[KPS]

In the early 90's the KVCCC team under the leadership of now Late Mr. Ravi Kumar, participated in the Taj Krishna Rally at Hyderabad. The Hyderbadis were great hosts and the team won a lot of prizes, including the Concours prize for the wonderful 1935 Sunbeam Twenty Five Tourer, Ex-Kohlapur, then owned by Mr. Papanna M S. The participating cars from KVCCC Team, included a Jaguar E Type, Daimler, MGTC and Magna, Ford GPW, Sunbeam Twenty Five, the Big Austin Landaulette, Riley etc


Mr. Ravi Kumar led the team with this Jaguar E Type. MGTC is seen behind


This was an amazing original car. The 1935 Sunbeam Twenty Five, Six Seater Tourer, Ex-Kholapur. The car was restored by N Sripathi Rao for its owner M S Papanna


The car went on to win the Concours Prize.


The Riley is seen in the background



Seen in this picture are some of the KVCCC Members with their prizes.


Cheers

KPS

[r_nairtvm]

Nice thread.

Informative and detailed as usual. Enjoyed reading it. Missed the event as was in MMRT that day.

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

Originally Posted by KPS

[b]TCurrently, a lot of youngsters are working on their cars themselves, long drives are regularly happening and the Club's functioning is getting more formalized. Interest shown by the youngsters in actively restoring their cars is a very positive sign for the future of the Club.
Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

Here is an old article shared by the family of one our Founder Members Natarajan K S. He had great collection of Suvegas. I remember him visiting our house in a freshly restored Suvega.




Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

The Late Ravi Kumar was an outstanding gentleman. He was the Secretary of the Club and under him the Club got its much deserved recognition. He lead by example by having great cars, was wholly committed with the V & C movement, and helped members with cars and parts. He was working towards setting up a Club house. It was his dream to have a full fledged library with the help of another club great, Raman.

Here is a picture of Ravi Kumar attending the Statesman Rally, Delhi in his Ford


The list of cars he owned individually and in his partnership included,

WO Bentley, which he sold to fund part of his Real Estate company. Car went to Mumbai and then to Indore
Mercedes 540K, now in Pune
Jaguar E Type, now in Rajasthan
Jaguar XK 120, Aluminium bodied, now in Indore
Jaguar XK 140, remains in Bangalore
Jaguar Mk 1, now in Hyderabad
Lanchester, remains in Bangalore
Mercedes Nurburg, remains in Bangalore
Mercedes 170V
Mercedes 220S Fintail
Mercedes Ponton
Auburn, now in Delhi
Lancia Lambda, now in Hyderabad
MG TC, I think it remains in Bangalore
MG SA Saloon, should be in Chennai
Chrysler Royal, now in Coimbatore
Austin 16/6 Landaulette, now in Mumbai
Ford Model T, remains in Bangalore
1954 Desoto Convertible, now in Rajasthan
1952 Chevy convertible
1933 Chevy Phaeton, remains in Bangalore
204 Peugeot Roadster
1947 Wolseley
Studebaker Starlight Coupe
Studebaker President
Coach built Ford, Ex-Holkar
Ford B
Last but not the least had a Scott Flying Squirrel TT Replica motorbike.

The jewel in the crown was the Mercedes 540K. Considered as one of the Top 5 cars in India, once fully restored . Julian and Harit had given us lot of history on this car

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Some more from Harit.

Originally Posted by Julian UK

I have just talked to Mr Seth about the 540K. He confirmed its Nepalese Royal connection but could not be any more specific. It seems that Ravi Kumar bought it from where as Harit says it was garaged in Bombay and the car was moved to Delhi.

Ravi Kumar’s friend, a Mr Gerhart who worked for the then East German Embassy, appointed one of the senior embassy mechanics, a Sadar, to repair the car. He lived in Pahar Ganj, he dismantled the car, had the engine in his house and Mr Gerhart was supervising the work. Then Mr. Gerhart returned to East Germany and the work progress virtually stopped.

Ravi Kumar asked Mr Seth to take on the job of supervising the work as there had been some fancy bills paid and not a lot of work done, including a set of new tyres paid for but no new tyres fitted. When the progress did not improve the car was moved to Mr. Seth’s house, which is where it was when I photographed it.

The Sadar with held a lot of parts including the instruments and a lot of the fuel and oil supply components. I found the carburettor in the boot and bolted it back on the car. The Sadar had by then moved to Chandigarh, I remember going there with Mr Seth in an attempt to retrieve the missing parts from him but he was not to be found. As a result of this it was decided that there was no way the car could be mechanically restored properly as so many important components were missing. This was about 1986-87. I used Mr Seth's garages from 1986-1993.

Mr Seth is sending me some more photos of the car when it was in Pahar Ganj and I will upload them once I have them.

Pictures posted by Julian, when the car was in Delhi




















These picture are part of Sripathi Rao's collection
Car under restoration in Indore










Unfortunately, Mr. Ravi Kumar never got to see this car once the car's body work was completed. On his way to Indore to collect the car, he passed away.

