A small scale car museum owner and a connoisseur of vintage car launches a restoration and classic automobiles outfit
The Hindu
In the quiet of the lockdown, Rajesh Ambal and wife Ramya Lakshminarayan have been bringing rare vintage cars back to life
Rajesh Ambal is in the process of restoring a 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe, one of the first taxis in southern India. His collection includes a 1933 Bellila Fiat that belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad and is often used in film shoots. Also a 1933 Vauxhall Westminster that has a bar unit and a small seating arrangement for a barman to serve the passengers, and a 1947 Buick. These beauties are at his garages in Palakkad and Pollachi. His latest addition is a barn find, a 1961 Pillarless Impala which was once owned by India’s first Foreign Secretary the late KPS Menon. Restoration kept him and his wife, Ramya Lakshminarayan, busy through the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. And they enjoyed the process so much that this year, Rajesh and Ramya launched RR Vintage & Classic Automobiles: Collection and Restoration, an outfit that brings back to life unused, rare vintage cars. Currently they have 25 cars in their collection and 35 cars from different parts of the country under restoration.
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