good motoring
Topless drive
H.Kishie Singh

THE Chandigarh Police is challaning jeeps and Gypsies that drive around "open" i.e. with no canvas top and with windscreen flat on the bonnet. These vehicles are regularly seen on Chandigarh’s famous geri route.

The challan is issued under Clause 70, Sub Section 3, Section 26 of the Motor Vehicles Act, and reads, "Unauthorised post registration alteration of vehicle engine/basic structure".

What does this mean? If you read the smart card — that is the Registration Certificate (RC) — of your car, it gives the colour of your car and the fuel used. If you repaint your car in some other colour, it will be considered a change of the basic structure. If you replace your petrol engine with a diesel engine, it will be treated as "alteration of the vehicle engine". In other words the vehicle must stay in the original condition. And, what is this "original" condition?

These are the technical specifications of each vehicle. These specifications are certified by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune, a body empowered by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

As soon as a car is ready for the showroom, it is sent for inspection and approval by the manufacturer to the ARAI, which issues the Certificate of Homologation.

The ARAI certifies if the engine is Bharat II or Bharat III complaint, the seating capacity, the electric switches and the functions they perform. It approves the seat belts and every nut, bolt and washer. It certifies whether the vehicle comes with a hard top or a soft top. The vehicle is put under a microscope and then the ARAI approves and issues the Homologation Certificate.

So what does this have to do with open jeeps and Gypsys on the geri route?

The jeeps and Gypsys have been approved as soft tops before registration. These vehicles are designed to be driven with the top off and the windscreen down. The jeeps mostly don’t have doors. The windscreen is hinged to facilitate folding.

All these features are incorporated at the design stage and manufacturing stage. This open top motoring appeals to a lot of people and is the USP of the jeep and Gypsy. For me, it surely is. A soft-top Gypsy is meant to be driven open. One does not need to check the Homologation Certificate. The design says it all. It should be remembered that the two-door Gypsy with only a cabin for driver and co-driver was the backbone of Indian motor sport during the 1980s.

What contravenes the Homologation Certificate are changes like placing the spare wheel at the rear, below the body. This is a major change in the basic structure. The length of a soft-top Gypsy is 4010 cm with the spare wheel upright. The spare wheel lying flat and jutting out beyond the bumper increases the length of the Gypsy.

Also, placing the tyre flat, changes the weight distribution which may alter the handling characteristics like cornering and braking. The Gypsy could be a dangerous missile on the road.

The Gypsy is a two-door vehicle. To build a third door, as a lot of "sarkari" Gypsies have done, is a major change in the basic structure of the vehicle. Extra wide tyres are also not allowed. The weather for the next few months is just perfect for driving in open-top vehicle. Enjoy it. Happy motoring.