There is good news for the Vintage and Classic Car owners as the state government is going to put up special stickers to honour them, state Transport minister Snehashis Chakraborty said.

“ We will put up stickers on them. We have great for the vintage cars and their owners and how they maintain them is admirable,’ he said, adding “If we respect old monuments and structures, we should love and respect old cars also. They are part of history and need proper preservation. The state transport department is working on the design of the stickers.”

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This is for the first time that such a venture has been taken by the state government. It may be mentioned that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ( KMC) has started giving heritage tags to heritage buildings.

The initiative to show respect for vintage and classic cars was taken by the state Transport minister. Through the globe vintage cars are given heritage status. The Statesman started the Vintage and Classic Car Rally in the country five decades ago. Calcutta ( now Kolkata) was a haven for big cars.

There were British cars like Rolls Royce, Morris, MG, and Austin, which were seen on Kolkata roads. Minerva, a rare Belgian car was seen in Kolkata. American giants like Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, Packard, Oldsmobile, and Studebaker among others were seen in Kolkata in great numbers.

There were French cars like Renault and Peugeot and German cars like Mercedes Benz.

Till the early 1990s, the Commissioner of Kolkata Police had used Dodge Kingsway while the Director General of Police used to travel in an Opel, a German car. Dr BC Roy, second chief minister used to come to the Writers’ Buildings in his Buick.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had left the city in Wanderer, a not-sopopular German car. To date, Kolkata houses some of the very rare cars like a Renault owned by Srivardhan Kanoria while Ananda Chowdhury has a rare German car Stoewer, the only piece that has survived in the whole world. Subrata Sen has a Mercedes Benz fitted with a rare engine, a very rare car.

Amitava Saha has a rare British car Lanchester. Hemanta Mukherjee had used a Plymouth for quite some time and is now maintained by SK Lahiri. A Triumph, once used by Jackie Shroff is now found in Kolkata.

There is a Panther Slope motorcycle that is celebrating its centenary. Welcoming the move of the state government, Prasun Hazra, owner of a classic car said “ We appreciate the move and it is good I thank the Transport minister for his gesture.”