A bright red 1959 Chevrolet Impala convertible is an eye-catching sight anywhere, it is safe to say, and one would be even more so wherever Detroit classics of the tailfin era are seldom seen. Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is one such place, so you can imagine the impact of this car as it drove down the street along the city’s historic waterfront. Its batwing tailfins and cat’s eye taillights are seen here cruising past the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the landmarks of Mumbai since its completion in 1903.
Although an unusual sight, this 1959 Chevy cruising past the Taj Mahal Palace and then turning left between it and the adjacent Gateway of India is appropriate in a way. America’s big and flamboyant cars of the late 1950s were coveted status symbols in India at the time, as they were in many parts of the world. Their owners were businessmen and other wealthy individuals, the sort of people who would have frequented the Taj Mahal Palace, and they appeared as symbols of affluence in many early Bollywood films, as proudly proclaimed by Chevrolet of India on its website.
The Taj Mahal Palace has its own connection to the automotive world: its was the creation of Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata Group, the massive industrial conglomerate that is the largest car and truck maker in India and since 2008 has owned Jaguar and Land Rover. So the appearance of this 1959 Chevrolet in this place was less an aberration than a nod to the past, perhaps even a return to a place where the car once frequently visited.
Nice photo, car and writing ! .
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-Nate
Is this a period photo or a current one? I’ve never been to India, but from what I’ve been told by co-workers I’d think there’s not a worse place to drive around in a fancy open car.
The white car seen in the photo appears to be of pretty recent manufacture.
Oh yeah, I put my glasses on…
World is round and you will go back from the other way after traveling a while.
It’s a Mahindra Thar, seen in Rochester, NY in RIT campus. The old bones must see a lot of India and USA.
These Mahindra Jeeps are everywhere in India. The model with the CJ-5/7 front end in your photo is commonly used as a military, police and other official use vehicle. An older version with the tall, square front end of the CJ-3 is even more common, and fleets of them are used as a tour group transports in many places.
Much like the Royal Enfield single cylinder motorcycles made in India since 1949, the Mahindra Jeeps are genuine living fossils that are still going strong, so much so that they are common, everyday vehicles that are not seen as throwbacks.
Proof that a classic Chevy convertible looks at home just about anywhere. I imagine it’d be a nightmare to pilot it through some other parts of town though, with narrow, congested streets…
There’s another 1959 Chevrolet who had taken a journey in New Zealand. http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/nz-life-leisure/61070356/cruising-in-a-1959-chevrolet-impala
And there’s some photos of others Chevrolets I saw on Flickr http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ifhp97/sets/72157624021192157/
Cool photo, thanks Robert.
This looks to be LHD and a factory convertible, so probably a recent import rather than a built-from-CKD sedan with the roof cut off and worked for decades as a wedding car.
Indian DMV states imported cars have to be RHD only so How did this one slip in?.
India was a large importer of American cars between the war years but they were
RHD Canadian built imports. British Commonwealth countries could not charge
each other import duties see.
Reminds me of theJames Bond movie The Living Daylights”
Timothy Dalton gets picked up in a red 59 Impala convertible by two CIA agents.