When we call up Nitin Dossa, executive chairman of Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), he is on his way to meet Vivek Phansalkar, the Police Commissioner of Thane. The reason is that Dossa wants to extend an invitation to the top cop for the vintage car rally that WIAA organises every year, which will make its debut in the satellite city this weekend. "We felt that we were neglecting the suburbs, and Thane has never seen an automobile event as big as this," Dossa says about the decision to shift the rally.

He adds that some of the models that will be on display date back to the 19th century. There is a Mercedes model from 1896. There's a Ford car from 1899. Dossa says, "We also have the Rolls Royce that Lord Mountbatten used to ride in, apart from an Alvis [a British company] that won at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the world's most prestigious car show."