15th Vintage and Classic Car Rally, Jaipur

A bright and sunny day of Jaipur, lawn of hotel Jay Mahal Palace of Taj Groups and 114 vintage and classic cars, if you are a car enthusiast, nothing on this earth can be better than this scenario. Rajputana Automotive Sports Car club, Department of Rajasthan Tourism and Audi Jaipur have organized the 15th edition of their world renowned Vintage & Classic Car Rally. The club started this event 17 years back in 1996 with only 14 vintage cars, and today they have grown up to 114 cars.

The first car you will get attracted to is the 1951 Rolls Royce, the car is in a pretty good condition, and its masculine nature will win your heart for sure. Right ahead in the row you will find 4 beautiful convertible sports cars including 1964 Ford Mustang, 1975 Mercedes 280 SL, 1951 MG TD and 1959 Daimler SP 250, all these cars belong to Mr. Avijit Singh, who is one of the organizers and is the secretary of the Rajputana Automotive Sports Car club. We did a chit chat with him, who told that a total 114 cars came today with 20 cars of Daljeet Titus, Delhi, who is a renowned restorer of the vintage cars.

Avijit's father Mr. V.P Singh was one of the founding members of this event, when asked about the evolution of the event he said, "Our motto is to increase the restoration of the vintage cars and I think we are doing good, cars are one of the biggest passion of ours and then it becomes our duty to provide a platform to these beauties. We are growing because of the love and support of the car enthusiasts and our sponsors that help us beyond the limits."

Rajputana Automotive Sports Car club, organizer of the event was established in 1996, and it is the enthusiasm and devotion of Mr. Sudhir Kasliwal, Daynidhi Kasliwal and Mr. V.P Singh founding members of the club, which has made this event so successful.

Mr. Sudhir Kasliwal is also a big collector of the vintage cars, whose 10 cars are participating in the show including 1931 StudBaker, 1933 Dodge (Originally belonged to Maharaja of Karoli, Rajasthan), 1939 Mercedes (Originally belonged to Maharaja of Ayodhya), 1947 Hudson Super Six, 1940 Chevrolet, 1956 Cadillac (Originally belonged to Maharaja of Bikaner), 1928 Austin 7, 1941 Packard Air Conditioner (First Air Conditioned car of the History, still uses the original AC), 1955 Cambridge (Mr. Kasliwal got this car from his father, who was the first owner), 1968 Mercedes 280 S, 1968 Humber Hawk, (Originally belonged to Raj Mata Gaytri Devi, Mr. Kasliwal use these for his committing need). Mr. Sudhir Kasliwal said, "I love my cars and any vintage cars, I don't like the modern cars as they all look same, take a look at my Merc 280 S, nothing like this has ever built, you can recognize it from miles. This love for cars enforce me to start this rally and see we are fortifying a whole new generation of vintage car lovers."

There were 9 entries from Ghani Autos, Jaipur, we talked to Mr. Hameed Ghani, he said, "We are in the automobile business from pre-independence, I got the business and love for cars from my father, but my love is for the older ones. I brought my first car 1928 Ford A 35 years back, and today I have more than 10 vintage cars. My favorite is the 1932 Ford B, I still drive that car."

At the event we met Mr. Birju Singh, an Ex-CID officer, who owns a 1947 Fiat 500 convertible, the car was also the point of attraction as the car can do rounds itself, Mr. Singh fix the steering wheel and then it starts taking rounds by itself. Mr. Ravi Kapoor, an Ex-Army personnel and now a restorer was there with 6 vintage cars including a 1937 Morris 8, 1937 Chevrolet 6, 1930 Chevrolet 46 V8, 1937 Austin 7 (Two Door), 1937 Austin 7 (Four Door) and 1946 Chevrolet Chevrolet FleetMaster Custom (Originally belonged to Maharaja Karani Singh of Bikaner, who used this car for hunting. There is only two such cars in the world.)

Diljeet Titus brought 20 cars including a 1935 Buick Series 90L, 1935 Auburn 651 Boat Tail Speedster, 1948 Pontiac, 1961 Mercedes 240 D. There were a lot of mesmerizing and wonderful cars that can easily amaze anyone. Tomorrow, a Rally will be organized to the Kanota Palace, situated at the outskirts of Jaipur and after having a lunch at Kanota palace, the rally will return to the Hotel Clarks Amber, where a prize ceremony will take place, check out this space for more updates.