Mahatma Gandhi Cars India: The country is celebrating the 157th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi today. His role in India’s freedom struggle is pivotal, but very few people know about the American cars used by Gandhi in the country’s freedom struggle against the ‘British Raj’. Since our childhood, we have been told several stories about Gandhi, but none of them mentions him using a car.
Why Mahatma Gandhi Needed Cars?
Almost all of the images of Mahatma Gandhi, or as we know him, ‘Bapu’, depict him always walking with a stick. However, India in its pre-independence era was divided into provinces, and Bapu needed to transform the struggle into a mass movement, for which he needed to travel to these provinces. It wasn’t easy to travel such distances, and while generally Bapu used trains as a medium, he often used cars offered by his followers.
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American Cars Used By Mahatma Gandhi
There are two commonalities between the cars used by Mahatma Gandhi during India’s freedom struggle against the British Raj. First, all of these cars were owned by his followers and were often offered as a means of mobility only. Second, historical evidence mentions three cars used by Gandhi, and all of these cars were manufactured by American automotive manufacturers. Let’s take a look at the cars used by Mahatma Gandhi during India’s struggle:
Ford Model T
This car was used by Mahatma Gandhi in 1927, when he was released from Bareilly Central Jail in Uttar Pradesh. The Ford Model T is also renowned as the first mass-produced car in the world. The Ford Model T was powered by a 2.9-litre reverse-flow engine, which used to generate a peak power output of 20 hp and enabled the car to have a top speed of 72 Km/h.
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Image credit: X
Packard 120
The Packard 120 was an American car, and it used to come equipped with a very powerful inline-eight-cylinder engine with a peak power output of 100 hp. The Packard 120 saloons were offered to Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Delhi in 1940. As per reports, two cars were offered to Gandhi by his followers- industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla and Delhi Cloth & General Mills Founder Lala Shri Ram.
Image credit: Photo Division/Government of India
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Studebaker President
The Studebaker President is also an American car, and it also had a huge road presence similar to many cars manufactured in the USA during that time. The Studebaker President was manufactured in 1929, and while the ownership details of the car could not be found, it was used by Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Mysore. The car drew its power from a 5.5-litre inline 8-cylinder petrol engine, which generated 100PS of power.
Image Credit: X
Conclusion
From the Model T to the Packard 120 and the Studebaker President, Mahatma Gandhi used these cars not for their luxury or convenience, but to unite the country against British Colonialism. India’s fight for independence required contributions from all sections of society, and these powerful machines at that time played a significant, albeit unheard, role in the country’s freedom fight.