Tale of an old beauty

Vintage pride

The most trusted companion of Col Deepak Gopinath (retd) is a 1956 Fiat 1100 (Millecento). The car, that was first bought by his father Lt Col K Gopinath, has travelled the length and breadth of the country and is still going strong.

Col Deepak holds very fond memories of travelling in the car as a child. He picked up his first lessons in driving on the Fiat. ­“My father taught me driving. He wouldn’t lend the car to anybody so easily. Somehow, he would let me drive it, maybe because he thought I could handle it well,” explains Col Deepak.

A mechanical engineer from PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, Deepak joined the Army in 1976 and after serving for almost 31 odd years, he settled down in Bengaluru in 2007. “It was a brand new car bought by my father in March 1956 for a princely sum of Rs 5,000 when we were in Lucknow and I was just four years old. It has been our family faithful since then. I was fortunate to inherit the car,” he says.

The family has travelled a great deal in the car. Deepak says the car has made a trip from Lucknow to Kolkata in 1956 and Shimla to Rampur and beyond up to the Tibet border in 1959.  “We have also made a South India trip from Bengaluru via Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Coimbatore, Ooty and Mysuru in 1962,” he adds. Deepak says it is most comfortable to travel by the Fiat. “There’s a full seat in front and the gear lever is fixed to the steering, so there’s no hassle of changing the gear.

There would always be at least six to eight of us travelling in the car, whenever we go long distance. As children my sons Vikram Gopinath and Maj Gaurav, have loved their drive in it and now my grandchildren enjoy it too,” he says.

Deepak picked up the nuances of the working of the car from his father.

“My father used to maintain the car by himself. I would watch very keenly when he tuned every part to perfection and now, I do it myself,” he says. My wife Gita also learnt her lessons in driving on the Fiat but she doesn’t take it out too often. 

Everything about the car is original, including its colour, informs Col Deepak. “This particular model had aluminium hubcaps on all four wheels. I lost three and have only one left. The model of Fiats that came later had steel hubcaps. I tried getting these hubcaps but have been quite unsuccessful. Apart from this, the indicator is different and even the headlights have undergone a change,” he says.

Deepak is a part of the Fiat Club in the City. The club was started by four youngsters who wanted to bring all Fiat owners under one roof. “We meet a few times in Cubbon Park or Lalbagh. The meetings are eventful because I get to meet a lot of people who own similar cars. There is a lot of exchange of information,” he says. The car is used on a regular basis just to make sure that the brake and the engine don’t get rusted.
Deepak’s first purchase was a 1977 Yezdi which he bought as soon as he joined the army. “It’s ironic that my father’s first vintage car cost Rs 5,000 and my first bike also cost me Rs 5,000. I use the bike even now,” he says. 

Every vintage and classic vehicle collector never hesitates to add to their fleet but Deepak says that although he would love to do that, maintaining them is indeed a challenge. “One has to be well-informed about the vehicle and spend a lot of time in maintaining them. I would like to preserve what I have and not take on more than what I can handle,” he concludes.

(Col Deepak can be reached on [e-mail])