Time stands still in this museum for machines

In many ways, L. M. Lakshmanan is living his boyhood dream. “I got interested in automobiles because of my grandfather, who had a Standard Companion, (a 1955 estate car) with a big boot, and as children, we used to love travelling in it in and around Karaikudi. I used to feel sad that I didn’t have enough money to buy the car myself.”

Decades later,Mr. Lakshmanan, who runs a security camera business with clients in Karaikudi and Chennai, owns a museum full of not just vintage cars, but also two-wheelers and three-wheelers. And as an extension of his love for other forms of classic technology, he has added toys, cameras and recording equipment to the collection at his Chettinad Vintage Gallery in Pillaiyarpatti, Tirupattur Taluk in Sivaganga district. Situated in the midst of a busy pilgrimage route that covers the historic local Karpaga Vinayagar temple and the nearby Kunnakudi Shanmughanathar Temple, Chettinad Vintage Gallery is a time capsule of the passions that once drove the Nagarathar Chettiar community of this culture-rich region of Tamil Nadu.