But little did they know he was looking for a vintage four-wheeler abandoned in the corner of a workshop at Aluva market. Many onlookers may have smirked at the man, assuming he was mad.
On July 23, 2020, he was walking around Aluva market past midnight looking for the object of his desire. Even as the pandemic confined everyone to their homes, Sunu’s love for vintage machines kept him up and alive. Ask Sunu Babu, a resident of Kakkanad, Kochi, and he will talk to you about this serendipity at length. You never know when you will find your spark in life.
The original steel rims of 6J width have been customized to 9J to accommodate wider MT tyres.The original indicators and rear lights have been imported from Columbia.Some of the Wildcat’s unique features are: The glossy yellow stands out in a crowd with pearl white on the roof and steel rims. When it was ready for painting, the first thing which came to my mind was the yellow-white combination of the Toyota FJ40. I love the design of pick-ups, so made the Wildcat cabin closed making the car a two-seater. But, I appreciate their patience to build the body and the outcome. The auto body mechanics struggled with the scrap car since they hadn’t had another vehicle like it before to work on. The 1.6-litre petrol engine fired up on the first attempt itself. Ordered parts and engine rebuilding kit from Japan and Indonesia and started assembling everything from the scratch. I started with restoring the 12R engine and hence, dismantled everything. It is a very rare and unique vehicle, probably the only one in India. It was owned by Jijo Joseph, a vintage car collector based at Aluva and was initially imported from Dubai. It was completely rusted, without a carburettor, distributor, cylinder head, radiator, dashboard, seats and windshield glass - just a piece of scrap metal. The Wildcat was a victim of not one, but two floods and was untouched for 9 years. I wanted to wake this sleeping beauty and bring her back to life. The vintage beauty was abandoned in the corner of a workshop at Aluva market. After working in the IT industry for 11 years, I was waiting for a unique 4-wheeler which I could restore, when I found a Daihatsu Wildcat TAFT F20.