Come Sunday, and The Statesman Vintage and Classic Car Rally’s 54^th edition will be held here that will yet again open a window for the people of the National Capital to have a glimpse of an enchanting bygone era marked by vintage automobiles.

The 23 February car rally will again be an occasion when the people of Delhi could witness scores of four-wheeler engineering marvels displaying their graceful grandeur while cruising along the roads of Delhi and its suburbs.

The rally will be flagged off by NDMC chairman Dharmendra from the Statesman House at Barakhamba Road on Sunday at 9.30 am. The participating vintage and classic cars will head to Noida and return via the Amity University belt to reach the National Stadium at India Gate at 12 noon.

The prize distribution ceremony will be held at the National Stadium. DDA vice-chairman Tarun Kapoor will be the chief guest at this function and will distribute prizes. The entire occasion will be a feast for the eyes of car enthusiasts and vintage automobile lovers. The judges appointed for the rally will monitor the performance of the participating cars with their eagle eyes before the cars are put on display for visitors.

Over 130 cars have been registered for participation in this mega event.

Among the participating cars will be 50 vehicles in the Vintage Section, 20 in the Classic Section, 19 belonging to the post-War category, and 32 in other categories.

The flagging-off of the vehicles will be done in accordance with the manufacturing year of the cars, with the oldest ones being first to move on followed by other vehicles.

The categorisation of these cars has been done by putting those belonging to the period between the First and the Second World Wars in the Vintage Section and those of 30 to 49 years of age in the Classic Car section.

There will be 25 new entries in the 2020 car rally. Among the iconic vehicles of yesteryears will be a 1914 John Morris fire engine, a Rolls Royce, an Austin, and a Chevrolet.

A group of experts will evaluate the cars on the basis of their year of manufacture, originality, and maintenance.

The participating vehicles will also be pre-judged for two days at Modern School, Barakhamba Road on 21 and 22 February. The judges appointed for the rally include Jitendra Pandit, Rakesh Jain, Pramod Bhasin, Ashwini Kathpalia, Appasaheb Allur, Anirudh Mitra, Gyan Sharma, and Indermeet Singh.

The Statesman has been organising this prestigious rally since 1964 in New Delhi.