branch out of a large tree? You think, just cut away a branch, and then when it's on the ground it suddenly looks like a have tree you've cut down. Then you are startled. Right at the start of dismantling the four seats, the two rear flaps and the front shield, my work area was already full. Even then I knew, I have to hurry."

Now that the yacht break is ready for transport to Haarzuilens, Maria can reminisce, "The whole job was fun. I am a real coach fanatic. And working on such a masterpiece in its original condition is a dream come true. I know of no comparable carriage in this intact and never before restored condition." And that for someone who has seen and studied many carriages in her life.

What put the biggest smile on her face? "That the carriage has been preserved. Untouched! As it was used and maintained by its owner. Complete with the visible scars. Never stripped bare and completely repainted in modern paint. Just not trashed. That gives me goosebumps. That's how pure the true enthusiast prefers to see them."

Last Tuesday, March 5, the transport to the stables of Castle de Haar was arranged. There the carriage can be admired by everyone next season.