Gleaming vintage cars on a roll

Forty vehicles participate in heritage rally from Chennai to Puducherry

Elegance on wheels: Racing champion Karun Chandhok flags off The Hindu Heritage Car Rally 2012 at the Elliots beach in Chennai on Saturday. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

They glided by elegantly one after the other – a Willys Jeep, a Land Master, an Austin 7 Chummy Sourer and a Rover, followed by a Ford Mustang, a Plymouth Savoy – Sedan and a Triumph 1300.

Forty in all, these were part of a royal parade of the yesteryear beauties down the Elliots beach at the Heritage Car Rally 2012 on Saturday. But it was not these classy symbols of privilege alone that were in the limelight as a considerable crowd, especially young F1 fans, came to cheer racing champion Karun Chandhok who inaugurated the rally.

The rally for vintage cars from Chennai to Puducherry was organised by

The Hindu in association with the Madras Heritage Motoring Club, for the second time.

“There is a lot that goes into periodic maintenance of these vehicles which is very important,” said V.S. Kylas, Secretary of the Madras Heritage Motoring Club, pointing to his Austin 80 that he managed to find after tracking it for over two decades.

“The technology in modern cars is much more sophisticated. For instance, it is very difficult to wait in traffic in your vintage car. It gets heated up fast because the cooling systems might not be very good, but these cars have a certain class that many of these new ones lack,” said Ranjit Pratap, who owns nearly 35 vintage cars. The cars at the rally belonged to the period between 1920 and 1960.

Also part of the rally were many old bikes. “I had to wait for a long time to get this 1969 bullet because this woman in my church refused to part with it, would not even allow me to have a look at it. Finally, she agreed, and sold it to me but made me promise I would not sell it,” said Emmanuel Nathan, a participant. “The magneto that runs it and its length is what drives me so crazy,” he added.

It is the collection and preservation of these vehicles that matters to these people and the admiring glances they attract while they cruise along the roads makes it worth the effort.

“It is fascinating that we have cars, over 100-150 years old still plying on roads here. This is because we have the capability to re-engineer and maintain them,” said Mr Kylas, talking of Indian mechanics. Ancient French cars with gear boxes right front of their engines and some with two-gear auto-transmission were also at the rally. “Events like this help us bring the cars out, and ensure they are maintained properly,” Mr. Kylas added.

VGN Developers was the presenting sponsor for the event in association with Pondicherry Tourism. Other partners for the event were Lavazza – coffee partner, Raddisson – hospitality partner, Kingfisher packaged drinking water – beverage partner, Rasam and Anandha Inn – food partners, My TVS-Contest partner and spa Senza – gift partner.