JOIN USShe was untouched for almost 25 years and her beauty had faded. But she was back on the roads of Bengaluru with a shocking makeover.
She is the queen who once ruled the roads of old Bengaluru and she is ‘Buick Super8’, a vintage car that was manufactured in 1949. And owning this beauty is Balachandra A Yadalam, the Managing Director of Skanda Retail Private Limited.
“My grandfather Yadalam Subbaiah Shetty bought this car in 1949. I have a strong memory of my childhood attached with this car. I haven’t seen my grandfather, but after he passed on, my uncle used to drive this car and we went out for drives with him. We had a disciplined driver who was dedicated to maintaining the car,” says Balachandra.
The car was the identity of the Yadalam family he says. “It is a royal car and it had become the identity of our family.” But she was forgotten amidst the busy life and was lying still for over two decades exposed to the sun and the rain.
“Ours was a joint family, and we were 40 to 50 of us in a family. After we moved out, in 2005, I got hold of this car and the restoration of the grand-old lady began,” he says.
She was ripped off her spare parts and engine. Her paint had faded away and so had her royalness. But the magical hands of mechanic Gopal, brought her back to life again.
“Gopal has restored many cars. But this was the first classic car that he had worked on,” he says. A faded body, ripped-off interior, dried-up fuel tank.... “The mechanic got the whole car down. The chassis had to be brought down. She was reborn,” he says.
The emblem which is the identity of the car was missing and her beauty would be incomplete without it.
“She did not have an emblem and so we had to redesign the emblem. The mechanic also designed jewellery and so he carved out the whole emblem,” he informs. Getting the emblem from one of the other owners of ‘Buick 1948’, Gopal carved the emblem after combining 11 different pieces.
The dried-up fuel was drained out and spare parts put in place. Her beauty was restored and she was back on the roads with her royalness.
“The car was rusted. To get back the original colour, the mechanic referred to the paint that was hidden behind the metal beading inside the car and she was painted with the same colour,” says Pranav, son of Balachandra.
The beauty passed on from generations, this car holds a special place in the hearts of the Yadalam family. “All of us have a story attached to this car. Me and my sons are very passionate about the car,” says Balachandra.
Once the car was restored, it took over the NICE roads of Bengaluru and the attention it received was unmatched. “She is a traffic stopper and gets a lot of attention. When we take this car out and when it is stopped at the signals, we get a lot of queries about the model, mileage and so on. There are people who slow down and take a long look at the car. They give thumbs-up sign and it is a great feeling you get when you drive this car,” he says smilingly.
The technology of the car too is unmatched and the performance is not less than the present-day modern cars, he says.
Maintaining this vintage beauty is expensive and takes a lot of effort. But it is a passion for the family.
“Everyone shares a special attachment with the car they own. But with this car, the bond is ten times greater and the passion is incomparable,” adds the impassioned owner of this vintage beauty.