Driving Them Crazy

What is it about cars that men can’t resist? Why they personify them and imagine them to be a curvaceous being? Jatin Ahuja, founder of Big Boy Toyz decodes the mystery.

Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer of Apple and chancellor of the Royal College of Art, once said, “One person’s car is another person’s scenery.” With this phrase, the designer summarised the most intimate relationship a man has ever had with his car(s).

Having earned my first profit by selling a pen to a friend at the age of 10, I can safely say that my initial trysts with my two muses — cars and entrepreneurship — came fairly early. In hindsight, my memories of the illustrious timeline of school days tilt favourably towards my current vocation.

I would always be dreaming about exotic cars from afar and identified countries not by their flags or geographical positions, but by the iconic automobile manufacturers originating from there. If only my Geography teacher knew his way around the world’s top car makers, I would have been his favourite student!

While the concept behind Big Boy Toyz was getting a constructive touch ups in my mind since sixth grade, the romanticism ended only when I was able to get a broad view of the technicalities involved in automotive engineering. During college, I immersed myself deeply in projects modifying accidental Ambassador and Fiat cars that enabled me to get a peek into the product cycle, thereby shedding the boyhood fascination to a real world understanding and appreciation of the efforts invested behind making some of the greatest cars.