The Times Auto Expo, Bangalore, 2013: In Pictures

Mass Production Section:

This is the first thing I saw when I entered the Expo. Yes, this ugly little piece of shit. I'd like to meet the publicity manager and congratulate him; this car is crap in many ways, he's added one more "crap factor"

Ah! The Toyota Camry 2013. Looks a little like the Honda Accord, don't you think so? The lines remind me of the Accord.

Much better than the previous Camry, although it does resemble an Accord.

The Chevrolet Captiva 2013. I love the Aggressive Front. Good job, Chevy!

The Chevrolet Captiva, another angle

This is my favourite Harley: The 883. It has a small wheelbase, which makes it easy to ride on Indian Roads.
The styling is extremely subtle. This picture doesn't do justice to the paint job on the tank and the fender.
That blue and the subtlety of the styling made my knees weak.

The Batman of Harleys. No bullshit color schemes here; it's all business.

The Hyosung Comet 650 GTR. I'd never buy this bike. It looks like many bikes had sex and created this stray dog.
The front reminds me of a Ducati,/Suzuki; the sides remind me of Yamahas and Hondas.
I don't know how this bike rides, but a lack of originality kills it for me.

The Hyosung Comet 250R. Same story as above.

That's the naked version of the Hyosung Comet 650R. 

That oversized pile of dung you're looking at is the Hyosung ST7.
The salesperson mentioned that it is meant only for cruising, but only Hyosung can get their design elements all wrong. Too much chrome, bad paint-schemes. Oversized tires and ugly alloys. Nope, not for me. Let's move on.

This looks alright, at first glance. This is the Hyosung Aquila, a 74 BHP, "sports cruiser".
Inverted shocks, dual front disc brakes, lighter alloys. That's like buying an elephant to take part in the Dakar Rally.
I'm sorry; it doesn't get my juices flowing.

Volkswagen has facelifted its whole production line. They share design elements; I love it.
The clean lines all join together to create this feeling that the car and the person who owns it means business and does not waste time. 

You have to love the lines, they're beautiful.

I don't always get a facelift, but when I do, it's pretty fucking brilliant.

The Polo 2013. 

The Vintage Car Section:

There was this whole section of vintage cars; I believe it belongs to someone from Advaith Hyundai. It's probably the owner. I'm jealous of this person. He's got a car collection which I'd kill for.

The Mercedes 220S. A beautiful, elegant being.
It is flawless; my camera doesn't do justice to how beautiful this thing looks when it is next to you.

The grill is brilliant. The chrome is something cars of today lack.
This is a car that you'd drive down the road just for attention. No driving fast; just chilling on the road at 20kmph. 

Sigh!

Drool!

A Jaguar 1956. If you know which model this is, please leave a comment below.  The Chevy 1947 can be seen too.

An Adler 1938. The military green and glossy black paint scheme works really well for this car.

The Adler 1938

A Humber 1948, previously owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad

This car is should be seen in person. The picture doesn't do justice to it. I shall call it the white tiger.

A Ford Model A, 1931

The Humber is extremely long.

The Mercedes Ponton 1956

Check the wheels out. That's a level of detail missing in today's cars.

That maroon is quite striking. The Mercedes Ponton 1956

A Chevrolet 1947, please leave a comment if you know which model this is.

That's the Chevy '47. The most beautiful of them all.

That ass!

The Dodge Kingsway Deluxe. Absolutely brilliant!

The badge shows some pride, doesn't it?

The fins were a trademark of the american cars of the 1950s-60s

Looks tasty, doesn't it?

I think that's a Fort Prefect. Please leave a comment if you disagree.

The Ford Prefect, I assume.

 Custom Rides:

There were a few custom rides folks there. This is what they had to offer:

The folks at MotorMind do body alterations. This is a BMW with a vinyl sticker job.
Not for me, but there are people who dig this sort of thing.

I assume that this is a Chevrolet Cruze with a body-kit modification

That's a Maruti Gypsy. Not a bad job at all.

I wouldn't ask for an orange paintjob, but it looks like the rest of the job is well done.

Bulleteer Customs:

They're based out of Bangalore and they do a pretty cool job of modernizing Royal Enfield's Bullets. A lot of you will cringe at the thought of this, I know. I think their work is pretty cool, you should check it out. They do give the engines a boost; they claim that their 350s touch 125 kmph and their 500s touch close to 140 Kmph.

It says Eclipse on the side. I think that's a 350.

The Eclipse from the Bulleteer Customs' stable. This bike is sold.

That's another custom job by Bulleteer Customs.

Miscellaneous Custom Jobs:

This bike is a modified Bullet. It's so long that it requires three shots to capture it in detail. I'm not a big fan of what this chap did to this bullet, but I'm sure a lot of the people there were fascinated by the design work. No engine modification done, that's what disappointed me. The chap at the counter was pretty proud of the fact that except the engine, everything else is custom made. That's like saying, I have the best upper body, but my legs are chicken legs. Never skip leg day. 

Muskets attatched to the shocks and button tires. That's equivalent to Amitabh Bachchan in a shiny suit with blinking lights going: "I am a disco dancer".

Gattling guns too; in case the musket's don't fire. Oh wait, the muskets point at the rider. They need to. I'd want them to point at me if I was on the saddle of this ugly being.

This one made me smile.
To whoever thought of  and executed this idea: Great Job
Sincerely, Prashant.

Student Projects:

There were a few projects by enthusiastic students of engineering colleges.

1. A scooter for handicapped people:  a few students of the New Horizon College of Engineering

That's a scooter with extra wheels for the disabled/handicapped.
The wheels are lowered onto the ground using a stepper motor. There's a toggle switch to lower/raise the wheels.
The wheels are made of a polymer and I believe they last longer that rubber tires. 

The mini wheels have their own set of shock absorbers. Nice idea.

Design Flaw: The motor which lowers the extra wheels is exposed to the elements. They say that this is a problem with the scooter and that it can be placed elsewhere on a motorcycle.

 A Race Kart built by the students of RV College of Engineering:

Built according to the rules and regulations of FSAE. They have adopted an engine from the Honda CBR 600, which produces 74 BHP. The engine is capable of 125 BHP, but rules and regulations restrict the air intakes to a particular dimension, hence limiting the power. The clutch system has been automated using electronics and pneumatics. Electronic signals trigger the pneumatic system, which imitates a push to the gear lever. The tires are racing slicks and they claim that the car does 0-100 kmph in about 4.5 seconds. The car weighs 300 kilograms, and produces about 250 BHP per ton. 

That's an inline four from a Honda CBR. You can also see that the air intake smaller than what you'd expect it to be.

I've ignored all the boring exhibits in the Auto Expo. The manufacturers I didn't bother about are Yamaha, Mahindra, Renault, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra Scooter. The vintage cars are definitely worth going for. Till next time, cheers!