These cars were world cars even before the term became fashionable with manufacturers. Driving them around here in Chennai, I’m not surprised. I am in the Morris 8 Series E tourer, while S Srivardhan (a huge automotive buff who’s the district sales manager-cargo for Air India) is in the Austin 7, and both of us are going up and down innumerable times in his cars to give Param a double-pan shot. Since the SLR can take one iPod’s worth of full-res pictures, Param’s quite trigger-happy. So the two of us look as if we’re setting the Guinness record for the maximum laps done in tandem with two vintage cars made in Britain – if the category doesn’t exist, well, then we’ve just created it.
While we are at it,both the cars are at work, plodding around without complaining, ceaselessly attempting to set the record. Impressive, these little runabouts, they go about doing their duty with a single-minded purpose. Just like the people who built them, I guess – those ‘chin up, mustn’t grumble’ Britishers. In fact, these solid, sensible and well-built cars carry the names of their founders – Herbert Austin and William
Morris – both of whom were known for their capacity for hard work and determination. Both of them, by mass-producing affordable and reliable cars, can take the credit for the motorisation of the UK, and many other countries.
|
