The Garage Band
urinder Singh Rance was bewitched. He was in his final year of college, and just 18 years old, but he knew that this was real, this was love.
He had just spotted a Volkswagen Beetle parked in the narrow by-lanes of Daryaganj in Delhi. “I immediately felt drawn. It was so different from any other car I had come across.” He quickly inquired if it was on sale — it was! — borrowed the money from his father, and bought the car.
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Image: Vikas Khot
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PAST PERFECT: Rony Vesuna with his award winning 1957 Fiat Elegant | |
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As so often happens with young love, it didn’t work out smoothly. “I am so embarrassed saying this,” he says, “but the car didn’t even make it to Kashmiri Gate from Daryagunj.” That’s just two kilometres. He was heartbroken, but undaunted. He squared his shoulders and faced up to the truth: If he was going to get anything out of this deal, he was going to have to do some hard work.
He walked into the most well-known workshop of that time, Karachi Auto Garage. “These guys had all high profile people coming to them. I told the owner, ‘See I am a low-budget customer, please tell me what it takes to work with you.’ The guy said ‘Sure, be at the garage and get ready to get your hands dirty.’”
This the young man did. And while he worked and learned, he developed another passion: An adoration for anything Beetle. A love that has extended to all kinds of classic cars and motorcycles.
Rance is now an older, wiser 53, but the love-light still burns in his eyes. He owns three Beetles today (and yes, he still has the bug he bought in Daryaganj). He has owned as many as six, including one that he got for free — its owner couldn’t take care of it and gave it to him because he wanted him to preserve the car.
“The Beetle makes people smile,” he tells me, and the smile in his voice is clear, even over the phone. “It spreads cheer wherever it goes. Recently, at a traffic signal in Barakhambha Road, Delhi a guy sitting in a Mercedes-Benz asked me if I was willing to swap the car!”
He is full of Beetle lore. “Did you know that the Beetle was the first car to have the concept of air bags?” Really? “The car has a rear engine and the spare tyre is placed right under the tip of the bonnet. So in the event of a headlong accident, the major impact is always taken by the spare tyre.” And he goes on to regale us with many more stories.
It’s easy to understand the attraction. Everybody likes an old car that gleams with the affection and attention showered on it. We all stop to admire the graceful lines of an era long gone, the quaint fittings and décor.
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| Image: Gireesh GV for Forbes India |
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AGE DOES NOT WITHER: C.S. Ananth with his 1930 Austin 12/4 Burnham Saloon
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Few take that love further and get into actual restoration of these old beauties. For one, it requires fairly sizeable amounts of money. And patience. And perseverance. And time. Lots of time. All currencies that are in short supply these days. Yet we’ve heard of enthusiasts who machine engine parts that are no longer manufactured; others who have worked for years with carpenters fashioning dashboards and external trim, guided only by old, grainy black-and-white photographs.
Whether it’s too much money, love, professional pride or obsessive compulsive disorder, getting that old car on the road is the reward all restorers aim for.
When you see Mumbai-based Rony Vesuna with his 1957 Fiat 1100 Elegant, you know why ‘Parsi-owned’ means so much in the ‘cars for sale’ column in the classifieds. He was reluctant to bring it out for Vikas Khot, our photographer. It was a rainy day, and as he removed invisible specks of dirt from its shining bonnet, he grumbled about the car getting wet for the very first time.
How does the car run? “Like butter,” cooed Khot, who was treated to a ride. Vesuna started young, restoring his uncle’s Fiat 1100 Select when he was still in the seventh standard, and his own son, Rohan, who is 17, seems to have inherited the itch, accompanying him to Fiat Club meetings, where all the conversation can be about spare parts. Vesuna haunts Mumbai’s automobile junkyards, in Chor Bazaar and Kurla, looking for elusive parts. He also has a network of sources who supply him with original spares from across the country.
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