[KPS]

Madras Heritage Motoring Club (MHMC) in association with GEDEE Car Museum, Karnataka Vintage and Classic Car Club (KVCCC) and Nilgiris Vintage and Classic Car Club (NiViCCA) had lovely drive to Ooty, after a stopover at Coimbatore.



Since I could not make it due to my work commitments, my good friend Srinand decided to take my Beetle!. He ditched his unfaithful British cars to understand the hype about this German car

The family and especially the kids were very happy to go in the Beetle.


Towards Coimbatore


They left early to beat the traffic


After Breakfast at Murugan Idli at Krishnagiri, they set off towards Salem, where the Madras Group would arrive


Speeds up to 50-55 miles can be easily maintained by this car





At Salem, the regrouping with the MHMC cars


After an over night halt and display at GeDee Museum, the cars moved onwards to Ooty


Off to the Queen of the Hills


The chill of the Nilgiri Hills allows the kids to get comfortable in the rear!


Ooty....


The Kalhatti Ghat was easily conquered by the Beetle. The 1300 CC Beetle is really sporty and I understand was really excellent up the 35 hairpin bends


Display at Ooty for two nights


Ooty does give you the chills!


Back towards Bangalore via Gudalur Route


This is a very scenic route


This picture capture by Dr. Laxmi Suresh is just outstanding. The green car in the absolutuly green background is superb. Just loved this.


The drive through Madumallai and Bandipur is very enjoyable. Usual suspects of spotted deer, wild boars, peacocks and if lucky elephants and gaur as seen in this drive


Speedbreakers so that one does not endanger wildlife!


There were rains as they neared Bangalore


They family had a safe and comfortable trip


The verdict from Srinand was that the Beetle was superb, but lacked the excitement associated with his British Cars, which would have failed a few times before they cross the line

Cheers

KPS

[Dreamlifter.07]

Wow! Just wow!
Amazed how beautiful the Beetle looks!
Great roads + Great scenery + Family together + Vintage car = Amazing Life!

Now that makes me want a car similar to yours

[VijayAnand1]

Surreal! These lovely pics just rewind me back to my school days. Closing my eyes and imagining these cars on these wonderful switchbacks, one would be hard pressed to know if it's actually the good ol days back again.

The procession of exotic cars was held a week before here in Ooty, and starting at Simpson's Garage (The erstwhile bloodline of Jeeps back then, sales and service) and it was a lovely sight. Glad to know this bug be part of this thread. My personal favorite were the VW Microbus that lovely Chevy Station Wagon and that blue and white jeepy. But hands down, I go bonkers like a sucrose-hit kit whenever I see a VW Bus, simply a timeless beauty, hippie, extremely mod friendly, cool looking, sophisticated yet simple. Oh, I can go on and on.

Cheers!
VJ

[Kkumar]

Vow. Great photos and write up. Hats off to you for maintaining your car in such a pristine condition. Seeing the classic cars reminds us of the days when cars or infact anything and everything were manufactured to last generations unlike the present day. All the best.

[gauravdgr8]

Ah, what a trip it would have been. Am sure would have attracted a lot of eyeballs. Hope the cars managed the highway heat and the ghat climb easily without a fuss.

The cars look in impeccable condition

[RT13]

What an absolutely gorgeous Bug! Ol’ Porsche really knew how to design em. Timeless and how. Must’ve been blazing though. I miss those quarter glass panes thar direct the breeze. Didn’t even know this thread existed until now - there goes the next hour or so!

[srikrishna717]

She is a beauty ! Looks gorgeous amidst the greenery and beautiful winding roads!
Thanks for sharing! One of your photos actually looks like a 1:24 scale model and was immediately tempted to order it

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by ajay99

There is no nitpicking involved in that statement and the owner knows it better .
There are many aircooled VW still running with these german black coils and the pierburg fuel pump which is much better reliable and durable than the cheap aftermarket stuff which is used in many vehicles.
Regarding cross ply tyres there are many vintage enthusiasts who pay 6 figure amounts just for those tyres(whitewall) for the cars and drive in many rallys. After all these cars are not meant to be daily commuter vehicles.

But this car is being driven plenty, sounds like. And no six-figure cross-ply is going to handle/stop as well as a more modern radial (VW themselves knew this at one point and appropriately switched!) and in a rally or anything else this "mod" could mean the difference between crashing a rare and valuable classic or not.

And "cheap aftermarket" aside, we might remember that there are high-quality aftermarket bits that can last as long or longer and perform better than OE. Just a fact that applies to almost any vehicle.

Owners know best: My immediate family owned three vintage V-dubs ('63 cabrio, '67 hardtop, '71 Camper, in which we travelled a year in mid-1970's Mexico)... Among friends and relatives were many more. Granted these were great cars from the factory, but in the U.S. context there were countless examples of well-modded ones running around as well, which definitely were better running/ handling/braking and more driveable in any number of respects. And that is basically an indisputable reality.

-Eric

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by ringoism

But this car is being driven plenty, sounds like. And no six-figure cross-ply is going to handle/stop as well as a more modern radial (VW themselves knew this at one point and appropriately switched!) and in a rally or anything else this "mod" could mean the difference between crashing a rare and valuable classic or not.

