{"id":18734,"date":"2015-06-02T13:22:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T13:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/?p=18734"},"modified":"2015-06-02T13:31:39","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T13:31:39","slug":"when-betty-came-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/?p=18734","title":{"rendered":"When Betty came home…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BettyBF02jun2015\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a school-going boy, he saw the Mysuru Maharani\u2019s Daimler pick his grandmother up from his house.\u2008Fascinated by the Daimler, the young boy came running out and sat on the compound wall staring at this royal beauty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He had made up his mind. He was firm on owning this royal machine one day. Now a retired businessman,\u2008Ramanna is the enthusiastic owner of a 1951 Daimler Consort, which he has named \u2014 Betty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a Daimler passion rather than a vintage passion,\u201d\u2008says Ramanna proudly. Recalling his school days, he says, \u201cWhen I used to sit on the wall watching the Daimler, the driver of the car came up to me one day and said, \u2018Boy…you will become a driver like me if you sit here and watch. Go inside and study,\u2019 and these words thrilled me and I decided that I will own a Daimler one day, instead of sitting in my grandfather\u2019s Austin 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original Daimler company closed down but Ramanna\u2019s dream was still alive. Years passed, and one day, in 1998, his brother rang up saying, \u201cThere is a Daimler for sale, are you interested?\u201d Without wasting a second, Ramanna said yes and there was his dream. \u201cThe car was in pieces. There was no wiring, no headlights. But she was a Daimler,\u201d he says. She lay in their house in pieces for four years and the mission of fixing her began after Ramanna\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were hardly any mechanics who were ready to come and she would not go out of this house.\u2008Finally, I got my father\u2019s mechanic, Murthy.\u2008He was old and we used to work from morning to noon and take a break,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

The slow process kickstarted again when Ramanna\u2019s daughter went to London Business School. \u201cI did not know the technicalities of the car. As my daughter was in\u2008London,\u2008I could get in touch with \u2018Daimler and Lanchester Club\u2019 and many other Daimler owners,\u201d\u00a0 he informs.<\/p>\n

He wrote about his Daimler dream in the Club\u2019s journal and it is then that he met a British guy who owned three Daimlers. He let Ramanna rip the parts of one of his spare Daimlers and Ramanna says, \u201cHe asked me to take all the parts I needed and I sat for four hours removing just four bolts! The British guy then came with a hammer and ripped all the parts and gave it to me,\u201d he reminisces.<\/p>\n

The parts were transported to India and he recalls, \u201cMy wife Mridula safely trolleyed the parts and no one questioned her at the customs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramanna\u2019s Betty has undergone various stages of restoration and each part of hers has a story to tell. While Betty\u2019s upholstery was done by a local sofa repairer riding a bicycle, her wiring was done by a mechanic who was a Dubai return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to pick up this Dubai returned mechanic in my Mercedes car. But later he did not finish the work and I completed it referring to the book given to me by the Daimler Club,\u201d he says. The book was given to him as an appreciation for his passion by one of the British guys.
\nHis strong passion for Daimler has also taken him to Gujarat as he says, \u201cOne
\nof the Daimler club members wrote to me to get the measurements of Maharaja\u2019s Daimler in Gujarat, as he had the same model. I went till Gujarat and took the measurements and sent it to Britain. I did this, also because, I would get a ride in my dream car,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Betty has rewarded Ramanna with a lot of new friends in the City and abroad. She has also let them be part of many vintage rallies including the ones in London.<\/p>\n

Betty is taken out on Saturdays and Sundays on Sankey Tank Road or Cubbon Park. \u201cWe have three cars. One is Betty. The Mercedes we have is Veronica and the Esteem is Lucy. Veronica comes out for clubs and dinners and Lucy for all the regular work,\u201d he says lovingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children are abroad and now these three are our daughters,\u201d the couple say. Ramanna adds that it has been a great journey with the Daimler and concludes, \u201cDaimler was a dream and now it has become a reality after Betty came home.\u201d<\/p>\n

source: http:\/\/www.deccanherald.com \/ Deccan Herald \/ Home> Supplements> MetroLife \/ by Prajna GR, DHNS \/ June 02nd, 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a school-going boy, he saw the Mysuru Maharani\u2019s Daimler pick his grandmother up from his house.\u2008Fascinated by the Daimler, the young boy came running out and sat on the compound wall staring at this royal beauty. He had made up his mind. He was firm on owning this royal machine one day. Now a … Continue reading When Betty came home…<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,246,15,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture-entertainment","category-historical-links-pre-independence","category-records-all","category-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18734"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18737,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18734\/revisions\/18737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}