{"id":27590,"date":"2017-02-27T12:51:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T12:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/?p=27590"},"modified":"2017-02-27T12:51:58","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T12:51:58","slug":"english-mumbai-goes-vintage-on-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/?p=27590","title":{"rendered":"Mumbai goes vintage on wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"

They can make heads turn at any traffic signal and they’re as old as 1919! If you find yourself staring too, you’re excused. For among Mumbai’s vintage beauties on wheels are some of the most beautiful, well-made cars that money can buy. And for the collectors of these cars in the city, each spells a whole world of old-fashioned fun on its own.
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\n‘Our Sunday drive around town is a must’<\/strong>
\nA rally yesterday from Horniman Circle<\/a> at Fountain to Bandra saw these vehicles rev it up in style. From shiny classic luxury cars to snazzy motorbike-cycles, folks got an eyeful of the vehicles. But if you are out on another early Sunday too, you might catch them talking a languorous route around town. “That’s our own weekend fun,” says Kainaz Master, near her 1960 blue and white car, referring the fun their group has “The Sunday drive is a must, we wait for it all week. Sometimes it’s up to Chembur, otherwise just a route that others decide. We have coffee and return.” Adds Aman Mogul<\/a>, who has a classic that he says was once owned by Satya Sai Baba, “It’s literally like a car brotherhood. We have such a passion for cars and even though we have our regular discussions, even on our Sunday meet-ups the discussion is only about our vintage cars. We don’t have time to
\ndiscuss women,” he laughs.Car enthusiast Amal Tanna’s 2.1 aeroflow designed car won best in its class this year. “Did you know that the Wright Brothers looked into the designing of it?” he asks. When Tanna imported the vehicle from the US it was in a very different state. “I spared no effort to restore it completely \u2014 from the chassis to the woodwork, engine, hubcaps, everything \u2014 and now it’s ‘as it left the factory’,” he grins.<\/p>\n

Car restorer speak<\/strong>
\nCity-based car restorer Kaizad Engineer who has his own garage, admits that for Mumbaikars, it’s money no bounds when it comes restoring these classic beauties. “The owners want parts sourced for them from as far as Australia, Scotland and the UK.
\nSometimes, when a part has to made for the car and manufacturing units say they will have to make at least 200 pieces, they say, ‘go ahead make 200, we’ll use just one.’ A few owners also want custom-made leather that goes up to `1 lakh. And for some cars, each tyre itself costs a lakh each,” he says.<\/p>\n

Indian railways executive and bike restorer by hobby, Anil Bhingarde<\/a>‘s 1957 model bike won international awards and a 21-gun salute (accolades at an international event). “I bought the bike about seven years ago and it was in a very bad condition, even the parts were not original. I imported the parts and today it’s an unmissable part of my rides. I take her off-roading around Mumbai, too, towards Alibuag and towards Khandala with the gang. It’s tougher to ride in the city as these are old machines and can’t cope with heavy traffic, you need an open road. You also get 1919 hybrid motorcycle-bikes; these are surely poster bikes of another era,” he says.\u00a0blooded might have a place here, for the cars are as precious as they can get. Amyn Mecklai<\/a>, resident of South Mumbai who drives his 1963 classic to his office at Fountain,<\/p>\n

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actually has a person who only to ‘watches over’ his car from 9 am to 6 pm, while he’s at work. “And when he goes for lunch or take a loo break, someone else takes over,” he says, adding, “Can’t help it, she’s my most valuable possession, today.” He also spent a cool bundle on sourcing a roof for his vintage car. “It had a hard top and I had to find a special frame and roof; don’t ask what went into its cost. Now, it’s the only car where the roof comes off and it becomes a convertible. When I first took her to Mahabaleshwar, all done up, it was the drive of my life; my son loves it so much, he calls it an heirloom,” he smiles. Amir Jetha, who inherited his father’s green luxury car, which was once owned by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, manages his ‘baby’, price no bar, too. “She’s done barely 2,000 miles and is a guzzler, no question. I can’t take her out in the monsoons, but at other times, you should see the eyeballs she gets,” he says.<\/p>\n

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These vintage cars are as rare as it gets. Jagdish Thackersey<\/a>‘s, 1935 blue vehicle is a British car with a French body. “There were only two of these cars with the same body \u2014 one in California and this one. It definitely takes lot to maintain and cost, but it’s something I would never think twice; these cars are our passion.” Obviously he must get the perennial question all the time: What will he sell it for? “Oh, yes so often,” he laughs, “I tell people I’ll never sell it for anything.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They can make heads turn at any traffic signal and they’re as old as 1919! If you find yourself staring too, you’re excused. For among Mumbai’s vintage beauties on wheels are some of the most beautiful, well-made cars that money…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27592,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27590\/revisions\/27592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27590"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=27590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}