[h14]

After missing the first two drives to Cochin and Yercaud, I made sure that I will not miss any further. That is when the Valparai drive happened which I had shared here

Little over a year later, we had the 4th consecutive drive in as many years and this time the venue was Mysore. BHP'ian Drkannant had been wanting a drive to Mysore in the 1100's and it sure happened this year.

This trip sort of happened in short notice which worked well to pull in 7 cars. Though few of them missed out due to this planned in short notice, it was a drive to remember. Personally for me it was very memorable for quite few reasons which I shall bring up in due course of this thread

As always it was Naveen and Dr.Kannan who led the initiative. Once people agreed on the venue and the date finalized, doc made arrangements for the stay via his in-law's. The accommodation was finalized at the Heritage club and it was now all about getting there.

Now at this point I was both excited and nervous. Nervous because my SuperSelect was getting stripped for painting which left me with the Select for this drive. To be frank I have never been comfortable with the Select as with my SuperSelect. Nothing wrong with the car, but the fact I could drive the SS carefree and that the Select was fixed in my mind as more precious and needs to be preserved. This only meant that the S was driven very sparingly. It was limited to occasional drives around town for fuel and some air for the whitewalls. In the 5+ years of ownership, the longest the S had done was from Coimbatore to Coonoor for one of the vintage rally's in 2013.

But I saw this as an opportunity to bond with the S and hence came down from Bangalore a week before the trip and decided to get some niggles sorted. Drove it to Walayar to Naveen's farm and the plan was to the get a general check done and also to address the gear shifter issues.

The drive was good. Understandably the brakes were cranky but was slowly improving with every few kilometers. Reached his farm and clicked some random pics before getting in.





The mech was on his way and so was monitoring the works being carried out on my SS and the other cars there. The mech arrived shortly and he was checking the gear shifting issue that I had. Many a times gears 1 & 2 was not getting slotted. This was tracked to a couple of worn out bushes. Naveen had stock of them and they were replaced.









Then got all the fluids checked and decided to take a drive in the S for lunch. We drove up-to Malabar restaurant few kilometers away.



Not having Parotta when in Kerala? Well that is a serious crime isn't it? and so indulged myself in those fluffy Parotta's!



The lemon soda with green chilli's! It was insanely refreshing in the super hot afternoon.



Headed back to his place and it was time for a wash! Also got the hubcaps changed. These originally were ordered for the SS but decided to fit it in the S.



Hardly 2 mins into washing and the rains came out from nowhere!



It was a very brief shower and then we continued onto the rubbing and waxing session.





Was super happy to see the car gleaming back to glory. The hand rubbing was time consuming but the results were brilliant. Headed back home and it was already dark. The car felt good and I was already dreaming of the drive that was due in a few days.

She looks happy doesn't she? Maybe she wanted to flap her wings and fly!



Took her out again for a spin around race course





The excitement had to wait for few more days and so with controlled emotions headed back to Bangalore.

[h14]

Day 1: Coimbatore to Mysore

Plan was to start from Coimbatore at 6:30 am on March 23rd. I was back to CBE on the night of the 22nd. Myself and Doc Kannan started off from Race course. Naveen was on his way from Walayar and Prakash was already there at the meeting point with his Super Select. Abhinandhan got his Delight and joined Naveen who was in his Select and they both reached together.

Waiting for Doc



Plan was to stop for breakfast at Puliyampatti whilst Mr.Prakash and his brother joined us en-route in their Millecento.

At the breakfast stop



This is when my first issue creep'd in. The front right brake was acting funny. It was sort of jammed slightly and by the time we reached the breakfast stop I could smell the brake burn.

This was mistake number one on me for not having checked and cleaned the brakes before the trip. More so since the car was idle for long time. Nevertheless, the confidence of a skilled and experienced veteran mechanic accompanying us was what made me skip such checks! Narayanan, our mech always travels with us in such drives and he just loosened the brake and we decided to drive and see. If it improved, we decided to drive on. Else if any tantrums, then we decided to open up and clean!

We drove away from there and the next planned stop was in Bannari temple where Mano was scheduled to join us in his Elegant. It was already 11 am when we reached the temple and being Friday it was crowded. The darshan took some time and then we were off to climb the treacherous dhimbam ghats.





