Virasat Mahotsav vintage rally in Dehradun on 25 October 2026 draws 28 cars and 51 two-wheelers

A vintage car rally ran through Dehradun on Sunday, 25 October 2026, as part of the Virasat Mahotsav. Garhwal Post reported 28 old cars and 51 old motorcycles and scooters on the entry list, a mix of Indian and imported models. Sunaina Aggarwal, vice president of the Virasat organising committee, and Dr S Farooq, president of Himalaya Wellness Company, flagged the field away from the festival venue at the Himalayan Cultural Centre in Nimbu Wala.

The route was a city loop rather than a timed run. Cars and two-wheelers went past Seven Oaks School and the old Virasat venue, then through ONGC, Kishannagar, Chakrata Road and Bindal to Ghantaghar, before returning via Chakrata Road and the Bindal bridge to the festival ground. Amar Ujala reported that owners themselves explained their cars to the crowd through the day, and that folk performances followed in the evening. No results or prize list were published by either paper.

Two-wheelers outnumbered the cars

The split is worth noting for anyone who follows club entry lists in India. Fifty one scooters and motorcycles against 28 cars is close to two to one, and it matches what Hyderabad and Bengaluru clubs have been seeing at their own displays. Old two-wheelers are cheaper to buy, easier to store in a city flat and far simpler to keep running, so they now fill out the field at heritage events that were once car-only affairs.

For an owner in Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai, a rally like this is not only a social outing. It is one of the few uses the law clearly allows. Autocar India reported the road transport ministry's draft rules for vintage and classic vehicles, put out for comment on 26 November 2020, which cover vehicles at least 50 years older than their original date of first registration. A new vintage registration certificate was proposed at ₹20,000 with ten year validity, and renewal at ₹5,000. The plate format is XX VA YY followed by four digits, so a Maharashtra car numbered 3112 reads MH VA AA 3112, on a white plate with black lettering in HSRP form.

The same draft restricted where these vehicles may go. Use was limited to display, technical research, taking part in a vintage car rally, refuelling and maintenance, and exhibitions. The vehicle also has to stay in original form, with no substantial change to chassis, body shell or engine, and a state level committee can reject an application. That is the practical reason club calendars matter so much to Indian owners. A VA registered car that never leaves the garage has no legal reason to be on the road, and the club rally is the reason.

October's other club run

Dehradun was not the only heritage outing this month. Star of Mysore reported that the Advaith Hyundai and KVCC Vintage Car Rally 2026 was flagged off on 12 October from the dealership's JC Road facility in Bengaluru by Dr Subramanya Gupta, chairman and managing director of Advaith Hyundai, with Kripa Shankar Mishra, zonal manager at Hyundai Motor India. The cars were displayed in front of Mysore Palace on 12 and 13 October, then at the JLB Road showroom in Mysuru on 14 October. The report did not give an entry count.

Between the two, October gave Indian owners a Karnataka palace display and a Uttarakhand street loop in the space of a fortnight. The club season proper, which runs from the Mumbai and Kolkata events in January to Delhi in February, is still ahead.

Sources

• Virasat Mahotsav-2026: Vintage Car Rally held in Doon, Garhwal Post
• विरासत महोत्सव में विंटेज कार रैली, Amar Ujala, 25 October 2026
• Advaith Hyundai & KVCC Vintage Car Rally 2026, Star of Mysore
• New registration rules for vintage and classic vehicles in India announced, Autocar India