Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI), one of the premier institutions promoting the preservation of vintage and classic vehicles in the country, is trying to ensure that the younger generations and budding automotive enthusiasts get opportunities to experience historic vehicles up close and personal.
The Vintage and Classic Car Fiesta 2025 was organised by VCCCI on 29 and 30 March. Over the course of the two-day event, more than 100 automobiles (four-wheelers as well as two-wheelers) of varying vintages were parked in exhibition at the grounds of the Royal Western India Turf Club, Pune. The event was open to the public free of charge and was enthusiastically attended by automobile aficionados old and young alike. It was heartwarming to see elders leading their young wards into the midst of the show cars and pointing out their personal favourites for the children to see.
A wide selection of vintage, classic, and modern cars and motorcycles were at hand at the exhibition. A jet black 1959 Cadillac Eldorado owned by Yohan Poonawalla was quite the eyeball grabber. This pristine piece of americana, at nearly 19-feet long and 6-feet wide was a colossal machine. With its art-deco styling, liberal use of chrome and extended tail fins, the Eldorado was a time capsule of post-war American excess. In comic contrast, the big Cadillac had a classic Fiat 500 parked alongside it for company, which is a well-known and oft-adored tiny city car from the Italian marque. BMW is renowned for its driver-focused, high-performance cars but it was refreshing to see a white-over-blue BMW Isetta 300 micro-car at the exhibition, which is a rare sight all around the world and much more so in India. The Isetta was flanked by a white-over-red Volkswagen Type-1 13-window Microbus with whitewalls and a surfboard plonked atop its roof rack on one side while a tan-on-black classic Morgan Three-Wheeler with its iconic slatted chrome grille, wire-spoke wheels and side-mounted exhausts with fishtail tips was basking on the other.
This being a competitive event, avid vintage and classic car collectors had entered their prized vehicles into the fray. As for the top honours, Yohan Poonawalla’s 1927 Rolls-Royce 20 HP was awarded the ‘Best Vintage Car’ trophy, while his 1959 Cadillac Eldorado snagged the trophy for ‘Best Classic Car’.
