On December 12, Kolkata woke up to a very special Sunday as a convoy of historic cars drove across the city leaving the onlookers completely bewildered. Organised by the Eastern India Motoring Group (EIMG) – an active body of historic car enthusiasts – the EIMG Goodbye 2021 Breakfast Meet was an absolute visual treat for automobile aficionados as a bevy of vintage and classic four & two wheelers traversed the length of the city.
This fabulous drive of historic vehicles was flagged off from the iconic Town Hall in Kolkata and culminated at the Eco Park Golf Course Café in New Town. The non-competitive event witnessed participation spanning several decades of automotive history.
More than 50 historic four and two wheelers were in attendance on this December winter morning among which were Ananda Chowdhury’s 1913 Gebruder Stoewer, Shrivardhan Kanoria’s 1931 Chevrolet Big 6, Pradeep Gooptu’s 1931 Austin 7, Rajiv Ghosh’s 1932 Ford V8, Aninda Sardar’s 1938 Austin 7 Tourer, Avik Naha’s 1947 Rover 12, S.K. Lahiri’s 1948 Plymouth, Rupak Ghosh’s 1948 MG TC, Darshan Sanghvi’s 1955 MG ZA Magnette, Saikat Dutta’s 1963 Triumph Spitfire and Amritendu Roy’s 1964 Ford Anglia just to name a few.
It was pretty impressive to see the lineup of HM Ambassadors along with some really well restored Fiats being represented by members of the Fiat Users Club of Calcutta (FUCC) – a sister club of EIMG. In fact, there was a special corner earmarked for the FUCC entrants specially acknowledging their presence.
The two-wheeler participation was also praiseworthy and included a rare 1965 Gilera Guibileo, a BSA Bantam and a Triumph among others.
The cars were flagged off from Town Hall and drove past the Raj Bhavan before hitting the majestic Red Road. The convoy continued straight before turning left onto Hospital Road and then embarking on the AJC Bose Road flyover.
The convoy traversed the entire stretch of the Maa flyover before alighting just ahead of the JW Marriot. After a quick regrouping, the convoy continued ahead embarking onto the Chingrihata flyover and then onward towards Nicco Park.
The historic vehicles drove past Wipro, Technopolis and Fairfield by Marriot before making the left turn from Biswa Bangla Gate. A short drive from there saw the convoy arriving at the picturesque Eco Park where the drive culminated at the Eco Park Golf Course Café. All the participants and officials later joined for breakfast and shared a great camaraderie over tales and laughter.
Eager onlookers were spotted catching a glimpse of these timeless beauties. And as each car, with considerable historic importance, toured the city and completed the route, you could see how the time gap between history and modernity was bridged in style and elegance.
“I started EIMG at the beginning of 2020. The objective was to create a group like-minded individuals and work towards a common cause of creating awareness about these historic cars and encouraging more vintage and classic car owners to restore and preserve their vehicles. Two years later, we have over 150 members and have successfully organised six events under the EIMG banner.
“The year-end Goodbye Drive has become one of our signature events and is eagerly awaited by our members. In the coming year, EIMG will be organising several other events including a Concours which has never been organised in Kolkata before. Through these events and activities EIMG hope bring back the glory days when Calcutta was looked upon as the mine of the best vintage and classics cars of the country”, said Shrivardhan Kanoria, President, Eastern India Motoring Group.
All photographs by Deepanjan Sarkar
Power Drive 