GeDee Car Museum's G.D. Gopal joins FIVA Heritage Hall of Fame

A Coimbatore museum's global recognition

On 17 October 2025, G.D. Gopal, founder and managing trustee of the Gedee Car Museum in Coimbatore, was inducted into the FIVA Heritage Hall of Fame. The award was presented by Ramin Salehkhou, a vice president of the Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens, the Paris based body that represents historic vehicle clubs worldwide, according to the museum's own account of the ceremony.

Gopal founded the museum on 27 April 2015 to mark the legacy of his father, G.D. Naidu, the Coimbatore industrialist often called the Edison of India for his string of engineering patents. FIVA's own citation describes the museum as home to around 100 meticulously documented, everyday vehicles rather than only rare exotica, including a Ford Model T, a Volkswagen Beetle, a Citroen 2CV, a replica of the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen and several rare German microcars, according to Wikipedia's entry on the museum, the collection spans close to 23,500 square feet and 110 cars as of August 2023.

The induction ceremony was attended by Tamil Nadu's then IT minister Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Coimbatore district collector Pavankumar G. Giriyappanavar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan chairman B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar and FIVA advisor Gowtham Sen, the museum's page on the award states.

Three Indians, one still living

Gopal is the third Indian named to the Hall of Fame since FIVA created it, and the first to receive the honour while still alive. The federation's own roster lists rally pioneer Nazir Hoosein, who founded the Himalayan Rally Association and the Great Himalayan Rally, among the inaugural 14 inductees of 2021. Hoosein died in 2019. The next Indian name on the list is Pranlal Bhogilal, who built the Auto World Vintage Car Museum near Ahmedabad, now run as Dastan Autoworld, and who was inducted in 2023. Bhogilal died in 2011.

A new wing built for speed

The Hall of Fame ceremony coincided with the opening of a new Performance Car Section at the museum, a wing devoted to racing and high performance cars rather than the museum's usual everyday machines. Autocar India's report on the opening lists a McLaren Artura shown next to a vintage MG TC for contrast, a Ford GT40, S. Karivardhan's interpretation of a Lotus Seven and a Fiat 1100 modified to race as a Premier Padmini. The wing also holds a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, an Aston Martin V8 Vantage displayed as a cutaway, a Maserati Ghibli, a Porsche Boxster, a BMW Z4, a Mercedes SLK and a Ford Mustang, alongside Rolls Royce and Lotus cars from British marques.

Gopal told Autocar India why the wing exists: "Precision leads to performance, and that's exactly what we are trying to showcase here." For a museum built around the ordinary car that carried Indian families through daily life, the new wing argues that the extraordinary car belongs in the same story, not a separate one.

Sources

• GeDee Car Museum: FIVA Heritage Hall of Fame 2025
• Autocar India: Gedee Car Museum in Coimbatore unveils performance car centre
• FIVA: Heritage Hall of Fame
• FIVA: FIVA announces 2025 Heritage Hall of Fame inductees
• Autocar India: Nazir Hoosein inducted into FIVA Hall of Fame
• Wikipedia: Gedee Car Museum