Mohammed Mohiedin Anis (born 1946/47), also known as Abu Omar, is a Syrian businessman and car collector, based in
Aleppo. A March 2017 photograph of him sitting on his bed, smoking a pipe and listening to his wind-up record player in a rubble-strewn room has been widely reproduced.
Early life
Anis studied medicine in
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, Spain, in the 1970s.
His father was a wealthy textile dye entrepreneur.
["Aleppo automotive lover goals to revive his ´wounded´ classics , World"]
Laalo.net.
Career
In the 1970s, he was employed in Italy translating
Fiat car manuals into Arabic.
Later he went back to Syria and opened a cosmetics factory called "Mila Robinson".
Car collection
Anis states that his fascination with classic cars goes back to the 1950 Pontiac that his father drove, and which Anis still owns.
His first purchase was a 1947 Plymouth.
His collection now includes dozens of cars from the 1940s and 1950s, and prior to the
Syrian Civil War, he had hoped to open a museum in Syria.
His favourite among his collection is a 1947 Cadillac convertible, now badly damaged, that he bought in a 2005 auction.
He maintains that "no car collection is complete without at least one Cadillac",
and his collection also includes a
VW Thing, a 1955
Buick Super
The Buick Super is a full-sized automobile produced by Buick from 1940 through the 1958 model years, with a brief hiatus from 1943 through 1945. The first generation shared the longer wheelbase with the top level Roadmaster while offering the sma ...
, a 1949
Hudson Commodore
The Hudson Commodore is an automobile that was produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1941 and 1952. During its time in production, the Commodore was the largest and most luxurious Hudson model.
First generation ...
, a 1957
Mercury Montclair
The Mercury Montclair is a series of full-size sedans that were manufactured and marketed by the Mercury division of Ford. The nameplate was used by the division twice, from the 1955 to the 1960 model years and from the 1964 to the 1968 model ye ...
, a 1958
Chevrolet Apache, a cargo-van bodied
Citroen 2CV, a 1947 Plymouth, as well as other vintage Buicks and Cadillacs.
Anis's collection of classic cars reached some 30 vehicles, but has slowly dwindled during the war.
In January 2016, he had 24 vintage cars, having lost six to shelling.
To prevent theft of the cars, he removes the steering wheels and seats. During the conflict, his neighbours stopped rebels who wanted to mount an anti-aircraft gun on a 1958 Chevrolet.
He had to leave Aleppo for a time at the height of the
Battle of Aleppo
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, and when he returned only 13 cars were left (including his 1947 Cadillac convertible, now badly damaged), seven having been impounded by the Syrian police, and 10 either missing or destroyed in the war.
In March 2017, Anis estimated that altogether, one-third of the collection had been either destroyed or stolen.
He says, "When one of my cars is hit, it's as if I or one of my relatives has been hit. It's as if they were my children, so I come down to check on them".
Personal life
Anis lives alone in the formerly rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Shaar in
Aleppo, his family having fled due to the war.
He has eight children with two wives, one in Aleppo, the other in
Hama, and would like to leave his cars to his children, two to every boy, one to every girl.
He speaks five languages, and likes to smoke a pipe while listening to classical music, and to Syrian singers such as
Mohamed Dia al-Din.
References
External links
Slide show of his cars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anis, Mohammed Mohiedin
1940s births
Living people
Car collectors
Year of birth uncertain
Syrian businesspeople
20th-century businesspeople
21st-century businesspeople