Classic car meet - December 2012 - Delhi

[Roobarb]

I'm not sure whether this should be posted somewhere in the travel forum or the motoring in Asia one, but given it is really just a bunch of pics of cars it's probably better parked here.

Some background: Last December a friend of mine mentioned that there was going to be a sort of classic car gathering in Gurgaon (near Delhi - just down the road from where we live).

Now with many things in India it is better to lower your expectations to somewhere around the level of "That was a complete waste of time" as, in general, if not pleasantly surprised then at least you are not left feeling disappointed. We had a few beer enhanced guffaws about how this was likely to turn out.

The morning of the show came. With clear blue skies, the temperature in the low 20s and nothing better to do the family were bundled into the car to go and see what it was all about.

I think my friend had decided that you can see a line of Hindustan Ambassador taxis any day of the week, so no point in making a special trip over the weekend to see what at best would probably amount to the same.



With only a vague idea of where the show was going to take place we drove around a bit until we came across a large empty space with some bunting. There were lots of people with whistles waving their arms about and giving random and contradictory instructions to passing cars in the hope that they may want to park and see the show. Success, we'd got there.

It was frankly something of a disappointment, but there was a bit of activity in the far corner so we wandered over to have a look.



A bit of American iron. Now as will come abundantly clear I am not that good with recognising cars, or for that matter bothering to take a note of what I'm actually looking at, so I'll probably just stab a wild guess at some of them and rely on the higher octane members of TD to correct me as I go along.

[Roobarb]

The first car we came to looked pretty much like a Chevy to me. The badge on the back said it was a Bel-Air. Had some great space-aged fins and 'missile launchers' in the bonnet.




Now the second one had me completely stumped. A fair amount sleeker than the Chevy so I'd guess a few years younger.



The rear was pretty wild too



It looked OK in the pictures, but there was a fair amount of rust bubbling away under the paintwork (you can see a bit on the outer part of the left hand fin). Full respect to the owner for keeping it on the road as I can't imagine it's a cheap hobby in India.

I never did find out what this car was. I think it was called a Starliner. I guess I could easily Google it but who needs Wikipedia when we know the font of all knowledge resides here in Teak Door.

Anyway, as you can see in the background a few other cars were beginning to turn up, so off we went to see some more.

[Neo]

Nice pics ... interesting thread Roobarb

[Roobarb]

Next up was a car more familiar to me. Not sure if it was this or one of it's siblings that was named a Dagenham Dustbin but somehow the phrase stuck in my head when I saw it.

It's a Ford Capri of some sort, after that my knowledge begins to peter out



Having just seen the chrome-laden American rocket ships, master Roobarb seems somewhat disappointed that this was the best his father's country could knock up.

That aside it seemed to be in nice shape.

[Roobarb]

Nice pics ... interesting thread Roobarb

Thanks Neo, the other half is dragging me away at the moment so I'll do a bit more tonight.

[Satonic]

Looking forward to seeing more pics

[Tamarillo]

First car chev bellair, second is Pontiac starliner circa 1960 give or take a year. Lovely thing. Nice to see them both.

[Tamarillo]

Last one the grey ford is a Capri Mk 1 facelift version hence rectangular headlights. 1972 to 1974 with engines from 1.3 up to 3 litre V6 which was damn fast. A good V6 will eat a mustang on twisty roads.
This one does not look a 3 litre thought can't prove that. Getting collectible now.

[peterpan]

trust a kiwi to get that right, the first one was similar to my first car, those were the days when when a car like that could get you pussy.

[Roobarb]

OK, where were we? The Ford Capri.

Tamarillo, thanks for the input so far. Stick with us because things will start getting a bit more complicated.

Behind the Capri you can see a sort of white fence thing with a gateway. This was the main entrance and things were beginning to get a bit busy down there, so we took a meandering stroll in that direction.

First stop on the way was I think a Buick. This car was really well detailed and someone had obviously spent a lot of time and effort on it. Nice looking car I thought.



A right hand drive one so I guess at some point they must have had a crack at flogging these in overseas markets. Not sure that metallic gunmetal grey was an original colour, but it suited the car.

It had been a unexpectedly good start from the American contingent, and I was concerned that the only thing fielded by the British so far was the Capri. Whilst undoubtedly a plucky contender, this was a car show and the Ford somehow lacked the theatrical appeal of the other three.

On the way down to the gate we passed these two:



The one on the left looks to be a Willys Jeep, again an iconic American design. I'm not sure what the toothpaste coloured one on the right is (Ford something possibly?) but I suspected it to be another British offering. I knew that if we stopped at these my son would only have eyes for the Jeep, so to avoid further disappointment for the fellow we struck on the the main entrance.

[Albert Shagnastier]

no classic cars here (unless you call a 190e a classic)

Turkey's full of classics from all over.

[Marmite the Dog]

Last one the grey ford is a Capri Mk 1 facelift version hence rectangular headlights. 1972 to 1974 with engines from 1.3 up to 3 litre V6 which was damn fast. A good V6 will eat a mustang on twisty roads. This one does not look a 3 litre thought can't prove that. Getting collectible now.

Not a facelift, but a more standard model. The GTs etc, had the twin headlights. This was either a 1.3, 1.6 or 2.0 litre model as there is no bonnet bulge, which only the 3.0L model had.

trust a kiwi to get that right,

Exactly as expected...

[Roobarb]

We arrived at the entrance just in time to see this one arrive...



Now I may be wrong but this looked to me like a Bentley.

