Vintage cars adorn Delhi roads

New Delhi, Feb 28 : Sparkling shining, well-polished vintage beauties like the Rolls Royce 1934, Buick 1935 and Mercedes 1937 in the hues of pale yellow, metallic grey and blood red roared their engines and went off to romance the capital's roads Sunday in the 44th Statesman Vintage and Classic car rally.

In a not so usual scene, around 130 vintage cars with their proud owners queued at the Statesman House in Connaught Place from where the rally was flagged off by the Lt-Governor Tejendra Khanna.

From here, they went to Noida Film City followed by a stopover at YMCA in Greater Noida before returning to the National Rail Museum for the prize distribution ceremony.

While the owners of these cars couldn't stop talking about their possessions, on-lookers admired the way these vintage cars have been taken care of.

"Real beauties... Reminds me of the era where emphasis was on royalty and technology had no space. Unlike now, when we talk mostly about technical things and comfort. It's quite remarkable to see how the owners have been putting an effort in maintaining them," said Sudhir Arora, who had come to see the rally.

The cars manufactured from 1919 till the end of 1939 are called 'vintage' cars while cars made between 1940 and 1956 fall under the 'classics' category.

As old beauties like Dodge 1939, Jaguar 1932, Austin 1922, Lagonda 1934, MG 1949, Lincoln 1954, Chevrolet 1927, Ford Consul 1936, Belvedere 1942, and Ford 1938 convertible made their way on the road, they demanded attention and admiration from the vintage car connoisseurs.

Delhi-based automobile collector and lawyer Diljeet Titus, general secretary of the Heritage Motoring Club of India (HMCI), has been participating in this rally for the past few years and admits that it is sheer passion that drives people to buy vintage cars.

"There is a fool born every minute who's heart lies in the vintage cars and wants to buy one every time," Titus told IANS.

Titus is a proud owner of 72 vintage cars and his six classic cars - two Cadillac, one Rolls Royce, one Dodge, one Mercedes and one Buick were participating in the rally.

According to Titus, the vintage car lovers look for rare, prominent and well-engineered cars to add to their collection.

Titus has been collecting these cars for the past 10 years and reveals that around Rs.2-7 lakh is required for the restoration of these vintage cars. Once restored, maintenance comes to around Rs.20,000 per month.