Car rally

In pics: Vintage and classic cars take a spin in Kolkata on pre-Independence ride

Drive aimed at creating public awareness and popularising hobby of old car collection

By Bishwabijoy Mitra | Published 16.08.23, 03:55 PM

The owners of 15 vintage and classic cars and five two-wheelers embarked on their annual pre-Independence ride on a rainy Sunday morning. Starting from Town Hall, the fleet of cars reached Park Street via the AJC Bose Road flyover. My Kolkata joined the ride. One by one all 15 cars gathered in front of the Town Hall on Sunday morning. The owners pointed out that their usual gathering spot went perfectly well with their vintage vehicles. “This is one of the oldest parts of the city and the colonial-era structures provide the perfect backdrop for the starting point,” said Amritendu Roy, one of the participants with his 1964-make white Ford Anglia 105E bought in 2021. The early Sunday morning traffic slowed down and morning walkers took a few photos of this majestic sight

All photographs by Soumyajit Dey

Rishi Kumar gets his Maruti Baleno painted white ahead of Independence Day every year and then lets his children spray paint the car in saffron and green

Just before the ride started, the owners were seen sticking the Tricolour to their cars

As the fleet started rolling towards Park Street, we spotted this 1974 Series 3 Land Rover, owned by Sharojesh Mukerjee, director of The Cambridge School. He bought the vehicle in 2014 from Bangalore and restored it. Since then it has become Mukerjee’s constant companion. This special colour is called Lard Rover green and Mukerjee has travelled long distances from Kolkata in this car

The magenta 1958 Mercedes Benz 180A is a rare beauty. Its amazing road presence forced the traffic to slow down as people peered out of their windows to feast their eyes on the car owned by Prithvi Nath Tagore. “My father bought the car and gifted it to me as a school graduation gift. Since then I have spent a good sum of money to restore it,” said Tagore

There are not more than 40 vintage two-wheelers in Kolkata and the number is actually lower than the number cars. On Sunday, five vintage motorcycles and scooters joined the ride. Among those, the 1956 Lambretta scooter belongs to an Indian Army officer and is the only one of its kind in Kolkata

The 1955 MG ZA Magnette owned by Darshan Sanghvi is another rare car in Kolkata. In his teenage years, Sanghvi had seen three vintage cars being restored from scrap. Those were his landlord’s cars. Since then he secretly wished to own one himself. The opportunity finally came in 2018, when he saw the MG at the petrol pump in Ballygunge he owns. “After almost a year and a half, the owner agreed to sell the car to me and I have become the owner of this rare automobile,” he added

Nothing beats the charm of an old-school Ambassador. Probably that’s the reason Baldev Majumdar has retained this 1960 Ambassador Mark 1. This original single-owner automobile has been in his family for decades and now it is a rare car to own

At the end of the ride, the owners parked their cars on Park Street and stopped at Trincas for brunch

Tags: Car rally Town Hall Park Street Trincas AJC Bose Road flyover