1956 Monarch Richelau Convertible “Mona Lisa”

My dear friend and mentor Brian Kelly, was behind the reason why this car ended up in my possession.
after having finished the restoration of my Belair, I thought maybe I should look for a convertible to fix up next.

I was looking at another convertible when Brian tells me, you need to come up to visit me as I have something you need to see. you shouldn’t buy this car, I know just what car you 

Now, at this point in time I only owned one car.  So after a year an half of Brian calling me on a monthly basis to come up and see what he had I finally caved in and say ok. I thought then maybe the contact calls about this car would stop.  

he opens up this garage and there she is, this beat up old monarch. It looked very very rough to me. So I immediately told Brian, I don’t think I have the ski

Brian reassures me many many times throughout this year and half, that he believes I am capable of restoring this car. More importantly he teaches me about this rare piece of Canadian automotive history.

Once I learned about its rarity, I was even more nervous about touching such a car let alone cutting it up and restoring it. 

But Brian being Brian, kept at me. I asked him if I could have some time to think about it because I wanted to research this car. Find manuals, parts, any information that could be helpful if I was going to take it on. I think he understood me more than I did at that point in time.
Because this car belonI don’t like committing to things unless I know I can deliver and this was a challenge on a ne