Unfortunately because of remarkably poor camera skills there is an Escheresque piece of bamboo blocking the radiator cap so no identification from that but I was happy that, in my mind at least, the natural balance had been restored. I had vowed to go and find the car when it parked for a few more photos, but five minutes later I'd forgotten to do so.

If you can see what's coming in behind it appears that the Americans have responded in kind.

[Roobarb]

I'm still not too sure exactly what the silver car following the Bentley was other than it was a Buick, but it was clearly a quality machine and in great condition.







I'd imagine that in black it might look a bit of a mobster's wagon so silver is probably a safer choice of colour.

[Roobarb]

And still all sorts of cars kept arriving


There were a fair few Willys Jeeps in attendance:




Not sure what this one is but it looked pretty elegant as it cruised up the road surrounded by more modern fare:




Things were starting to get busy with both cars and people:

[Roobarb]

Sorry, but to digress for a minute it's been bugging me about how that bit of bamboo can be both in front and behind the Bentley.

It is an optical illusion, but more importantly, it is a Bentley.



OK, enough about bamboo and dodgy photography, this is a thread about the cars

[Roobarb]

OK, so there were some amazingly restored vintage cars turning up, but the event was open to all comers so there was a good showing of some of the more regular classics too.


Wherever you are in the world (quite possibly even including Thailand) there will be a VW Beetle to be found somewhere:




This was a jaunty little thing, I have no idea what sort of car it was.






There was not a lot in the way of sports cars, probably reflecting the general quality of Indian roads, but this Morgan turned up making a fantastic noise.




This was soon followed by an MG overflowing with happy, smiling women.




All in all the day was turning out to be unexpectedly good.

[benny628]

Couple of good bars round gorgoun

[Warrior]

...

Wherever you are in the world (quite possibly even including Thailand) there will be a VW Beetle to be found somewhere:

Yes, there are VW Beetles in Thailand too. In fact, I know of at least one repair shop that specializes in them (in Khon Kaen).

Nice pics.

[Roobarb]

Now the next car that turned up got me very excited indeed:



It's a Mk 2 Triumph Spitfire, which is the car I had as a student.

Seeing this one brought back fond memories - The one I had belonged to a fellow student who, knowing that the car didn't respond well to water, when confronted with a fairly deep ford (river crossing, not a car) decided to take a big run up and hit it at about 50 mph in the hope that momentum would carry him through.

Somewhat obviously it didn't. The irony was that we had been supposedly studying hydrodynamics for the past year.

The car was towed back to his house and sat in his front garden for a quite a while needing a new radiator and some other bits. As time passed so more bits, including the seats, were nicked from it. Anyway, after some negotiation I bought it off him for a hundred quid and, following an afternoon or so of driveway spanner wielding, drove it straight to its first MOT test (UK annual roadworthiness test) sitting on the spare wheel. The lack of a proper, secured driver's seat was only one of the many, many points it failed on that day. Happy times indeed.

[Roobarb]

Benny - Yes, Gurgaon has a few reasonable bars. All in all it's not a bad place to live.

Warrior - Glad you're enjoying the pics

[Roobarb]

There had been quite a few cars arrive by this stage so we wandered around seeing what we could see. Near to the entrance was a very impressive Maharaja's Rolls Royce that was almost impossible to photograph as there were always people hanging around it.




The sun's position was not being too helpful but this is a pic of some of the front end. I've no idea what the serpent head thing does but I want one on my car.




Another pic of the snake. Vicious looking thing.




Maybe it's my warped imagination, I really wanted the snake to come to life just at that moment and jump out to bite the guy taking the photo.



Nothing personal, it just seemed a good opportunity for the snake.

[Roobarb]

There were a surprising amount of American cars at the show. Some like the Starliner were stunning in terms of their bold designs, reflecting the confident optimism of their age. Others were stunning for boldness and confidence in an altogether different way.


I feel that this Dodge fell into the latter category. Not a colour I would have personally chosen although it is certainly both bold and confident...





I hesitate in, um, taking you round the rear end, but for the brave then here it is.





I just don't think I could drive this thing.

[Roobarb]

There were a few other cars around the pink monster

A fairly neat little Chrysler, albeit with some rather dodgy hubcaps:






I'm not too sure what this one was. I think it's a Corvair but I can't read the badge on the photo.

Wasn't the Corvair the car that Ralph Nader wrote about in a book called 'Unsafe at any speed'? It would seem a car ideally suited to the Indian roads if that is the case.

Anyway, safe or not I think it has a nice sort of underlying European line to it, just imagine it as a Lancia that's been on the Big Macs a bit too long.

[Roobarb]

There were a fair few ex military vehicles scattered about, the origin and vintage of which give some indication on India's political alliances over the years.


Willys Jeeps were well represented with about five or six running around:




There was also one of these amphibious things. Unfortunately the photo of the front didn't come out well so you'll have to do with the back:




This Russian jeep seemed to have been shunned by the other exhibitors and sat by itself for the afternoon. The make was in Cyrillic but I'm guessing it was a Gaz?




I'm not sure where the one below one comes from, It's got a badge on it saying 'Jonga' - directly below the sticker on the front saying "Polaris - World's No. 1 off road vehicle". Perhaps you need a Polaris to pull your Jonga out of the mud from time to time?




There was what I thought was a Russian truck, but on closer inspection it says Dodge on the front so I guess it can't be.




Finally there was this rather bored looking Fiat thing that spent the afternoon staring into the middle distance: