By V. Vijayalakshmi
Pune, Sep 26 (IANS) Zaheer Vakil, 73, bought his first car out of his pocket money when he was in school, a 1928 Fiat. It took him two years to restore it. On his 18th birthday, when he got his licence, he drove it to college.
That’s how the Pune resident’s journey of collecting vintage cars began. Today he is the proud owner of 20 vintage and classic cars. While he still has the Fiat, among his other priced possessions are a 1947 Chrysler, Windsor and a 1947 Buick, Super Convertible.
“One has to be born with the passion for cars, only then can you become a collector of vintage cars, some people get pleasure in collecting paintings and art, for me it’s cars and I get pleasure in restoring these cars,” Vakil told IANS.
He is the only one in his family who is interested in cars. His daughter used to take part in car rallies but not any more, he said.
Most vintage car collectors buy the cars from places like Chor Bazaar or an old garage. The cars when bought are almost like junk. It is the restoration process that makes them priceless.
Fali Dhondy, an entrepreneur from Mumbai, is the proud owner of a 1929 Roll Royce, said to be one of only 10 existing in the world. He says the car came to him in a bag.
“It took me five years to restore it, importing spare parts, specialised mechanics, carpenters, electricians and painters are hired to make the car look like it is now,” said Dhondy, who took part in the Maharashtra Automotive Sports Association car rally here last week.
Fortunately for Dhondy, his daughter also adores cars. Seven years ago Dhondy and his daughter drove the 1929 Rolls Royce all the way from Delhi to Mumbai, covering 3,000 km as part of the “Rally of the Raj”, which stopped over at various palaces.
With parking space a big rarity in Mumbai, Dhondy prefers to park some of his cars in a garage in nearby Lonavala town. He also has a 308 GTSI Ferrari, indeed a beautiful piece of machinery.
One of the oldest vintage car collectors of Pune is the Poonawalla family.
The family today has a fleet of 25 cars. According to Yohan Poonawala, collecting vintage cars was in his blood. At the car rally, he stole everybody’s attention when he rolled his latest addition, “The Phantom” – a 2005 Rolls Royce worth Rs.35 million. The silver grey vehicle made many a heart leap up.
Poonawalla, a die-hard Rolls Royce fan, also owns Phantom III. He said that in the pre-independence era, Indian maharajas used to import 25 percent of the Rolls Royce cars manufactured in the world.
But around the 1950s, many foreign vintage car collectors came to India and bought these priceless cars at throwaway prices. In order to protect the Indian car industry and the vintage car collectors, the Indian government banned the import and export of vintage cars.
“It was a very good move at that time, but now times have changed; we would like to appeal to the commerce ministry to lift the ban on the import of vintage cars. That will not affect the Indian car industry any more and at the same time we can also import vintage cars from abroad,” said Poonawalla.
“Beggars can’t be choosers – finding a good vintage car has become increasingly difficult with time,” said Poonawalla, who is a member of the Rolls Royce Enthusiast club in Britain.
In the last 15 years, though, the family has added 15 cars to its fleet.
Poonawala feels with the growing population in Pune, driving these expensive cars is no more fun. And, guess what, he is forced to take out his 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo, only in the middle of the night, since during daytime the traffic is bad and so are the roads.
But day or night, there’s no stopping these vintage car collectors and their beauties.