‘I met a man in India who had made his own chrome-plating plant using an old oven’
The burgeoning classic car movement in India has inspired a growing number of fascinating restorations and preservations, says Gordon
Invitations to events, dinners and talks are one of the things that come with the job of a car designer, and during the last 20 years I have been invited to an ever increasing number of these. I find this aspect of the job both involving and very enjoyable– the only problem I have is finding the time to do it. The first time I was invited to conduct a talk was in the early Seventies, during the period when I was working as chief designer for Bernie Ecclestone at Brabham. A master at Eton invited me to give a talk to a number of students – I was terrified. The evening went well and I remember being amazed at the number of pertinent and intelligent questions during the post-talk Q&A session. I must have been quite a sight at Eton – a long-haired hippy in strange clothes! Now, so many years on, with hundreds of talks, lectures and presentations under my belt, including TV commercials for Shell and Kenwood, I really enjoy the experience.
One of the areas I have become more involved in is judging at concours events. In the past decade I’ve been invited to judge at Pebble Beach, Goodwood, Chantilly and various places in India for Cartier. Judging a classic car concours is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with some wonderful old cars from so many different eras.
I’ve only just returned from judging at a concours for Cartier in Hyderabad, India and as usual I had a lot of fun inspecting the cars and engaging with the owners. The cars are generally not restored to within an inch of their lives, and the owners (often families) always have interesting stories about the history and restoration. Until recently there was a ban on importing spare parts into India and even now there is a draconian import tax in place, which makes life difficult for all the would-be classic car restorers. I recall at the very first Cartier Concours ten years ago an owner who, frustrated at not being able to find a supplier who could deliver good-quality chrome plating, had made his own plating plant using an old Indian oven.
It’s relatively common to find cars that have been in the same family for three or four generations and it’s also common to discover that some of these old cars have been driven more than 1000 miles to the show on Indian roads and in Indian traffic.
The diversity of classic cars at the concours is amazing, from the majestic coachbuilt Maharaja Rolls-royces to the humble but brilliant cars in the ‘Indian Heritage’ class. I also love the preservation class where owners of these classic cars are encouraged not to restore their cars – this more so in India than in any other country.
My favourite car and story from the Hyderabad event was a 1948 Bristol. Three young friends restored it from a wreck they discovered buried four feet underground in the woods! Most people wouldn’t have even thought about restoring this pile of rusty bits but these chaps did a fantastic job of piecing it back together in just nine months. Although there were two Bristol dealers in India, they never sold a car and this particular example was imported directly from the UK.
Cartier must be congratulated on kickstarting a great classic car industry in India and I look forward to the next event.