The true colours of a historic Cobb and Co stage coach have come shining through, thanks to cleaning work being undertaken during the Otago Settlers Museum's $35 million redevelopment project.
Bought for the museum in 1941, the coach has long been part of the museum's transport collection, but for decades its underlying colours have remained hidden by accumulated dust and dirt.
A month of intensive cleaning, including gentle washing, has proved a revelation, with a lighter shade of red already visible outside the previously somewhat dingy-looking coach cab and bright yellow paint emerging unexpectedly from the previously dull brown wheels and chassis.
"I'm really over the moon about the way it's coming up," museum preparator Steve Munro said.
Working with a conservator, Laurence Le Ber, and using soap and water, soft cloths and several toothbrushes, Mr Munro had been "really amazed" by the transformation.
Exhibitions team leader Jennifer Evans said cleaning and conservation work had been continuing on a series of large items throughout the year.
The museum's distinctive, striped Tiger Tea bus, a trolley bus which began its service in Dunedin in 1951, has been fully cleaned, as have four cars, including a 1929 Austin 7 and a 1948 Morris 8.
• American-built "Concord" coaches operated for many years in Otago. Cobb and Co coach operator Charles Cole started a service between Dunedin and Gabriels Gully in 1861, to meet gold rush requirements.
Work on several other items, including an early boat and a 19th-century fire engine, the Pride of Dunedin, will soon begin, so they can be moved into revamped galleries by October.
