The Lilliput garage: hand-crafting car miniatures since 2003

These hand-crafted scale models of cars that come out of a little workshop in Coimbatore drive us into a past of auto glory

Alexander George holds his father responsible. In 2003, in an effort to educate people about the transportation industry, his father, George Peter, and he started building miniature landscapes that traversed mud roads and the latest road-building technologies. The idea was to take it to schools and exhibitions, which they did.

Soon their work spread to making vintage car miniatures. The idea of building these models excited George, as the challenges were different and the journey was as exciting as the destination. He began to collect all information from a variety of sources: the encyclopaedias, the internet and books from his father’s collection before starting the process.

Scale down

From the self-propelled carriage of 1770 to Karl Benz’s Motorwagen, pedal powered steam engine ones to electric cars, George’s collection reflect delicate details of craftsmanship, completely hand-crafted with eco-friendly materials. The models are scaled 1:10 or 1:12 in size and care is taken to be as accurate as possible on both exterior and interior. Each is built using several materials including wood, 300 GSM cardboard and more, depending on the requirement. All the models are brush-painted, using paints that vary from enamel to water to oil paints.

Each usually takes about two to three weeks to finish, but he says he doesn’t worry about the amount of work or time that taken. Many old models are not available even in pictures and some from the 18th century had only handmade sketches to work with. In three years, the father-son duo made 75 miniatures of classic cars ranging from the 1770s to the 1950s.

Their collection includes some very rare cars like Bugatti’s Royale Victoria (only six were built on this body style) and Doble Steam Engine car from 1931. Unfortunatly, George lost his father in 2007, and slowed his process, but he continues to work at it, having added 5 more models since then.

Background, foreground

George has diplomas in civil engineering and architecture. His father founded the GP Architecture Modelling in 1980, a company that specializes in making miniatures of residential and industrial models.

Today, builds car miniatures for others upon request. More than anything though, he dreams of opening a museum in Coimbatore to display all the auto miniatures they’ve built. This was something that his father had dreamed of and George is looking for funders. He also has plans to start building ships, airplanes and satellites to showcase the technological advancements of modern science. The miniatures will be used to tell the story of our development and the rich history around them to students and others who visit the museum.