Why vintage cars are running on empty

His mechanics spend hours fixing, maintaining, restoring, and preserving his collection of more than 40 vintage cars parked inside the 10 sheds at his Chennai home. Still, says vintage car enthusiast Ranjit Pratap, his heart sinks when even the smallest part gives out.

“It is so difficult to get your hands on spare parts as most cars are imported. So, our search for spare parts dealers is not limited to India; we scour websites and get in touch with international dealers to check if a part is available,” says Pratap, president of the Historical Cars Association of India, whose collection includes a 1965 Ford Thunderbird, 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II, 1956 Dodge and 1984 BMW 525. Pratap regularly organises vintage and modern car shows in the city, one of them, ‘Back to the Future’ in collaboration with Cars and Coffee in Perungudi today.

Like Pratap, several vintage car collectors in the city feel maintaining them is more of a luxury than buying them, as besides getting hold of mechanics, locating spares is difficult as is finding space to park them. Also, the lack of original documents and tracking of the owner poses an issue for car collectors to register the vehicles at their local RTOs.

“Getting the RC book of a vintage or classic car digitised is the first step to legalising your possession of the car. If you don’t have an RC book or any other document, your vehicle cannot be registered. So, the search for the owner begins the minute you acquire a vintage car,” says Abhisshek Singiri, a Chennai-based architect and car collector who owns classic cars such as 1979 Mercedes Benz W123 240D.

Pratap says in the US, people try making spare parts and put them up for sale online. But it takes months, sometimes years, to find the spare for your exact make and model.

S Balamurugan, whose only job is to find spare parts for Pratap, says, “I’m given a list of keywords for the specific parts and also online links. Often, they are private sites such as eBay, Caddy Daddy (for Cadillac), MiniSpares and PelicanParts. If I am lucky, it takes about 20 days to track down one part. Sometimes it takes me years. I’ve been on the lookout for a differential part of a 1962 Mercedes Benz R129 for the past three years now.”

Balamurugan says mechanics often tell him the local name for the part while it is called something else in another country, which makes the hunt even more tedious.

On an average, collectors say they spend anywhere between 10,000 and 35 lakh for spare parts. It can take about 6 lakh to repair a running car and 14 lakh to restore a dead car with no interiors or just a frame.

Mukundan T C A, a 21-yearold realtor, who is new to the car collecting scene, says he seeks out spares for his Mercedes Benz W123 from GP Road in Chennai. “Often, dealers in the city capitalise on our desperation and overprice. So, I’m always on the lookout for listings on eBay.

There’s an online public platform for Mercedes where if you enter your model number or key in your VIN (vehicle identification number), it will show you where the parts are available,” he says.
“Newer mechanics know little about cars that were made years ago because they use a lot of high-tech equipment to work on newer cars. They struggle when it comes to vintage carburettor engines. We have got to find a way to keep the heritage alive,” says K Shanmugam, one of the few vintage car mechanics in the city.

Many collectors say they are unable to keep the cars at their residences. “In some cases, where there is no choice, owners leave their vintage cars outside, and they eventually become run down, weathered by rain and sun. Those living closer to the beach have it worse, as the salt in the air causes the frame to rust faster. And when it is kept in a garage, rodents chew through cables and make a home in engines. That is why these cars need to be driven every now and then,” says Singiri.

To ease some of the issues that come with registering vintage cars, the amended Central Motor Vehicles Rule (1989) allows owners to register their vintage vehicle for Rs 20,000 for a fresh registration and ₹5,000 for a re-registration, valid for 10 years. If the owner wants to keep the vintage vehicle without going for re-registration, they need to pay a yearly challan of Rs 10,000, and this is to be calculated right from the time the vehicle crossed 15 years.

“Due to these issues, car collecting has unfortunately become a very expensive hobby to pursue. Which is why we hardly have new collectors coming in,” says Mukundan.