VINTAGE WORRIES

The world of vintage cars in India is in an exciting space right now, but new rules on commercial use cause concern

- SNEHA BHURA

Madan Mohan Yadav has always been conscious of history and heritage. “I was born and raised in Khetri, which is famous for two things: copper and Swami Vivekananda,” says the managing director of Deneb & Pollux, a tours and travels company. But the Gurugram-based vintage car maverick might be the third best thing about the former princely state.

During his visits to the local palace, a young Yadav, who hails from a farming family, would gape at the snappy chariots of the maharajas. There was one that he particularly liked—the 1928 Dodge Victory Six. When the 11th Raja of Khetri, Bahadur Sardar Singh, died in 1987 without an heir, seven royal cars were moved to a mechanic’s garage.

In 2000, when Yadav, as a first-generation entrepreneur with limited money, was office-hunting for his startup, he got a call from the mechanic; the Dodge Victory Six was on the market. Office be damned, Yadav bought the car instead. He was 28 then. In the next one and a half years, he snapped up the raja’s remaining cars.

Today, he has an enviable fleet of 370 cars, 109 bikes, 150 trucks and buses, 43 jeeps, 56 vintage tractors and 45 carriages. As managing director of 21 Gun Salute, which holds India’s only Concours d’Elegance— an international competition for classic cars—he is the only Asian to have judged eight Concours events. “I have done my best to put India on the world’s heritage motoring map. All this single-handedly, with my own funds,” says Yadav, who won the ‘Personal Achievement Award’ at The Historic Motoring Awards in London in 2018.