You never know when you will find your spark in life. Ask Sunu Babu, a resident of Kakkanad, Kochi, and he will talk to you about this serendipity at length. Even as the pandemic confined everyone to their homes, Sunu’s love for vintage machines kept him up and alive. On July 23, 2020, he was walking around Aluva market past midnight looking for the object of his desire.
Many onlookers may have smirked at the man, assuming he was mad. But little did they know he was looking for a vintage four-wheeler abandoned in the corner of a workshop at Aluva market. One of his friends had told him about it. When he finally found it, it was something out of a movie. “It was raining and I admit it was love at first sight. When I first set my eyes on the Daihatsu Wildcat TAFT F20, it was almost whimsical,” he says. ‘TAFT’ stands for Tough Almighty Fourwheeldrive Transport. Manufactured between 1974 and 1984, Daihatsu is one of the oldest Japanese automakers.
After working in the IT industry for over 11 years, Sunu started his venture Petrolhead Customs around five years back. The company deals with customisation and restoration of motorcycles. But he was always in love with jeeps. “My first off-roading experience on a jeep was at Kudajadri when I was seven years old. I was very excited to watch the jeep climb. By the time we reached the top of the hill, I had decided that I would get a jeep. Years later, I went on the same trail on my jeep,” recalls Sunu.
After he started working, he saved up enough money to buy a 4x4 - A Mahindra MM540. “I started exploring lesser-known places, staying in tents. I visited Kudajadri in my jeep too. I also ended up owning a Land Cruiser from the LJ79 series,” Sunu says.
However, of all vehicles he owns, Daihatsu Wildcat TAFT F20 holds a special place in Sunu’s heart. It has been through two floods, lying in the Aluva market unattended like a piece of scrap. “It was completely rusted. It didn’t have a carburetor, cylinder head, radiator, dashboard, seats, or even a windshield. A day after I picked it up, I found the owner, Jijo Joseph, a vintage car collector based in Aluva. He had imported the vehicle from Dubai, but even he doesn’t know where it was before that,” says Sunu, who claims it might be the only Wildcat in India.
New and improved
The restoration of the Wildcat began two years back at SuperBee Automobile Union, a garage in Edappally owned by Sunu’s friend Azrif Rasheed. Sunu started by dismantling the entire unit and restoring the 12R engine. Since it was an original vintage vehicle, the spare parts and engine rebuilding kit had to be come in all the way from Japan and Indonesia.
“I started assembling everything from scratch and the 1.6 litre petrol engine fired up in the first attempt itself. The mechanics struggled with the body of the vehicle since they haven’t seen anything like it before. I love the design of pick-ups so I closed the Wildcat’s cabin, making it a two-seater. When it was ready for painting, the first thing which came to my mind was a yellow-white combination of the Toyota FJ40. The glossy yellow stands out in the crowd with pearl white on the roof and steel rims,” says Sunu.
The original indicators and rear lights were imported from Columbia. Wildcat’s original steel rims are 6J wide but Sunu customised it to 9J and put MT tyres. The dashboard was built out of teak wood and new meters were installed. Likewise, the steering wheel was pulled out from old Willys and customised for the steering rod to fit in.
Since, there was no wiring kit available for Wildcat, the expert electricians from the city designed the wiring from scratch. The bedliners were built out of mahogany wood.“Bringing something like this vintage machine back to life was an experience in itself,” Sunu says.