The car as it landed in Bangalore after his passing.












The car is now in Pune, yet to be mechanically restored.

Cheers

KPS

[Samanyu]

Originally Posted by KPS

Here is an old article shared by the family of one our Founder Members Natarajan K S. He had great collection of Suvegas. I remember him visiting our house in a freshly restored Suvega.





Attachment 1736205



Cheers



KPS

One more article about Mr.Natrajan which was published in Deccan Chronicle on 24th March 2012

[harit]

KVCCC is one of the oldest clubs in existence in India.

In the late 1960’s, through the 1970’s, when many of us were still studying and dreaming of owning collector cars, there were lots of people and places from where the Indian Vintage Car Scene emerged developed. Quite a lot of the activity was happening In Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore and also in smaller places like Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow. What are being made aware of is the wide circle this community encompassed, restorers, collectors, explorers finding cars, and also the exporters.
In Bangalore there were the likes of Ravi Kumar, K.S. Raman who are sadly no longer with us. I wish I could have met them. They were active all over India, taking part in events, restoring and discovering cars. Mr. Lakhani was a regular participant with his Ford Model A and two bikes in the IARC rallies held in the 1970’s till, as we were told, he migrated to Africa.
There are many others in Bangalore too who have this hobby in their blood, many are my friends and during every visit to Bangalore I try to catch up with them, meet new folks, and just generally widen my circle.

I am attaching herewith a photograph of a Bentley. Most likely it is the car which Ravi Kumar owned at one time. And the photo appears to have been taken in Bangalore. Can anyone identify the location and these guys seen in the picture? I got this photo from someone in Lucknow and it came in a whole bunch of pics featuring other great cars. The VCC world was active pan India even in those times, and KVCCC was present right from the beginning.

Cheers harit

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by harit

And the photo appears to have been taken in Bangalore. Can anyone identify the location and these guys seen in the picture? I got this photo from someone in Lucknow and it came in a whole bunch of pics featuring other great cars. The VCC world was active pan India even in those times, and KVCCC was present right from the beginning.

Cheers harit

Location I think is opposite of the Vidhansoudha Building, in front of the Karnataka Highcourt Buildings.

The people, I am sure KPS can do the honours

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by harit

I am attaching herewith a photograph of a Bentley. Most likely it is the car which Ravi Kumar owned at one time. And the photo appears to have been taken in Bangalore. Can anyone identify the location and these guys seen in the picture?

While I do not know the location or people, I assume this car is chassis NX 3452, regd MYV 3981, the 4.5 litre vandenplas tourer originally a Bhavnagar car, some owners later owned by A Sparrow (not a sparrow) in 1964 in Bangalore, and back to the UK in 1971. Credit to the usual stalwarts for filling the gaps.

[KPS]

I managed to find the 1981/2 AGM Minutes which includes adoption of Accounts, Finalizing Auditors and forming a sub-committee, for representations to the Commissioner of Transport





Some important history is captured in these Minutes

Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

In the early 2000's our Secretary, Dr Ravi Prakash was largely responsible for KVCCC's participation in the Mysore Dasara events. It used to be a remarkable effort, as he ensured that the Club Members had a fantastic time. Coordination with the District Administration, arrangements at the event etc., was unparalleled and Doc must be thanked even now for having to ensured it remains etched in our memories.

We had multiple Dasara events and I have participated in a few. Here are pictures from the 2004 event. Doc lent us his 1928 Fiat (Ex- Kutch) which my father drove and Late Ravi Kumar's wife joined us as the rear passenger.

The procession is always lead by the elephants


The Titular Maharaja, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar in full glory


The cars were always ahead of the elephants. We lead the procession so that the car could have an easy run and the crowds would not complicate the run.

The Mysore Palace in the background


The Palace through the windshield




The crowds were amazing


One of my favourite pictures of the event. We stop for people to enjoy the cars


Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

When the Club Badge was planned, I believe members like Mr. K C Ashwath and K S Raman experimented with the design.

Our member Mr. Harish K was kind enough to share pictures of the experimental badge




Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

Here are some old press releases from 1996 and 1998





































Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

KVCCC had a breakfast meet last Sunday. About 20 cars and 4 scooters came for the meet. we had almost 40-50 member families and friends in attendance.

This is an unstructured meet where members come at their convenience and discuss cars and old stories.

Pictures Courtesy KVCCC Members

Designed by a member's daughter this beautiful message for the group









































Committee Members spelling out the possible future runs


Mandatory Group Picture


Breakfast. Great to have the veteran members interact with the new members


This meet was thoroughly enjoyed and we plan to have more such meets going forward.

Cheers

KPS

[KartikeyaL]

Wow, great going, nice pictures too, specially loved the collage of the wheels !

[anjan_c2007]

Great going and a happy 40th anniversary to the KVCC. The event conducted last Sunday was captured in some awesome pictures.

KPS , it's a pleasure to read about your father being associated as a founder and a founder office bearer of the KVCC.

Wishing the Club good going and many more feathers to its cap and also greater successes in the decades ahead.