A Vintage Muscle-Car for Sarah and Russell

When I'd written the first draft of "On a Thousand Hills" - the draft that I lost when my old PC's hard disk crashed - the car that had caught my fancy was the Ford Mustang. At that time I was really enamored with it! The gunning of its powerful engine, the masculinity of this fiery beast.

What I wasn't sure about, however, was whether vintage Ford Mustangs actually existed in India. I watched a few Bollywood oldies - 'Don' and even older ones - to see what cars the 'heroes' and, more interestingly, the 'villains' used to serenade their 'heroines' or haul their cronies to fight spots. I saw several imposing Cadillacs and Chevrolets; a friend of mine pointed out that the Chevrolet Impala convertible was fondly called the 'wedding car' in the 80s and 90s. Several East Indian Catholic brides and grooms were driven to or from their wedding venues in this impressive automobile. As a result, for a while, the Chevrolet Impala was my choice of automobile for my leading characters, Sarah and Russell. For that matter, the male protagonist was called Roy until then. I changed it to "Russell" because "Roy" is typically a Malayalee Christian commonplace name, not a Goan/Mangalorean/East Indian/Anglo Indian one. Although I had a college mate, a tall and handsome Anglo Indian chap, called Roy.

Then I remembered the diminutive, rather "cutesy", convertible in "Father of the Bride": The Austin Healey. When I resumed writing 'On a Thousand Hills', I changed the Impala to Austin Healey. And I was never really comfortable with it. 

Literally speaking, too. Now Uncle Luke is a burly man. Imagine him crawling into a Healey! The steering wheel will cleave to his big belly! Where's the muscle in that car anyway? Besides, the Bombay leg of the story is set in May-June, the hottest and dreariest time to be in Bombay. Who drives around in that heat and humidity in a tiny convertible! I needed a bigger car, a muscle car, and ideally not a convertible. I considered reverting to the Ford Mustang, but again was not certain about its availability in India at the time. Sure, there are a few Mustangs somewhere or the other, but I'm sure they're rare.

Then I remembered my father talking about Desotos in my Uncle's garage when he used to deal in foreign automobiles. Also, I think I'd seen a Desoto or two in the movies also. A quick Google search yielded the car that I instantly fell in love with. The 1957 Desoto Fireflite Sportsman, 4-door hardtop sedan.

The red-and-white color combo, the heavy chrome details, massive tailfins, and the kickass V8 engine; nothing else could be more apt than this beast. At once, I chose this car for Sarah and Russell, and their drive to Sarah's ancestral home north of Bombay. 

Here's a short video featuring the Desoto Fireflite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vFUFNl4nEY