Parked in the past

Ankur Bhatia, Executive director of the Bird group, has a passion for vintage and classic cars.

Sometimes a hobby presents itself serendipitiously, as it happened with Ankur Bhatia, executive director of the Bird Group. Bhatia recalls how his interest in vintage and classic cars started: “My mother’s father owned a 1936 Austin and he was quite possessive of it. When he died, I got it restored.” The work of restoring that car for Bhatia was a labour of love, and he spent time and money working with a garage owner who had some experience with cars of that generation.

Bhatia’s interest grew incrementally when he participated in the Statesman Vintage Car Rally. Says Bhatia, “We won, and that encouraged me to spend more time on these cars.” Next on Bhatia’s shopping list was another Austin — this time a 1916 model also known as the Baby Austin. “The first car that I restored,” says Bhatia, “gave me a lot of insight into the way these cars are engineered.” That knowledge got further bolstered with participation in vintage car rallies.

Other acqusitions for Bhatia include a 1965 Impala, a World War II Jeep, and a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle. Of the Beetle, Bhatia says, “I got the car in a dilapidated condition. The body was completely corroded. I have told the garage to redo the entire body again.” The Impala was redesigned in 1965 by Chevrolet and sold 1 million units that year in the US. Says Bhatia, “It took me almost two and a half years to restore the Chevy. I got parts for that car in three consignments from the US.”

Bhatia says that his interest in these cars is extremely personal. “I don’t want to prove anything to anyone. It’s a passion to restore something that is antiquated and to try and figure out how it looked at that time. The challenge is to recreate it the way it used to look. For me the mechanics, the technology at that time, is what interests me.”

Sometimes, marrying old and new can be an exciting challenge, like when he fitted air-conditioning in the Impala to make it possible to use it even during the height of the Delhi summer.

Of the several things that the Bird Group does — including Amadeus, a BPO for the travel industry, which is the GSA for several international airlines, and a luxury hotels project — one is that they are the BMW dealers for north India. How does someone who has the pick of the smartest and latest BMWs relate to cars from a bygone era, I ask Bhatia.

He responds, “Shapes and technology have changed. For instance, the starting mechanism of the of the 1916 Austin is very different. The joys of owning cars of different eras is very, very different.”

And that reflects in Bhatia’s decision not to trade in these cars. “I will never be a seller. The Impala that I bought for instance for a few lakhs is now worth much, much more.” He quotes how an MG Roadster, a car that he has been contemplating buying for a while, is now being sold for as much as Rs 30 lakh.

Says Bhatia, “The cost of restoring and buying these cars has gone up enormously.” It can take anything from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to restore a car, depending on how much work it requires. And you can get an Austin for roughly Rs 5 lakh.

One factor that is pushing up the cost of these cars is their limited availability in this country. According to Bhatia, current laws do not allow import of these cars, thereby keeping the supply restricted. Also, often the ownership of these cars can be tricky and mired in disputes between surviving family members.

Says Bhatia, “I never touch cars where the original papers are not available. Lack of proper paperwork is a deterrent in getting these cars.” Dealers and contact with other owners is the only way, he says, to keep abreast of what cars are on sale and in what condition. Of the Jeep he says, “It was in good condition. I got it from Rajasthan and I bought it two years ago. It survived time as it was parked in someone’s garage for a long time.”

Bhatia has built a separate garage for his cars and hopes to own another 10 in the next few years, depending on what comes on the market. Which is that one car that Bhatia covets in this segment? Bhatia says, with a glint in his eye, “A Rolls Royce is a collector’s dream. The manufacturing proccess of a Rolls is a different experience altogether.”

The MG Roadster is another car that has interested him for a while now but, says Bhatia with a laugh, he has stopped short of buying it as he, at 6 ft-plus, is too tall for that car. He says, “Everyone in the family is tall, so I don’t know how I will be able to drive it. But every time I let the opportunity to buy it pass, I feel bad about it.”