A date with the grand old lady

Srinand Piedpet’s father was a doctor, who quit his medical career to pursue the passion of collecting and restoring old hand clocks and other antiques. The breeze of antiquity blew on Srinand too, a business man who takes immense interest in cars that ruled the bygone years.

He often watched the vintage car rallies in the City and every time he was there, his fondness for old cars kept growing. The old beauties in the rallies were captivating and he craved, for almost 15 years, to have one of these in his backyard. The wait was worth it and soon, he found the 1952 Morris Minor.

“I wanted to own a Morris Minor for a long time as my father had one. But it was tough to find one in the whole skew of things. Four years back, my friend informed me about the Morris Minor in one of the garages in Indiranagar and I immediately bought it,” says Srinand. Broken doors, traces of rust on the body, missing upholstery and broken floor; it was only after three years that this car started shining like a clear sky and the engine throttled like a blast from the past. “It took me three years to restore this car as I did not know much about the restoration process. I found a mechanic through my friend and worked with him during my free time. It was a tough job and has taken me a lot of learning to reach so far,” he says. The sky-blue beauty now beams with pride with all its parts recreated as per original specifications.

The best selling car for sometime in Britain, Morris Minor might not fall under the elite category of vintage cars. But to Srinand, this car is very special as he had grown up with the same model car. He says, “It is not a very special car in the grand scheme of automobile history. But she is special to me. This car was one among the first cars that was made for the common man and it was people’s car.”

What is unique is that this car has a monocoque construction, just like the modern-day ones. However, he says, “a drive in this car is very mechanical. In today’s cars, you cannot feel the engine. But when you drive this, which has no music system for distraction, you can feel every component of the car working together to propel you forward. You will even hear a breakdown if it is on the way,” he explains with a smile.

He credits his wife Yashaswini for supporting his passion, who says, “It is amazing how the car transformed after restoration. I love riding in this car as every old car has a character to it.”

An active member of the Karnataka Vintage and Classic Car Club, he says, “The club is trying its best to preserve the history and let youngsters know how the cars have progressed through time.” This passion might be an expensive affair, but he opines, “It is expensive to someone who does not enjoy the joy one gets out of it. You cannot put a price on the joy you get while restoring these cars. Apart from money, it requires a lot of patience and time.”