And "cheap aftermarket" aside, we might remember that there are high-quality aftermarket bits that can last as long or longer and perform better than OE. Just a fact that applies to almost any vehicle.
-Eric

Was mentioning generically about those old marque cars which came only with biasply tyres from the factory , Not about VW which had come with radials in the sixties itself.
And regarding "owner knows best"" was specific to the owner of this VW beetle not a generalised comment.

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by ajay99

Was mentioning generically about those old marque cars which came only with biasply tyres from the factory , Not about VW which had come with radials in the sixties itself.
And regarding "owner knows best"" was specific to the owner of this VW beetle not a generalised comment.

Ok, thanks for attempting to clarify... but there's still the question of whether I'm going to keep bias-plys on a car that came only with them just for originality's sake - when same company was itself pushed by market or regulators to upgrade to something better/safer a year or two later. Same goes for 15,000v coils when a 30,000v - and an electric fuel pump - might generally work better in a number of respects.

Bear with me here in what will seem tangential but isn't:

For the first time I ran the Getaway out of diesel today. Refilled with 10L but the hand-pump wouldn't pull from the line. Nearby mechanic came and used a trick - removed bleeder screw entirely, removed windshield washer pipe and used it to suck fuel with his mouth up through the line / bleeder port. Looked like he'd done it lots of times, I guess the stock Scorp handpump is pretty bad.

Now I could choose to be a purist and be willing to suck on a pipe and fill my mouth with diesel and contaminate my washer line every time I change the filter or the tank runs dry (OE fuel gauge is wonky, too)... and maybe try doing this on a dark roadside or wherever some day - OR I could install an auxiliary (yes, cheap ₹350) electric lift pump like I've used on the Marshal well over a decade trouble-free under all kinds of harsh daily use and expedition conditions... And have it running again in ten seconds.

Purists will be purists, my OP was in reaction to someone telling the owner of a really great and not quite 100% OE and highly driven vehicle that it was a bit deficient... Which I felt could be a bit inconsiderate / inappropriate.

But purists will be purists. I wouldn't put a small-block Chevy V8 in an old Packard (as many Yanks unfortunately haven't had qualms about doing). But there are mods that do relative violence to the original design, and others that build upon and enhance it, or which are done for the sake of
easy availability / cost, whatever. I have always felt these latter were acceptable and often actually desirable. I realize this is not the case in many/most antique realms.

Come to think of it, I had a friend who dropped a Super Beetle body on top of a Chevy LUV (compact pickup) chassis and added a 283 cubic-inch (as in early Corvette, etc) V8. Talk about a "sleeper"! Saw another recently with a 700hp Subaru conversion.

There's space out there for everyone.

Getting caught up on minor points is to me unnecessary, but to each his own.

-Eric

[karlosdeville]

A couple of months ago I was lucky to be part of a superb event by the KVCCC, as part of the Dasara festivities. A number of classics drove from Bangalore to Mysore to view the dazzling Dasara display at the Mysore palace. Our friend KPS has posted a superb travelogue of his experiences here

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-...ml#post5665063 (Daimler Tales - 1947 Daimler DB18 Luxury Saloon)

When he offered me the opportunity to join the event driving his superb 1967 VW Beetle, I was very excited. The regular display events are great, but long distance driving / touring events are even better.

We flagged off from the grand Vidhan Soudha building, a superb campus that I visited for the first time. It made for the perfect setting to line up all the classics. Regrettably I hardly took any pictures, over to KPS for that.




The drive to Mysore was superb - barring some traffic exiting Bangalore, the roads were clear, smooth and fast. By the afternoon it did start to get hot, but fresh coconut water stops on the way kept us cool. Kasli, my partner in crime, joined for the drive. We really enjoyed the route, and the car performed perfectly.

Lots of interesting cars in the convoy, including this E Type Jaguar and VW Karmann Ghia


The event was sporsored by Advaith Hyundai, and the team did an outstanding job of organisation. The preperations were faultless, and support at every stop on the way, including a 3M team to quickly sparkle up the cars. Here we took a stop at their new facility in Mysore.


That evening we were blessed to take our cars right up to the Mysore palace, lit up in all its glory for Dasara. It is indeed a sight to behold, and the crowds were crazy so good photographs were impossible. We did manage to sneak in this shot of the palace lights reflecting in the Beetle's blemish free finish.


The next day we proceeded for a drive to Coorg, and we made a quick detour to KPS's family ancestral home - such a beautiful place, and a lovely warm reception. KPS was indeed thrilled to take both his cars to his family home for the first time.

A lovely drive en route. Green everywhere.


Arrival at the house. The green walls complimented the car.





A memorable drive indeed, and I can't wait to go back the next time. We are indeed grateful to KPS and the whole KVCCC team for such a fabulous drive. Cheers!

[KPS]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

A memorable drive indeed, and I can't wait to go back the next time. We are indeed grateful to KPS and the whole KVCCC team for such a fabulous drive. Cheers!

Having both Kasli and you were great fun. All enjoyed the company of you both and KVCCC Team was thrilled that our outstation members were joining us too.

Some more pictures from my end

Exiting the Kuppanda Ain-mane after a great time chatting over a cup of black coffee with jaggery


We also had the opportunity to visit one of the most impressive V & C car collections in Mysore


This collection is well known and a video from a day earlier to our visit, had gone viral in social media as a "Royal Collection'!


With the local Mysore V&C Team we did a short drive up Chamundi Hills



Karl gets busy before the drive back to Bangalore


All of us enjoyed the drive








Cheers

KPS