Amid the mad rush in the Gen-Y to possess modern and exotic cars there are a few youngsters who care about preserving and nourishing the vintage ones. Aditya Vikram Jaiswal, a social worker and a member of the good old Jaiswal family of the city is doing the same by keeping the legacy of vintage cars collection running within the family. With the likes of Mercedes Benz 170v Cabriolet, Ford 1922 Model, Chevrolet S 1918 Model, Willys Knight, Fiat Rolls Royce 1912 Murleen Princess, DESOTO and others he claims to be among the top ten collectors of vintage cars in the country.
The former secretary of Jharkhand State Congress Committee boasts to have the only car , ‘Ford A’ model of 1921– that drove Mahatma Gandhi from Ranchi to Ramgarh in 1940 for the Congress session in Ramgarh.The Gandhi Car – as it is popularly called – is presently at his in-house garage equipped with all the required tools for the maintenance of it. The spare parts are imported from Ford, U.S. A. and sometimes Ford sends the spare parts on its own. The red coloured vintage car was bought by Raisahab Lakshmi Narayan Jaisawal, Aditya’s Great Grandfather, directly from Ford. The First President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Zakir Hussain, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and a Viceroy named Lord Erwin too have travelled in this car.With a market value of over seven crores in the international market the Mercedes Benz 170v Cabriolet glitters in his garage. These cars were used in Hitler’s convoy during Nazi-Germany era. Mercedes still recognizes them as priority customers and provided them spare parts for no charge in year 2015. It is noteworthy that only seven cars of this model are left in world.
The 1912 Fiat Rolls Royce also known as the Murleen Princess is the only of its kind left in this world. “It is a very proud moment for me that I am taking care of not only my ancestral heritage but also taking care of Rolls Royce’s heritage.” The 1959 DeSoto Firedome 2-Door Sportsman with engine power of eight cylinders, Ford 1922 Model and Chevrolet S 1918 model with engine power of six cylinders each and Willys Knight that used to be given only to those having title of Sir in England are few cars which are rare to be seen in state like Jharkhand in past, present or future.