UP THE MEMORY LANE

With registration of vintage cars formalised and rise of ultra-rich Indians, brace up for a beauty parade

- VEENU SANDHU

In the opening scene of The League of Gentlemen, a 1960 British crime drama, a manhole opens in the dead of the night and from it emerges the protagonist, Jack Hawkins. Straightening his dinner suit and bowtie, he quickly walks across the deserted street to a Rolls-Royce 20/25 and drives away. For the next minute-and-a-half, the camera stays on the shiny black car as the credits roll to suspenseful music.

The Rolls-Royce 20/25, which also features prominently in the British comedy, Father Came Too! (1963), and the action-horror, The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), was built from 1929 to 1936 - the period between the two World Wars. So successful was it that it helped Rolls-Royce survive the decade-long Great Depression, which coincidentally began the year this model was introduced.

In all 3,827 cars were manufactured, one of which, a 1934 Rolls-Royce 20/25 limousine built by Thrupp & Maberly, the coach makers to Queen Victoria, will come up for bidding at AstaGuru's fifth vintage car auction in the third week of November, to be conducted online.

Well-designed and easier to maintain, from vintage vehicle standards, a majority of these cars are reported to be still in use globally. In India, though, whoever buys it will not be able to drive it around routinely.

The law of the land does not permit vintage cars to be driven for regular or commercial purposes. These head turners are allowed on the road only for exhibition, maintenance, refuelling, or for one-off rallies that require permission. Their owners cannot park them in public.

None of this stops the enthusiasts from participating in private sales and auctions, held largely online by organisations such as AstaGuru, Heritage Auctions, and Big Boy Toyz.