Vintage cars 1904 Ford-T, 1942 Harley Davidson steal limelights

Shillong, Nov 16 (UNI) The old beauties stole the limelight, when they rolled out on the streets of Shillong at a rally organised by the Antique Wheels of North East (AWNE) here today.

Altogether 30 vintage cars participated in the fabulous road show, including two of the biggest attractions of the rally - the 1904 Ford-T and the 1942 Harley Davidson V-twin engine.

The road show, which covered a distance of almost ten kilometres, culminated at Khyndai Lad after a brief interval at the Madan Iewrynghep.

A huge crowd had gathered along the rally-route to cheer the participants.

''It's nice to see the beauties hit the roads again, especially here in Shillong, where some of these cars had historical backgrounds,'' Mr Honsen Lyngdoh said.

Mr Lyngdoh's classic featured in Oscar winning film 'Gandhi' directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.

Another Ford model-A 1928, owned by Radhey Shyam Goenka, was used by none other than Mother Teresa during her visit to the state.

Similarly, the World War II veteran Harley Davidson, the only one in the northeast with a V-twin engine, couldn't burn rubber as its 1200 cc engines just couldn't fire up.

Another attraction of the event was the 1946 Jaguar Mark-4 - again one of its kind in the region. ''Restoration was done recently and she looks to be in a good shape now,'' Mr Das from Guwahati, who drove up here, to participate in the rally said proudly.

Then there was the fleet of World War II Military Jeeps and a Dodge Weapons carrier, displaying their magnificent age-old prowess.

These '' macho'' World War veterans had owners driving them in fatigues, much to the amusement of the onlookers.

''It is a unique event and such rallies are unique opportunity to display vintage cars and the heritage attached to it,'' Mr Vinay Kohli, who initiated the vintage car rally in Meghalaya, said.

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