Mumbai: There was a time when Fiat cars were synonymous with the city. For several affluent Mumbaikars in the seventies and eighties, a Fiat was the first family car. And it was only last year when Mumbai’s last clunky and noisy kaali-peeli Fiat or Premier Padmini taxi went off the roads.
Sixty years after Mumbai-based Premier Automobiles Ltd launched a version of the Fiat 1100 D under licence from the Italian auto giant, a group of 75 vintage car enthusiasts have convened to keep Fiat’s relationship with the city alive.
The Bombay Fiat Club held its inaugural meeting on Sunday in Chembur, where members turned up with their prized possessions. They intend to meet once every fortnight, with the aim of helping each other with repairs, restoration and sourcing spare parts. And, of course, to go on leisure drives together.
“The club has been formed to facilitate Fiat lovers to become a community,” said Prasad Iyer, 43, a professional consultant and founder member of the Bombay Fiat Club. After unsuccessfully trying to trace his mother’s Fiat for years, Iyer found a similar basil-green 1954 Fiat in Uttarakhand and bought it for ₹4.5 lakh. He spent a further ₹4 lakh to restore it.
“My ‘Basil’ is a bundle of joy for my family,” said Iyer. “My mother still loves to go for a drive in it. It becomes the centre of attraction whenever we take it for a drive and is the backdrop of many selfies.”
Premal Goragandhi, a film producer, turned up with his white 1970 Fiat, his family’s first car. The 45-year-old has maintained it all these years in memory of his late father, who bought it in the late seventies. “The club gives each one of us a feeling of belonging,” he said.
Apart from Mumbai, the Bombay Fiat Club has members from Pune and even Dubai. As Fiats are cheaper to maintain compared with other vintage cars, the club is trying to encourage more people to buy them and keep the brand alive. According to Goraganghi, cars that are over 30 years old are known as “modern classics”, while those beyond 50 are called “vintage”.
Dr Samit Patnaik, a surgeon and founder member of the club, said that both his grandfathers used to own Fiats, in which he learnt to drive. “To me, they are an emotion and represent simplicity in motoring. They also reflect Indian culture. I relive my happy school days with them, so I thought why not take all Fiat owners under one umbrella, the Bombay Fiat Club, and get them all together to feel like children with their Fiat toys and come to the playground with them.”