From caterer to collector,Badamikar’s 100+ vintage cars

 

 

 

 

POSTPONING all appointments, veteran vintage car collector Dhananjay Badamikar drove all the way from Pune to Nagpur to show off his Premier 118 NE of 1989 at the Rotary-The Hitavada Vintage Car Rally, to be organised in association with Cent Ind Vintage Automobile Association (CIVAA), at St Ursula High School ground on Sunday. Excitement levels were through the roof for Badamikar as he geared up his Premier 118 NE for the vintage car rally. “I was thrilled. In the last couple of days before commencing the journey, I was anticipating the car rally so much that I was preparing every inch of the car, taking every precaution there is,” he said.

 

Given with full heart by the previous owner (Shashikant K Atre, a retired police officer from Pune) in 2019, the 1171cc car is very close to Badamikar. Though not the first time going on a long drive, this trip from Pune to Nagpur was the longest he took. “I have been from Pune to Mumbai twice and from Pune to Goa once in this 118 NE. Not the first time coming on a long distance ride, but it was longer than the previous ones and therefore I was very excited for the drive,” he shared about his adventure.

 

“After Jalna, we were able to speed up to 120 kmph,” said the veteran car collector about his morning journey to Nagpur. “Before Jalna, we were cruising at speeds of 80 kmph, but after that I was confident that it is a robust machine and it will not trouble me,” he said. The 63-year-old Badamikar is a full-time vintage car collector and has been an automobile enthusiast since the age of seven. “When I was five or six years of age, I overheard my father talk to my mother about going to someplace as he was an automobile engineer.

 

I got up early and sat in the car until my father arrived,” shared Badamikar. “He could not deny taking me and had to take me along for the trip,” he explained what ignited his craze for automobiles. Badamikar, who primarily ran Badamikar Caterers (which is now run by his son), grew his collection to over a hundred vintage cars, starting from a Fiat Elegant of 1957. “When I got my first car (Fiat Elegant of 1957) in 1997, I had enrolled the Fiat in a vintage car rally in Pune as a newbie in the fraternity, but they rejected my application saying that ‘we don’t take Fiats for our rally’. “And thus I thought of getting another vintage to get into the rally.

 

Coincidentally, after my collection grew to seven or eight vintages, the same car rally organisers invited me with my Fiat Elegant. My Elegant won the ‘Most Original Car’ award and I never looked back since,” Badamikar explained. “Even the keys, the headlights, wheel base, hub caps, engine, horn button, steering wheel, all the ornaments are original. Only the seats were damaged so were restored, and it was repainted,” said Badamikar about his Fiat Elegant. “In my collection, I have different Fiats, Citroens, Indian legends,

 

American Dodge, Volkswagen Beetles, Micro Buses and also some Jettas, including 90% of the Mercedes available from about 1956 till early 2000s, with a couple of latest Mercedes.” “Nowadays we don’t see a lot of vintage and classic cars on the roads these days due to a lot of reasons, including RTO and police permissions, fitness certificates etc,” Badamikar explained. “When several cars of various companies are in sight, people get excited and even I, being an avid enthusiast, ensure going to the vintage automobile museum before starting my journey to any place. This should happen to our newer generation,” Badamikar concluded.