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For me, no other car marries form and function as well as the 300 SL. People made some incredibly awesome cars in those days and among them all, this one to me is the awesomest. In Nature, God has ensured that everything has a purpose and its function imparts beauty. Similarly, if God were to create a car, it would be this.
I know you have been waiting to ask why I haven’t driven those three Ferraris yet. That’s because you should leave something for God to also do, right?
Austin powers
Reader Karl Bhote, the chronicler of old cars and their number-plates, pointed this lady out to me at the VCCCI rally held in Mumbai on a hot day last month. Later he sent me a note along with pictures. Why is she here? Read on. ‘Here’s Ms Prabha Nene and her 1934 Austin 7. She must be a year or two younger than the Austin. She has had the car since 1960, and used it regularly and travelled extensively in it. Day to day maintenance is done by herself. The car was out of commission for a couple of years but now it’s back with a bang – she drove Pune-Mumbai on Saturday (took five hours) and drove back on Sunday afternoon after the rally. When the starter was acting up, she promptly got out and started pushing it to start it! She has been doing all-India rallies for decades, a pioneer of sorts. Last year, she and her gal-pals drove a few hundred km to the Konkan for a holiday – in her 1985 Premier Padmini. In her spare time she volunteers as a traffic warden in Kothrud, the worst traffic in Pune.’ Now you know.
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