La Martiniere College gets its ‘roll model’ back
Old Martinians returned a piece of college history to their alma mater on its Founder’s Day.
T he keys of t he nearly 40-year-old Ambassador car (URA-9091), which served three principals of La Martiniere College in the past, were handed over back to the college on Friday. The refurbished vehicle would now be used as College Ceremonial Car on special occasions.
As the veil was removed from the revamped car, students of both La Martiniere College and La Martiniere Girls’ cheered the momentous occasion.
The rusted and worn out car was given a new lease of life by old students. They made the engine operational, painted it metallic blue and replaced the old interiors.
The car went under the hammer during a charity auction on December 8, 2012 and was given to a group of Old Martinians (the highest bidders) for Rs 1 lakh.
“We promised to restore it to its past glory and give it back to the school,” said Prateek Hira, an old Martinian (Hodson House, 1990 batch), who spearheaded the initiative to get the car rolling along with other past students of the college. Carlyle McFarland, the current principal of the college, agreed to re-commission the vehicle as the College Ceremonial Car.
A sum of ` 1.25 lakh was spent on the car’s repairs carried out at the Royal Tyres Garage at Vibhuti Khand in Gomti Nagar. The mechanic Farooq worked hard on it. The fuel pump was the most difficult thing to get and had to be bought from Kolkata.
“A final test drive was done recently. Only after the car mechanic and the electrician gave their green signal, the car was handed over to the college,” said Prateek.