Nearly 80 vintage cars, each embodying a rich history, paraded through the lanes of Egmore on Sunday.
A Dodge Kingsway, which carried former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran to his political meetings, cars that were once owned by A.V. Meyyappa Chettiar, industrialist T.V. Sundaram Iyengar and others followed, at ‘My TVS Heritage Rally.'
After a short trip around Egmore, the flashy reds, blues and yellows got back to Don Bosco. A long line-up of elegant sedans Austin 8, Austin Somerset, Mini Cooper, Jaguar and Moris Minor, impressed the visitors as much as the exotic Volkswagon, six-cylinder Plymouth Savoy, Mercedez Benz, Fiat-500 and the good-old Standard Vanguard. There was also a Morris Mini Moke, the only car in India with a two-gear auto-transmission.
Leading the rally was a Chevrolet (1933), which had travelled over 100,000 miles, including nearly 25 trips from Madurai to Mumbai. “The car has been a participant in many watershed events and political rallies. It took us a year and three months to restore the car,” said Sundaram Motors Executive Director Sharath Vijayaraghavan. Trailing behind were 10 vintage bikes that rounded off the rally. “The event is growing bigger over the years,” said V.S. Kylas, secretary of the Madras Heritage Motoring Club, which organised the rally.