It is a mere 14 kilometer climb which includes 27 tedious hair pin bends. We started the climb around 11:30 am and the sun was already belting down. The cars started climbing swiftly despite the extreme hot climate. Few of us were taking it slowly. I was more worried on the absence of a working temperature gauge. Took a precautionary stop after a few turns to let it cool and continued the climb.







Things felt fine until my nose caught the coolant smell. Quick peek into the RVM revealed fluid on the road leaving a trail behind the car. Pulled over to find that the temp had reached the boiling point. Let it idle and topped up water and continued the trip. Then the odd car came up with missing issues which was due to the fuel pump getting headed up. For this, we wrapped up the pumps with wet cloth and continued the trip. Had to stop once a while to drench the cloth and we kept climbing







Other than the odd overheating issues all the seven cars made it up comfortably.

Next was a refreshment stop at Hassan post which we continued towards Chamrajnagar which was the planned stop for lunch.



One more stop for some pics enroute!



Reached the lunch spot much later than the planned time. It was Nijaguna residency where we took an extended lunch break. It was a very nice property and the food was good as well!



Every 1100 model launched in a single pic





Started off from there after an extended stop and proceeded towards T-narasipura where I had the second hiccup. It was a weird noise coming in and it was very weird. Narayanan who was with me was fast to spot that noise as from the center joint coupling. Pulled over to check that and decided to drive slow and get it addressed in Mysore the next morning.



We reached just before sunset and Doc's cousin Raghu was waiting to receive us. He navigated us through a longish drive across Mysore city to the Heritage club where we were staying for the weekend. A big thanks to Raghu for all his help. He was there with us organizing the stay and taking us around.

[h14]

Day 2: In and around Mysore

Nothing much was planned except that Doc said he will take us to Mylari for breakfast. His explanation on the dosa there made us even more hungry and we set off. The place was already full and we had to wait for sometime to get seated.





Needless to say, the dosas were yummy and most of us lost count on how many we gulped! After the heavy breakfast we returned back to the club to wash the cars in time for the afternoon meet with the Mysore vintage club members who were very kind to come down and meet us all.

















It felt great and this only made this trip even more special. Thanks a ton again to them all for the wonderful afternoon!



The afternoon was super hot and we even decided to cancel our Fishland lunch plans. Decided to spend the hot afternoon in the comfort of our rooms and set off early evening for some local shopping!

[h14]

Saturday evening in Mysore

And by shopping, if you had any other ideas, then please don't take me wrong. It was strictly parts scouting! Motto was to buy the center joint coupling for my car, and we managed to grab what ever we could







Post the shopping, we decided to walk down the streets around the Palace and meet the others who we left behind at the club. Grabbed some evening snack and coffee en-route!







We do get facinated by anything with wheels right! These carts were in plenty near the palace and some of the horses looked majestic!





The palace! Needless to explain! If I had a time machine, this is one of the places in my bucket list which I would die to go back in time and see in its full glory!



More street food en-route dinner.



Something we spotted along.



We ended up at RRR for dinner! Hope the pic would explain

[h14]

Day 3, The drive back home:

The agenda for day 3 was to wake up early and get the coupling changed and leave home!

The new part


The worn out piece


Some clicks before leaving.











We visited Raghu's house followed by Doc Kannan's in-laws and then started the drive back home.
As the saying goes, the journey is our destination! But such drives not only refresh our minds, but also keep the classics running the way they are meant to be!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[funkykar]

One very sweet drive out there! The pleasure of driving the classics on long drives is priceless and can only be experienced. You guys made the most of it, more importantly made the most of it for your tummys as well.

Hats off! Had I known before, me and some of our FCB cars would have met you guys at Mysore. Next time, please drop a word

[h14]

Originally Posted by funkykar

One very sweet drive out there! The pleasure of driving the classics on long drives is priceless and can only be experienced. You guys made the most of it, more importantly made the most of it for your tummys as well.

Hats off! Had I known before, me and some of our FCB cars would have met you guys at Mysore. Next time, please drop a word

Thanks Karthik! Will keep you posted once the next drive planning starts. Maybe we should plan one together BTW, this time it was conflicting with the FCB meet. So you would have been busy with that. We did consider driving to Bangalore for the FCB meet, but felt too tedious and dropped the plan :(