VINTAGE WHEELS
SIMPLY PUNJABI TALKS TO SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN VINTAGE CAR COLLECTORS AND RESTORERS IN THE REGION AND FIND OUT WHAT DRIVES THEIR PASSION.
Mention the word vintage and Chandigarh-based car collector and restorer Manreet Singh Sarkaria’s face lights up. After all, he’s been scouting for some of the rarest cars around the country for the past 13 years. Boasting of a collection of 38 vintage and classic cars, including MG VA (1937), MG TC (1946), two Austins (1930s), and not to mention, a classic Triumph motorcycle dating back to 1914, Sarkaria not only collects but also restores these rides from scratch. “It takes two years of precision work to restore something from scratch. It’s not easy for me to define the pleasure that comes with it. Or the bond you develop with the car. That’s the reason why I don’t part with my collection despite many offers,” says the 37-year-old.
He says the biggest challenges are to maintain originality and procure spare parts. “Spares are never easy to find. It’s not that you go to a shop and buy them. Scouting for them is tough. That’s the reason we fabricate them in-house,” he adds. Sarkaria, who started his collection with a rare Peugot 1964 convertible, refutes the common perception that one can sometimes strike gold at a scrap dealer as far as rare vehicles are concerned.
For Karandeep Singh, it started as a hobby. Then it became a passion. And then, obsession. For someone who started collecting vintage and classic cars at the age of 17, automobiles have always held a special place. No wonder, the former motorsports professional who has to his credit two Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) wins, finds the painstaking process of restoration an
exhilarating experience. “You cannot substitute the feeling that comes when you restore a non-functional car back to its former glory, with anything else,” the 39-year-old says. Chandigarh-based Singh, who has eleven vintage and classic cars, including MGTC (1949), Ford BY (1932), Ford Super 8 Convertible (1942) and a Ford WWII Jeep (1944) besides a host of vintage scooters and classic motorcycles, says collecting vintage cars a couple of years back was much easier. He attributes that to the overflowing old garages and the general public’s lack of interest in the same.
But for Ludhiana-based Inder Pal Singh Gill, the obsession goes even further. “There are times when I sleep inside my classic Volkswagen camper parked in my garage,” the 36-year-old says. An agriculturist by profession, Gill feels that vintage cars are always a “face in the cowd” and only the truly lucky ones get to possess and drive them. “Both my father and grandfather are crazy about such vehicles,” he adds.
Gill’s envious collection can be seen when gets his wheels out during the vintage ride organised by the Punjab Heritage Motoring Club every year. The collector, who has more than 20 cars and 10 two-wheelers, says the oldest car in his collection is a 1929 Austin. “I restored it completely from scratch. It was a painstaking job but the end result was fantastic. It always is,” he says.