My fondest memories of childhood were the car trips my parents took us on during our vacations.

I remember how we would stuff the dickey with all our bags and leave the roof carrier for the second spare wheel, an empty jerry-can for fuel and one filled with water — just in case it got too hot for the car.

I particularly remember how I’d fight with my brothers about whose turn it was this time, to sit in front between mummy and daddy.

Our 1.1 litre Fiat Premier Padmini was wonderful because of what it could do and where it could go and because it never stopped working. It still holds a special place in my heart, even considering it was painted in the most peculiar shade of a matt khaki-green that has since then, fortunately, gone out of fashion.

I learnt to drive in a Fiat and even won my first race in a Fiat. And this generation will never know the joys of a rear wheel drive car — especially driving in mud and slush.

Now I’m not exactly old and wrinkled — this was just 20 something years ago but I already feel the nostalgia of the good old days come racing in. I still remember how my mum was often the only woman driver on the road, how we drove in cars with bench seats in front that made you slid from side to side and of a time when seatbelts were unheard off!

A time when the gear stick was attached somewhere on the steering wheel column and if you wanted to use the handbrake you had to bend down in a peculiar yoga-like asana and then pull real hard. If you tried this while you were driving you’d find yourself staring at an oddly placed shelf right between the dashboard and the floor instead of the road ahead.

I remember the time when the Bombay-Pune highway was like an expressway — mostly deserted with only the occasional truck or car and anyone could drive the 120 kilometres in under two-and-a-half hours.

A time when car tyres looked like cycle tyres, slim and without much grip made from nylon, cross-plays — when radial tyres were either unavailable or unheard off. Of the time one had to regularly check the liquid levels under the hood and leave home at least five or 10 minutes ahead of time — just in case the car would need some time to crank-up.

And of the time when just owning a car was considered a status symbol — considering you had to wait anywhere between five and twenty years to get one.

I’m talking about a time when if you drove with tubeless tyres you were either slightly soft in your head or your ‘tyrewalla’ was a crook, when dynamos, jets and carburettors were not some weapons of mass destruction that the Allies are looking for and of a time when if you poured coloured water — especially a murky green — into your radiator you’d be sure to have a dead engine by morning.

We’re a liberated lot now, don’t you think. You can shop for your car like you’d shop for your everyday jewellery — the choice is endless and there’s something for every one. All you need is your credit card but better still get someone else to help you pay for it!

You know what you’re looking for if you’re well informed. Something that’s affordable, practical, good-looking with good value for money. One that won’t take much of your time fussing over and one that you will use till you’re sick and tired of it.

A car you’re sure you will either sell or exchange or give away some time later, for something bigger, more glamorous, more comfortable, more functional, more funky, with groovy gadgets... and naturally more expensive!’’

— Navaz Sandhu, National Champion Rally Driver

Photograph: Prabhas Roy
Street Smart