ZigWheels - Fort JadhavGADH Heritage Drive 2011

Fort JadhavGADH will play host to the largest gathering of vintage and classic cars and bikes this weekend when the second edition of the ZigWheels – Fort JadhavGADH Heritage Drive 2011 takes place, this time with Maharashtra Times lending its muscle to what is already being considered the premier automotive event of its kind in the country.

Following up from the success of the very first event held at this great historic venue last year, the event this year continues to follow the same theme espoused in the inaugural year. It is an event by invitation with the cars and bikes carefully selected by ZigWheels editor-in-chief Adil Jal Darukhanawala and Dilip Desai, road test editor of ZigWheels. From the 64 cars and bikes last year the event has garnered over 84 cars and bikes this year but hardly eight to nine vehicles have been repeated from 2010. This is a most encouraging sign for the vintage and classic car movement because it keeps the event fresh with new faces and diverse machines.

There are some changes to the event format with the drive and the presentation for the entrants to be held on Saturday, this event being by invitation only. However, the grounds of the Fort JadhavGADH would be thrown open to the public to view the cars and the bikes on Sunday, May 8, from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. enabling them to take in not just the vintage and classic cars plus also the two special focus events of great significance. The first event will be a gathering of some of the greatest Fiats to be sold in India, dating as far back as the mid-1920s down to the latest 500 Cinquecento. This Fiat Retrospective will also include a 1926 Fiat Corsa 501S racing car from the Vijay Mallya collection while other great Fiat models like the 500C Topolino, Ardita and Balila would be there along with examples of the 1100 Millicento, Delight, Super Select, Elegant and others plus the Padmini, Palio and Linea among others.

The second focus event theme is a commemorative of 125 Years of the Mercedes-Benz Automobile wherein a historic wall outlining automotive history would be showcased along with the 1885 Benz Patent Motorwagen, the very first automobile in the world to be powered by the internal combustion engine. Giving it company would be one of the latest cars sporting the three-pointed star logo.

However, the essence of the event would be the vintage and classic cars spearheaded by the 1909 Wolseley 16/20 HP tourer owned by Abbas Jasdanwala and the 1910 Triumph Trusty motorcycle of Sateen Khanna. This would be the first event in the country to have cars and bikes over a century old to feature in an event of this magnitude. Other great cars lined up for the event include a trio of Ford Model As, a Lancia Special sports racer from the mid-1930s, a grand Mercedes-Benz Nurburg tourer from 1929, film star Jackie Shroff’s magnificent 1938 Jaguar SS 100 sports car, the ex-Maharaja of Mysore’s Bentley Mk. VI from Yohan Poonawala, a glorious 1937 Rolls-Royce Wraith from Vijay Mallya’s collection, Hormusji Cama’s magnificent Bentley Mk. VI formerly the pride and joy of the Maharaja of Panna and also of course two immensely significant Cadillacs. The first of these is the ex-Maharaja of Burdwan’s 1929 Cadillac Series 341 machine now owned by Rishi Agarwal while the other is the supremely elegant 1947 Cadillac Series 62 convertible of Amal Tanna. VW Beetles, MG TCs, Chevrolets, Buicks and many other makes have also been selected and all of them would be driven from Fort JadhavGADH in the evening of Saturday, May 7 through Saswad town and back.

Among the two wheelers, for the first time we will have two grand American motorcycles spearheading the entries. Both of them are Indians, the first being Mandar Phadke’s immaculate 1944 Indian Chief while the other one is Paramjit Singh Bahia’s 1947 Indian Chief Roadmaster. These bikes will front the British bike collections of the brothers Solomon – Reuben and Sam while Ariels, AJSs, BSAs, Triumphs, Nortons, BMWs, Royal Enfields and Jawas will make for an eclectic bunch.