The wheels of glory

A vintage car is a mark of beauty and class and for Lokesh TL, who runs a travel company, collecting them is more than just a hobby. Vintage vehicles bring back a host of wonderful memories for him. “When I was a little boy, I was always fond of the Ambassador that my father owned. He also owned a Jawa bike and had bought the Ambassador in 1978. We still have the car,” he recalls rather nostalgically.

Lokesh started collecting vintage cars in 1999 with his first car being the 1950 Morris Minor. “When I was small, my father had wanted to buy it but couldn’t afford it. So when my mother was about to turn 60, I thought of buying it as a gift for them,” he says. He found the white beauty, which was on a sale in Sadashivanagar, and it has been a pride of possession for him since then.

Soon he went on to collect the 1937 Ford Model Y, 1955 Landmaster and 1990 Mercedes Benz. The most eye-catching among these is the majestic Ford Model Y. With its beautiful red body and massive wheels, it’s straight out of the pages of history. But Lokesh’s personal favourite is the Landmaster. “It came before the Ambassador and is quite similar to it. Since it reminds of my father’s wonderful car, I love it the most,” he says.  

Adding the Landmaster to his collection was no mean feat. “It belonged to my wife’s colleague, who didn’t want to sell it. I had asked them many times about it and though it hadn’t been used in 20 years, the family had no interest in selling it. So I had told them to keep me in mind whenever they changed their mind. To my luck, one day, they told me that they were selling it!” Lokesh exclaims. The challenges didn’t end there as the classic beauty had been out of use for a long time. “It took me a year and a half to restore it,” he adds.  

Is it feasible to drive these beauties on the traffic-ridden roads of Bengaluru? Why not, asks Lokesh. “You cannot drive them everyday but I always make it a point to take at least one of them out once a week,” he notes. He also actively takes part in the different vintage car rallies held in the City.

No vintage car can be serviced at an ordinary service centre and Lokesh too has a few people helping him out with the cars. “The mechanics are not always available so I have a person who takes care of the tinkering and painting while there’s another one who looks after the repairs. Since I am an engineer myself, I work on fixing them too,” he notes.

Lokesh would love to add a Beetle and a Mini Cooper to his collection in future. But space is always a constraint. “With so many cars, I don’t have enough space in my house to park. So some are parked at a friend’s place,” he notes.

Does he have any advice for budding car collectors? “It’s a very nice hobby but an expensive one at that,” he notes. “But it’s an addictive passion. Once you get into it, it’s very difficult to come out,” he sums up.