Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
MAN AND MACHINE
Heritage travels memory lane
|
The recently conducted MyTVS Heritage Car Rally in Chennai posted a brilliant turnout
|
PHOTOS: R RAGU
OLD IS GOLD ... or any other colour you like. The admirers of these cars included Sri Lankan spin bowler, Muthiah Muralitharan.
Owners of vintage vehicles unlocked their garages and took their prized possessions in a procession around some of the busiest city roads on Sunday. Before (and after) the beauty parade, these old, but graceful vehicles took their positions at Sankara Nethralaya on College Road.
Before flagging off the MyTVS Heritage Car Rally (hosted jointly by T V Sundaram Iyengar & Sons Limited and Madras Heritage Motoring Club), celebrated cricketer Muthiah Muralitharan got behind the wheel of Dr. Hisamuddin Papa's sporty, boat-tailed 1932 Singer Junior. A rather unlikely match, because the two-seater earned its name from the speed it generated (during its heyday) on the track, while the Sri Lankan bowler is definitely slower down the track.
However, on Sunday the spinner did a quickie, vamoosing from the scene, probably because he did not want to be tied down to interviews with overenthusiastic sports journalists, whose strength was next only to the vintage vehicles that had turned out for the pageant — over 70 vintage and classic cars and about 30 motorcycles under the same classification.
The rally was pretty high on the speed quotient. T T Raghunathan was enjoying a great deal of media attention, thanks to his spotless, red MGA, "one of the 1,01,081 sports cars that the British Motor Corporation (or rather its MG division) produced between 1955 and 1962." Ranjit Pratap's white, 2.4 litre Jaguar MkII was the cause of prolonged clicks. Only three months ago, the car gave up a European lifestyle and turned cosmopolitan by choosing to share Ranjit's "car house" in Kotturpuram with marques from four corners of the world (the rally gave an indication of the vastness of his collection). This car also contributed immensely to the speed quotient. A good number of the MkIIs that came out of the Coventry workshop took part in the European Touring Car Championship, with enviable results. C S Ananth's 1966 MG B and T Venkatesh's MG TB represented what was considered `fast' in two very different eras.
As always, M S Guhan's fleet of immaculately maintained cars (Chevrolet Fleet Master, Vauxhall 14, Dodge Brothers, Chevrolet Style Line, Baby Hindustan, Studebaker President, Triumph Herald, Chevrolet Impala and Dodge Kingsway were among the 14 cars he brought to Sankara Nethralaya) lent variety to the line-up. Guhan's contribution to the city's vintage movement goes far beyond his own cars and bikes, because he has freely lent space and technical assistance to many heritage vehicle owners. About two dozen vehicles that took part in the Sunday rally came from his spacious garage at the AVM Studios on Arcot Road.
C.S. Ananth's 1932 Austin 12/4 Burnham caught judge Raja Mukherjee's eye. It won the concours d'elegance in the pre-40 category, while TAFE's 1951 Rover obtained the honour in the 1940-60 category and Ranjit's 1968 Jaguar in the 1961-70.
It was a double for the Austin 12/4 as it won the "best restored car" (in the pre-1940 category) title as well. The car has stuck the right balance between wood and metal. To arrive at such exact proportions, Ananth had sought assistance from overseas Austin clubs.
Siddharth's 1933 BSA was adjudged the best maintained bike, in the pre-1940 category. In the 1940-50 flock, Siddharth's 1942 Indian stood out and in the 1952-70, Gopal's 1967 Jawa was adjudged the pick of the lot.
Participants had to wear period costumes. Most decided a panama hat was all it required. As only four took pains to come dressed up for the occasion made, judging was a piece of cake for Kiran Rao of Amethyst. Prizes were given away to the "rule-abiding" four.
Noor Ahmed Sait and son Shah Rukh were togged up like Nawabs, Srinivasan resembled a nobleman and Dr. Hisamuddin Papa could have put a dress-conscious Englishman (of the 1940s) to shame. Siddharth was rewarded for his military greens, which made an effort to merge into his military-spec BSA.
PRINCE FREDERICK
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
