In 2013, the Government of India, in a historic move, made all cars manufactured before 1950 eligible for importing into the country and, now, this has been extended to 50-year-old cars, ie cars manufactured in or before 1975. What’s more, this is on a rolling basis, so next year cars manufactured in or before 1976 will become eligible for import and so on. The calculation of 50-year-old cars is based on their original date of registration.
While the Government has come to the realisation that 50-year-old cars are not a threat to local manufacturing industries, in most countries, even the ones with extremely strict vehicle certification and homologation requirements, the restriction only extends from 25 to 30 years. Obviously, for countries without any local manufacturing industry to protect, there is no such restriction. We hope this time restriction is lessened in the future to a more realistic 25- or 30-year mark.
As for enthusiasts right now looking through the classifieds for 50-year-old cars in Japanese, UK and Australian websites, they need to be aware of the still rather prohibitive cost of importing a car to India, which when the customs duty, GST, and registration fees are taken into account comes to about 250 per cent (or 2.5x) of the car’s invoice value, so even now, it is only a wealthy man’s game.
Also, a proviso in the legal requirements means that importers can’t import these 50-year-old cars for reselling, which is presumably to stop a classic and vintage car industry from springing up around the import de-restriction. However, why the government is concerned about that is not clear, as the prohibitive cost of importing means our market will not be suddenly flooded by old cars.
As for our pick of the cars now eligible to be imported, here’s a short list:
Aston Martin DB4
Aston Martin DB5
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Nova
Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Ferrari 250 GT SWB
Ferrari 275 GTB
Ferrari 365 GTB/4
Fiat 500
Ford Mustang
Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio
Lamborghini Miura
Morris Mini
Volkswagen Beetle
