My Ikon turns 22: Can drive it anywhere in India, except where I live

The car does enjoy a good wash once in a while and does get started up frequently enough to stay alive, but I can tell that it really misses hitting the road.

BHPian Sanidhya mukund recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Ikon turned 22 today! Nothing much to update because the car doesn’t have a very happening life. But I must say, I am really pleased to still be able to keep it. The car does enjoy a good wash once in a while and does get started up frequently enough to stay alive, but I can tell that it really misses hitting the road. If you remember, my car as also featured in a Ford India TV ad earlier this year.

Hoping that something changes the laws and cars like this get to see the light of the day again, but till then, the hibernation continues!

Here's what BHPian GForceEnjoyer had to say on the matter:

A very happy birthday to your Ikon! Our 2006 Fiesta 1.6 also shares the exact same birthday (I was making a post on my thread a few hours ago), what a coincidence! It gets even wilder, since we had a 2004 Ikon 1.3 flair until 2016.

I've always respected your dedication to keeping your car by your side at all times, clearly shows your love for it. Hats off. Hopefully you get to let your beauty hit the road sometime. The twisty roads beckon in longing.

Here's what BHPian sagarpadaki had to say on the matter:

Is FC renewal not possible for 20+ year old car? What is stopping you from driving it legally?

BHPian Sanidhya mukund replied:

Actually the FC and all other documents are up to date, but the NGT order prevalent in Delhi-NCR mandates that all petrol cars older than 15 years have to go off the road. DL register cars can’t even get FC renewals anymore and are simply deregistered once they hit their cut-off age.

The authorities don’t care if your car is fit, non-polluting and well maintained.

People with diesel cars have it worse. They get deregistered once they hit 10 years! You’ll see many a well maintained car going to the scrap yard because of this rule.

Here's what BHPian boniver had to say on the matter:

Sorry if I'm being too instrusive (but also asking because I'm in a very similar boat), did you change the car's registration to BR recently? I see pictures on this thread from not too long ago showing the car bearing a 0039 number, and that has now changed to 1947. Would be interested to know how you managed to obtain NOC so late and re-register it in BR.

Lovely car, btw! Happy 22!

BHPian Sanidhya mukund replied:

Thanks for the wishes!

The car was purchased in Delhi-NCR, so it had HR26 plates initially. Later, it came with us to Assam and got AS plates. We finally got it transferred to our native place in BR at the time of the previous renewal. NOC was obtained from Assam without any issues. Had the car not been transferred to Assam previously, it would have become impossible to get an NOC from the HR26 RTO. 0039 was the number it had on AS plates.

The car is 100% road legal all over India, except for the place I live.

Here's what BHPian anjan_c2007 had to say on the matter:

What you did was an excellent and timely googly due to the totally concocted thinking on the part of the judiciary and the government. Such a thinking process manifests with eccentric and cranky decisions that severely affect the common man.

We all know and have discussed who all are behind influencing such very skewed and eccentric decisions.

Congratulations for saving the Ikon, whose population is already dwindling. The Josh Machine needs to live.

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