Gedee Car Museum’s new section is an ode to Indian cars such as the Ambassador and Padmini

It took one whole hour to get the Palani-bound bus road-ready in the 1940s. Before the driver turned the ignition on, an assistant would add wood chips into a wood gasifier fitted behind. “When these burned inside the furnace, it resulted in combustible wood gas,” says M Suresh, the general manager of GD Naidu Charities. The bus had a petrol engine, but science pioneer GD Naidu had modified it to suit hybrid fuel owing to a shortage of petrol and diesel across the world after World War II. Painted blue, it is in running condition, and is among the latest additions to Coimbatore’s famed Gedee Car Museum.

The caravan that was gifted by Periyar EV Ramasamy to GD Naidu (Source: PERIASAMY M)

For the longest time, visitors at the museum, that was set up in April 2015, felt it did not showcase that many Indian cars. “We did have a few. But many people wrote to us about this,” says Suresh. This year, the museum, that is run by the GD Naidu Charities, decided to act on this feedback. “We have added over 40 Indian cars to our previous collection of 70,” he adds.