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By Clifford Stanley
Gyan Totaram of Good Faith Mahaicony was a toddler in 1974 when his father bought a Morris Minor 1000 car registration number PL 114.
The iconic British made car had been manufactured in 1956 eighteen years before and his father Khemraj Totaram was the third owner.
And so in 2020 as far as the lives of cars go, PL 114 should have been retired; scrapped; put down , shrouded with weeds and vegetation and rusting, a long long time ago.
But at age sixty four the quaint looking five seater is as at this week as feisty as ever: up and running and looking just as good and even better than it looked in the days of the 1950s and the 1960s when it enabled a better life and provided mobility and freedom at a time when such qualities were rare.
The British stopped manufacturing the Morris Minor 1000 in 1971.
The notable preservation is due to the little boy who grew up with this vehicle and bonded with it and vowed to never let it die.
I caught up with Gyan Totaram at Bush Lot Village West Coast Berbice where he operates the Photo World Photo Studio, Photography Establishment.
He has given the car a name: “My favorite toy.”
Following an occasional use of the car, he had just parked the classic and he agreed to talk with Village Voice about his passion for vintage cars in general and the Morris Minor in particular.
He said:“This may be a tired old car. But it has a history; a family history. I as well as members of the family couldn’t/didn’t even think about putting it down.”
Totaram who has other modern day vehicles, disclosed that keeping the vintage car alive and going had been a major challenge particularly in the 1980s and the 1990s.
“We had to make some modifications to the engine, the braking systems, the suspension other parts due to difficulties in getting the original parts.. But the body is the same.”
“This hobby of maintaining a vintage car is a bit expensive at times . In fact the whole thing about restoring and maintaining vintage cars is expensive but with this Baby any costs is never too much for me and us as a family.”
He is not a mechanic but does what he can and gets professional help whenever necessary.
With the advent of the Internet, maintaining the vehicle has been much easier since he can acquire parts from the British Company named Minor Sports.
He admitted that part of his passion for the vintage car is the feeling of exclusivity he gets from ownership.
“You can run to any auto dealer get a Toyota Axio a Bluebird a X Trail …any vehicle. But this car is no longer in production. There are not many of these around. And so this car stands out anywhere it goes.”
He disclosed that there are many people who would want pictures taken with the Morris Minor 1000 in the background.
“There was a guy who wanted me to take him to a wedding on the Courentyne and he wanted to be taken there in the Morris Minor. But I told him that that was too far away. I could take him there in the Morris Minor partially but he would have to take another vehicle for the rest of the journey. He didn’t turn down that offer of a partial drop in the Morris Minor”
The car has also taken pride of place in a number of exhibitions of vintage vehicles in Guyana over the past few years.
Totaram said: “These cars were built to last.”
“In 1977 there was a collision between this car and a more modern day vehicle. The modern day vehicle ended up looking like an empty beer can that somebody had stomped. The Morris Minor you could barely see a scratch and a small dent.”
He disclosed that he doesn’t drive the vehicle hard nor in rainy weather for fear of damage to the under carriage.
“I don’t drive it hard to anywhere. I want to ensure the longevity. When I drive this car its not about the destination: Just the journey.”
He stressed that PL 114 was fully certified. Insurance, Licence and Fitness all up to date.
WRITERS NOTE And at this point in the interview and out of a sense of curiosity I asked to be allowed to sit in the car.
The minute I settled into the front seat and started looking at the dashboard and the interior it was like I had just entered a time machine and was being transported into the past.. into that murky time period when this car was in its glory days.
Talk about time travel?
I found myself wondering about the people who owned and drove this car when it was brand new.
What was life like in those days? What did the streets in Georgetown look like? What did the roads in the rural areas it traversed look like?
Getting into that Classic and sitting soaking in the ambience was like getting hit with a blast from the past.
Gyan Totaram has other vehicles but he plans to ensure that PL 114 will exist far into the future, even beyond his tenure.
He is happy that his twelve year old son Mihail shares his passion for the Morris Minor and will undoubtedly take over fully when he is no longer inclined or when he is no longer there.
He said: “This is a family jewel. We keeping it spick and span and operational as long as its possible.”(END).
