NGT order to ban vehicles older than 15 years might put an end to vintage car rallies

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Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally, flagged off in New Delhi in 1964, is the oldest running rally of its kind in the entire subcontinent. Several car enthusiasts, passionate for vintage cars, take part in this rally in both Delhi and Kolkata, where it has been happening since 1968. The only two years that the rally didn’t take place was in 1971, due to the war with Pakistan, and in 1973, due to the fuel crisis.
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However, looks like the 2017 vintage car rally was the last of the series, since the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Delhi government to ban vehicles older than 15 years, and this bracket obviously involves all the vintage cars.

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"The move to ban older, polluting vehicles from the streets of important cities such as Delhi is logical and it is a good idea to keep pollution under control. But a complete ban will surely kill the historic vehicle movement, universally recognised as a cultural heritage of a country," Bangalore-based Ravi Prakash, the head of the Indian national federation for historic vehicles, told ET.

Calling these vintage cars heritage of India, Prakash says that the government should differentiate between an old polluting vehicles and this historically significant cars.

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These vintage cars and motorcycles include the simple and inexpensive Ford Model Ts and Austin Sevens to the fancy Rolls Royces, Hispano-Suizas, Delages, Mercedes Benzes, along with some extremely rare cars such as Invictas, Lanchesters, Maybachs and Delahayes.

In Paris, vehicles manufactured before 1997 were banned from being used during the week since July 1, 2016. However, the French federation affiliated to FIVA, the Fédération Française des Véhicules d'Epoque (FFVE) convinced city officials to exempt historic vehicles from the ban. This prompted the government to allow any vehicle that is 30 years old or older, on the condition that it wears a special 'collectible vehicle' badge, to run on Paris streets.

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Car enthusiasts feel that Indian government should also follow a similar practice to preserve vintage cars. Owners of these cars are of the view that these are generally used for pleasure, and taken out mostly on weekends, therefore emissions from these culturally important vehicles are statistically.

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(Image source Auto News Press)
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