On the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day, we bring you this car that has a proud history. The vintage car featured here is a 1939 model Chevrolet Master Deluxe that took India’s first PM to visit the Malampuzha dam in Kerala.
The car was also used by freedom fighters in the pre-1947 era for traveling. The car is currently owned by a Mr TK Rajesh of Palakkad, Kerala who is a car collector with many cars in his garage. Rajesh says that he would hold on to the car, despite several interested parties making offers for it as it has a proud history.
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According to Rajesh, the car is still running well though its not exactly fuel-efficient. In the video posted by Manorama News, we can see the owner taking the car out for a short drive. The car has a rust-yellow paint, and is shod with white-walled and red tyres with a red streak running from below the A-pillar to the rear of the car. It also has footboards on both sides for easy entry inside and wide fenders. The front dashboard is quite sparse even by the standards of old Hindustan Ambassadors, but the rear seat leg space is massive with a long and side rear bench seat.
Considering that this is a pre World War II car, it is amazing that it is kept in great condition by its owner.
The Chevrolet Master Deluxe we have here is categorised as a four door sports sedan, but the car was also offered in 2 door and station wagon variants. It has a six cylinder petrol engine that generates 85 HP, and has a single down-draft carburetor. The engine is mated to a three-speed manual syncro-mesh gearbox with a floor gear shift as we can see in the video. A column shift was offered as optional.
We hunted online quite a bit to find any actual photos of PM Nehru riding in this car but failed. So at the moment, we have to go by the report of the Manorama channel for its veracity though. The reporter has unfortunately not asked the current owner of the car for any such photos of India’s first PM traveling in this car. We however could find photos of other vintage cars used by Nehru during his visit to Kerala.
There is even one that shows his daughter and then future PM Indira Gandhi visiting Thekkady wildlife sanctuary. However, the cars used in both are not clearly visible in the photos.
The photos here are sourced from KeralaCulture.Org run by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala
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