[Rajeevraj]

In between a week long trip covering a family function in Palakkad, Kerala, a trip to Ooty and another function in Calicut, Kerala, circumstances forced an over night halt in the city of Coimbatore, Tamilnadu

My college education was in Coimbatore and hence had visited most of the usual places. So was wondering what to do and was casually browsing the 'Top places to Visit in Coimbatore' in TripAdvisor. At number 6 on the list was 'GeeDee Vintage Car Museum'. Did some research and found this thread on Team Bhp regarding its opening. Looked interesting. Checked the location. Right across the road from where I was staying.

Where is it?

• In the City of Coimbatore- Avinashi Road. Location Link

What is it?

• A Car Museum started by Late Sri G D Naidu.
• 68 vintage cars neatly organized into sections like Unique Cars, French, British, German, Japanese.
• Each car has a display next to it which has info about the model, production years, how many sold etc..Behind there are wall mounted boards with history of the car or the company itself. Very informative.
• 5 Unique cars which cannot be found anywhere else in the country.
• 50 of them are in running condition.
• Most of the collection owned by Mr GD Naidu and family
• Some have been donated by others. These have been specifically labelled.
• There is a video show/presentation three times a day. But this is just a brief explanation about the history of Sri GD Naidu and his passion for cars followed by a video about some of the unique cars that was aired in Discovery Channel.
• The presentation is done by a couple of young ladies who double up as security also. They spoke in Tamil which was ok for me since I understand it well. Not sure if they have someone to deliver the same content in English.
• Entry Fee: Rs 50 per person. 9am to 5pm. Monday Holiday.

Other Points

• Not any kind of an expert myself. Hence I have just attempted to let the photos and the associated information captured do the talking. Being a newbie in this area, I really enjoyed the visit
• Going into the car enclosure past the chain border is forbidden (Rightly so). So no close up images of the rear/interiors etc.
• Have tried to keep the car, the info placard as well has the history boards behind in most photos. Hoping these can be read if zoomed.
• The folks there were surprised when they heard we were from Bangalore. Wanted to know how we heard about the place since it opened only few months ago.

Late Sri. GD Naidu and the drive behind starting this




Some history in pictures at the entrance

The Unique Cars Section. As per the info provided, these models created/defined a new path in the inustry. The first one is a replica.

[Rajeevraj]

The British Section. If I am not wrong our Ambassador was heavily based on the Morris Minor?









Next Up: The Austin Motor Company.











Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers armaments combine in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range topped by large luxury cars and dominated the market in the Edwardian era but the Vickers brothers died in 1915 and 1919, respectively. In 1921, expanding rapidly, it manufactured 12,000 cars and still continued to be the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain. Over-expansion led to receivership in 1927 when it was bought from Vickers by William Morris as a personal investment and years later moved into his Morris Motors empire. Even just before the Second World War its products were "badge-engineered". It went with its sister businesses into BMC, BMH and British Leyland where its name lapsed in 1975.



The Ford Of Britain. Subsidiary of Ford USA.

[Rajeevraj]

Our very own Ambassador





A Nano. Not sure of the reason why a Nano was displayed. Maybe a tribute to Tata for building the worlds cheapest car?

Overall, it was an enlightening visit. What was supposed to be a empty afternoon turned into one of the favorite sections of our trip. The display hall is also peppered with quotes like the one below. Loved it.

[ajmat]

Going live

Thanks for sharing. Most interested to to see the Trivandrum Limo landed up there also the Citroen XM. It had been up for sale then later disappeared.

[batterylow]

Good to see the change, I had been there a few years ago and they seem to have changed the place entirely. Just the place for a lazy Saturday trip then!

[ajay99]

Although the museum has a great collection of cars, they seem to have not paid much attention to detail as can be seen of the Beetle on display. It is mentioned on the display that it is having a 996 cc engine, which no aircooled beetle ever had. And model year 1964 beetle never had the round headlight and that type of bumper.

[KPS]

Thanks for sharing Rajeevraj

Glad that this museum has turned out so well.

The Ex-Mysore Hispano remains the pride of the collection.

Cars like the Lloyd or Goggomobil are uncommon here and it was nice to see the pictures

Cheers

KPS

[GKMahajan]

Dear Rajeevraj,

I am enlightened.

I am no fan of old cars. But, I really liked your presentation.
You have added one more place to my bucket-list!

Thanks,

Girish Mahajan

[travancore]

Thanks for the lovely pictures.

My maternal Grandfather's Wolseley shown above. Nice of the Mr.Naidu to put his photograph on the windshield

Original registration was MSP-9311 (Grandpa made the cutout Aluminium number plates himself); original colour was black.

The car spent most of its life in Aruvankadu (Nilgiris), since he worked at the Cordite factory, later retired to Nilambur (hence KLZ).

The Lucas winglamps and (handcranked) passenger side wipers are missing.

[vishwasvr]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Overall, it was an enlightening visit. What was supposed to be a empty afternoon turned into one of the favorite sections of our trip. The display hall is also peppered with quotes like the one below. Loved it.

Attachment 1431895

Wow! That's fantastic to see the cars in flesh!

I was at GD training institute for about 2 weeks last July-August.

They were working on most of the older cars! I'll try to share photos of the work-in-progress from last year soon!

[bejoy]

Thanks Rajeevraj for the report and the pictures!

GeeDee was in news a couple of weeks back when they built a 1886 Benz replica and drove all the way from Coimbatore to Chennai. The trip involved 6 drivers changing every 30kms.

Here are the news articles:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle7772829.ece


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/49355500.cms

[Rubbertramps]

Originally Posted by bejoy

Thanks Rajeevraj for the report and the pictures!

GeeDee was in news a couple of weeks back when they built a 1886 Benz replica and drove all the way from Coimbatore to Chennai. The trip involved 6 drivers changing every 30kms.

Here are the news articles:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle7772829.ece


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/49355500.cms

Wow. Sometimes reinventing the wheel is fun too.

What a lovely article and a lovely museum. Good to see 1 bhp vehicles. Our forefathers must have been super excited to see horseless carriages !

[arulpeem]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

In between a week long trip covering a family function in Palakkad, Kerala, a trip to Ooty and another function in Calicut, Kerala, circumstances forced an over night halt in the city of Coimbatore, Tamilnadu

Thanks a lot for your post Rajeevraj and the effort that has gone in photographing and posting them. A few months back I went there but unfortunately they close by about 5 pm and I was there just after 5 and had to return the same. Now that I have seen the photographs of yours I have to make a trip soon to Coimbatore to visit the museum.

[SPDSTR]

Excellent find Rajeevraj and timely too for me. Will be driving down to Coimbatore during the Diwali week and this is definitely on my to do list now.

[sen2009]

Awesome find Rajeevraj. Now there will be one (much bigger) good reason to break journey on the way to Kanyakumari or Madurai or Ooty. Thanks a ton for sharing.

What is that BMW car with the front side open? Is it a 3 wheeled vehicle?
I have never seen a car like that ever.