As she sat parked in the driveway of ace vintage and classic car restorer C. S. Ananth’s seaside bungalow in Neelankarai on the East Coast Road in Chennai, the 1914 Benz 8/20 looked as if it was just delivered by the manufacturer. Spotlessly gleaming paintwork complimented by glittering chrome embellishments and squeaky-clean leather upholstery sat atop four wooden-spoked rubber-clad wheels. The 1914 Benz 8/20, originally owned by Rao Bahadur P. C. Muthu Chettiar, Zamindar (1877-1940) of Madura Taluk, for his personal use in 1914 has been in the possession of the Zamindar’s heirs, the Somasundaram family of Madurai, ever since. In 1965, during a trip to Madras and back, it broke down and was relegated to one of the numerous garages in their family estate in Madurai and literally left to deteriorate and rot. Till, the third-generation scion of the family, Rajesh Somasundaram (along with others in the family), took it upon himself to have it restored to its original, pristine condition.
Enter C. S. Ananth, 72-year old professional car restorer, who, post retirement as CEO of the Madras-based UCAL Group, fervently pursued his passion for restoring old cars, by buying a few himself and plunging headlong into their restoration. This was in 2007. A Chemical Engineer by qualification, Ananth had joined Union Carbide as a management trainee and was assigned to their Official Car Rally Team. “It was at this juncture, I learnt about cars, because I had to be associated with the preparation of their Rally car,” recalls Ananth. Later, during his stint with automotive ancillary group UCAL, Ananth’s involvement in cars became more pronounced. “After retiring as the CEO in the UCAL group, I bought a few vintage cars which I began restoring, given my knowledge of automobiles, thanks to rallying. The first customer’s car that I undertook was a 1947 Riley owned by the Amalgamations Group, under the TEAM CSA which I formed in 2007,” says Ananth.
Later in 2010, the Maharaja of Udaipur heard about Ananth’s achievement from the Triumph Car Club of England and sought his help to restore the former’s Triumph Herald, which is now holding a pride of place in the palace museum. “TEAM CSA has so far restored about 65 cars ranging from an Austin 7 to the afore mentioned 1914 Benz, which is my current favourite, besides a 1966 Jaguar Mark II and a 1947 MG TC. The 1914 Benz is not only the oldest Benz in India, but also among the 3 surviving cars of the type in the world. When it first came to me, the Mercedes Benz restoration centre at Stuttgart insisted that the car was beyond restoration; such was the condition of the car. The Jaguar and MG were done to original British specs,” notes Ananth.
The art and work of vintage and classic cars restoration do not come easy, as in most instances, the original references or parts specifications may not be available. To ensure that his work is credit worthy and authentic, Ananth went about acquiring technical expertise in several fields. “Way back in 2013, I was not too pleased with my fit and finish, though, the customers were very happy. I located a course in Leeds College in UK for a body finishing. I secured admission there but owing to a health problem, I could not make it. I then contacted one of the largest restorers in Germany and asked him if I could be trained for a few days. I was fortunate to receive his positive reply and in August 2013, I spent a brief time at their works and returned with a lot of improved knowledge. Besides this, in many instances I found that we had to resort to trial and error to make parts that suit the original specs. In some cases, manuals were available, and although in foreign countries there are specialist spare part dealers, the cost of importing them was prohibitive; unless the car owner had deep pockets and was passionate enough to go for it. None of the materials they used in Germany were available in India. Thus, began a long search for substitutes. In the year 2014, we spent a few lakhs as R& D for improving our own processes. Today, we are following the German process. With import substituted materials, our fit and finish reached global standards,” states Ananth.
Recently Ananth was invited by the international body of Historic Vehicles – FIVA- Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens to be an advisor - legislation commission in order to address the restrictions being imposed on historic vehicles by various Governments including the Government of India. FIVA is the worldwide organization dedicated to the preservation, protection and promotion of historic vehicles and related culture and Ananth is the first Indian to be invited to FIVA panel in the fifty years of its existence. Ananth is also the advisor to the Geedee Car Museum in Coimbatore. Besides this, he is an international judge for Historic car shows, having judged shows in Malaysia, Singapore and the 21 Gun Salute International event at Delhi. He is also the founder president of the Madras Heritage Motoring club. Cars restored by TEAMCSA have won first prizes at International shows judged by foreign experts.
It has not been an easy growth for Ananth who battled many odds in his career as a restorer. Health, dearth of trained and dedicated work force, quality products and workmanship and availability of spares, have all been constant impediments. “First comes knowledge; you need an open mind to keep learning. Second is an eye for quality. Most important is ethics. We keep our customers regularly informed with reports and pictures. Thus, the customer is never worried of the progress. Above all you need passion for the work and patience to spend many, many hours of painstaking restoration work on engines and body parts. Bar charts and monthly budgets are prepared to monitor progress of each car. TEAMCSA has detailed operating procedures and modified software for better control of costs.
“We first study the car in detail, list all defects, broken and missing parts. We estimate the man hours required for the work as well as for making or acquiring the parts. We then give an estimate with a bar chart and funding chart to the owner of the car. Only after all these are scrutinized and approved do we actually start work. Total mutual trust and confidence is paramount for, it is not like repairing a modern-day car where spares are available and service stations are equipped to carry out the work according to a given schedule,” says Ananth.
TEAMCSA maintains a huge data base of foreign vendors. “We import parts from USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia & New Zealand. It depends on a particular car. Parts for German cars are from Germany and so on. Australia and New Zealand too offer good used parts as well. Whatever is unavailable or are prohibitively expensive, we have the infrastructure to make them according to the original specifications. But, when it comes to tyres, we have to always import them, as the Indian tyre manufacturers do not find it feasible to make small quantities for consumption of restorers like us. But, strange as it may seem, there are a few tyre manufacturers in India who make specific type of tyres purely for export to certain brands or end users who specialize in car restoration. They are not allowed to sell these tyres to Indian restorers,” says Ananth.
Ananth currently has nine cars under several stages of restoration. This includes two Dodges, two Plymouths, one Model T mini truck, a Ford, a Rolls Royce and a Mercedes. “Age does make things a bit slower for me to take on more cars or work longer hours on these vehicles. But, given the trust imposed on my work from the owners of these lovely machines, I ensure that at every stage, my personal attention is given, before it moves to the next. But, I wish more youngsters would take to this art of car restoration as it is a worthwhile business to be in. Abroad, the car restoration business is huge and there are now specialists for certain kinds of work. For instance, there are units that would undertake only body painting work or upholstery work or engine reconstruction work or mechanicals or electricals. At my works, we do all this under one roof to ensure that quality workmanship and time schedules are maintained,” says Ananth.
Despite the fact that Bombay has reportedly the largest concentration of vintage and classic cars, the South of India is not far behind with car collectors existing in Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore besides other towns and cities. “Many are very private collectors and outside of their circle of friends, these may never be known. The establishment of Geedee Car Museum in Coimbatore has brought out many cars for display and maintenance at their vast facility in Coimbatore,” concludes Ananth.
