Vintage beauties come alive on Lucknow roads

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Dec 2 (ANI): Vintage beauties came alive on Lucknow roads as the city organised its much-awaited vintage car rally on Sunday.
Around 50 cars and motorcycles with big headlamps, glistening wheels with a thick rubber strap and rubber horns, murmured sound through city arteries after being flagged off from Hazratganj by District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma.
Among all the vehicles including Ford Roadster, Austin 6, Chevrolet Phaeton, Morris, Jaguar, Humber, Singer Bantam, Fiat, Ford Custom, the Cherry Red 1911 model Merryweather, which was pressed into service in 1911 in England and is now part of the fire department fleet, caught everybody's attention as it hit the road.
Rohit Pant, who participated with his Ford model A, told ANI: "The car was manufactured in 1928, it runs on petrol and has 24 horsepower. It was especially used by the army officials." Talking about its maintenance, Pant said: "I have restored it on my own."
Another participant, Ravi Shankar Rajput said: "I am using 1935 Fiat, which was bought by my father in 1950. I have been participating in the vintage car rally since 1975."
M A Khan, a senior participant, said: "Back then also small cars used to run. People used to take them for hunting as these cars have huge wheels. It used to run easily in farms. If it used to get stuck, then two or three people used to easily get them out. These were basically hunting car."
Talking about the restoration of the car, Khan added: "I bought it in 1987 from a Nawab. Back then it was in terrible condition but I arranged spare parts from Calcutta (Kolkata) and got it restored. We run it every Sunday; however, these cannot run in summers because engine heats up quickly."
Kumar Shantanu, who participated with 1928 Ford Model A, said: "We take care of it ourselves, which is quite difficult. However, we have a specific mechanic who comes from Kanpur. He repairs parts and if required makes the parts as well. My father bought it and we wait for this unique day whole year."
The Lucknow festival, which started on November 25, will end on December 5. (ANI)