One of my pastimes is to look for vintage vehicles for sale on the net. Now, almost all of these are beyond my purchasing power, but, surfing through these and looking for a “deal” makes me vicariously live the dream of owning the vintage treasures someday down the line. Sometimes, some stuff pop up which leave me flabbergasted. Now I know a picture does not tell the workings of a car, and I guess I am judging the book by its cover when I look at online ads, but in any case, it is a hobby that helps me get to know the beautiful beasts of the pasts, like, this MG YT Roadster convertible of 1948.

Perfectly restored to the last t, this looks like a dream vehicle. Someone wants to sell it and the online ad asks for a mere forty lakhs, and I wish I had that kind of chump change lying around so that I could snap this up! Or how about a fully restored Dodge Kingsway from 1958? Chrysler Corporation’s “built-for-cheap” export cars, the sellers are asking for a cool 15 lakhs for this one! Oh well, this car has come a long way from being “unbranded” export cars for cheaper markets to vintage collectibles. I used to think that the Kingsway had a much “rounder” aspect, but since a lot of the production in later years (especially in late 50s) was done in the foreign markets and people were free to customise these cars, the one I stumbled across looks a bit like it phagocytosed parts of a Plymouth, but I am no judge. Anyhow, this looks beautiful, to say the least!

My love for the Hindustan Motors products are no secret, and I have longed for a Contessa ever since, well, forever, and these beauties keep cropping up all over the web verse. And sometimes, in price ranges that I can actually handle! But, I know better – because it is not buying the Contessa that is difficult. It is maintaining it that’ll pauperise me! Yet, I cannot help but salivate at the prospect of owning a beautiful, running-condition, Landmaster, when it is being handed out for two and a half lakhs!

With the proliferation of online selling portals, it has become even easier for vintage vehicle voyeurs like me to gape at these beauties from the comfort of my home. People post free ads here, and sometimes, these look like really great deals! How else would financially restricted people like me have the ability to access royal vintages like this Chevrolet Fleetmaster!

This truly majestic being looks like it belongs to the 4-door station wagon version produced in 1948. The Fleetmaster is a Chevrolet classic deluxe car which was produced only in three years during the war 1946-1949. It built up on the pre-war model of Chevrolet Special Deluxe and was offered in 2-door and 4-door versions. There were minor model alterations in each of the three years it was produced, but nothing changed majorly, to be honest, as far as looks or mechanics were considered. All considered, this is a beauty of a car. Another car that has always captured my imagination is the Fiat 500. There were talks of restoring the production of this classic beauty. A lot may disagree when I call this a beauty, but, truth be told, in 1937, when Fiat threw this small car out into the market, it was the only car with an aerodynamic “nose down” design! And there are people here who would sell off their “Topolino” Fiat500 for as little as seven lakhs! It doesn’t look in the best of conditions though, and might need some preening and cleaning, but, isn’t this a beauty?

The Fiat500 came in multiple models as it was relentlessly produced from 1937-1955 and sold over a whopping 500,000 units. It was fuel efficient (16.6 kmpl), gave a top speed of 85 kmph and was a cute, small car that looked good all around! This particular model looks like one from the 1950s, the Fiat500C genre. And then, of course, there is a slew of old Mercedes Benz cars that are priced anything between two to six lakhs, and makes me itch to reach for the chequebook. Some of them, dilapidated and in need of restoration, others old and temperamental, but still in running conditions, and some, in regular use. One cannot but admire the Benz, before it fell for the age-craze of nose-diving looks. Come on. Even if I had the money, I would go for one of these any day, ahead of today’s sheep-herded designer Mercs.

I know many of these cars are shinier on the outside and probably need a thorough checking up before buying, but in this age of the interwebs, surfing for the perfect, vintage ride has become a sport in itself for car lovers like me, who have the desire, but not the wallet strength to actually sit and twiddle the steering wheels of one of these beauties. And until that happens, well, here is to more motor madness and vintage vehicle voyeurism!