Concours d’Elegance: Ahmedabad’s ‘first family’ vintage bike steals the show

In addition to owning four vintage and classic cars,including Armstrong Siddeley,automatic convertible Buick,Oldsmobile and a Volkswagen Beetle,it was his century-old American made ‘Indian’ motorcycle that won ‘best of show’ and ‘pre-war’ classic motorcycle titles at the show. It was the first time that the biennial event opened the show for motorcycles as well.

While talking about this 1912 light twin 5 HP 680 cc glistening maroon beauty,Subodh says,“It took me seven years for restoration of this bike that underwent in Indore. I bought this from Moolchand Partapchand Soni,a High Court advocate in Jodhpur,on July 9,1982 for Rs 3,101.”

At that time,the motorcycle was not in use since 1923 as the tyres were not available. Subodh imported these rare white tyres from the US in 1996,which cost him Rs 40,000. The following year,after it was completely restored,it was shipped back to Ahmedabad.

The ‘Indian’ stood to the competitiveness of Concours D’ Elegance that inspires restoration of a vehicle to near mint-condition,a state of the vehicle to when it originally left the factory without any modifications and in flawless visual condition. It was one of the entries among 32 rare motorcycles owned by Indians.

“One of the unique feature of this bike is the kick-start. As kick-start came into production only in 1915 replacing the pedal,it is still unclear how this 1912 make had a kick start,” says Subodh.

To maintain its authenticity,the monogram and logo on the bike is hand painted.

To sum up in one word his 31 years of patience and preservation that finally paid off in Mumbai,he calls it “nirvana”.

Subodh had started the Gabriel car rally with Indian Automotive Racing Club (IARC) and later participated in the Himalayan Car Rally for three years (1980 to 1982). Last year,he founded the Gujarat Vintage and Classic Car Club and has already held two events in Ahmedabad.