KARACHI: Majesty and history held sway at the Frere Hall lawns on Sunday as the day-long 4th Annual Antique Cars Show 2026, organised by the Antique Cars Museum, brought out people from all walks of life in huge numbers to appreciate the delightful display of automotive heritage and craftsmanship despite the biting cold.
It was a free public event where the stars of the show among the 110 antique cars were the two which turned 100 this year — Razi Nayyar’s 1926 Chevrolet Superior and Faraz Latif’s 1926 Austin Seven Chummy.
And if there was an even bigger presence there than the birthday cars, it had to be the 102 years old 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of the Nawab of Bahawalpur that was used by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten on August 14, 1947 to go to Governor House for the signing of the Independence Declaration. Proudly owned now by the lover of classic cars Karim Chhapra, it is featured in just about every antique, classic or vintage car show that takes place here. Also on display were very rare cars such as the 1941 Cadillac Sedanette Coupe, owned by the Founder Antique Cars Museum Shoaib Qureshy. The only other such car was owned by the Quaid-i-Azam, his first car as the Governor General of Pakistan, the 1947 Cadillac Limousine that is on public display at his Karachi mausoleum. Qureshy had entered some seven of his cars in the show. The others being a 1956 Austin Princess Limousine, a 1965 Ford Mustang, a 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Convertible, a 1984 Cadillac Seville, a 1983 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1991 Cadillac Brougham.
While speaking on the occasion, Qureshy said that, “Interestingly, we don’t have any classic car museum in Pakistan so such a show helps create a one-day real life museum display for people to enjoy. If we can somehow get government or private sector support with space, we would love to make Pakistan’s first physical car museum in Karachi for people to enjoy it all year round.”
Despite biting cold, automobile show at Frere Hall pulls crowds
He also said that his objective through Pakistan’s first online Antique Cars Museum which he founded four years ago was to showcase on a single platform the great historic and globally priceless antique cars that are there in Pakistan for the world to see. “Also I wanted to show our love for these automotive treasures and how our passionate antique car collectors take care of these cars and preserve them despite the huge challenges that they face here,” he added.
The President of the Vintage and Classic Rally Drivers Association of Pakistan, Imad Samad, was also there with five of his classic vehicles, including two Willys Jeeps, a grey 1952 and a beige 1961 model. When asked if he drove around in the jeeps in this cold, he said that he very much did as the engine heat from under their dashboards kept his legs warm. The others in his collections displayed there were a 1935 Chevrolet Master Deluxe. “Seeing it on the road people point to it and call out ‘Quaid-i-Azam ki gaari [Quaid-i-Azam’s car]’,” he smiled.
Samad also had a 1968 Jaguar E-Type Series 1.5, a rare transitional model which came out between 1968 and 1969. Another rare car of his there was one of the 1982 silver beige metallic collector’s edition of the Chevrolet Corvette. “There was no Corvette the year which followed and the 6,759 units that came out in 1982 all have the same silver beige metallic colour,” he explained.
Mohammad Ali’s 1970 Oldsmobile Toronado and 1967 Ford Mustang were attracting many admirers as were Hasan Jafar’s 1953 and 1978 Chrysler New Yorkers and 1974 Cadillac Eldorado. The cars originally belonged to their fathers and it was great to see how well the next generation has maintained them. Speaking about passing down the love of vintage and classic cars to the next generation, the Founder and President of the Vintage and Classic Car Club of Pakistan, Mohsin Ikram, while sitting behind the wheel in his 1959 Austin Healey, shared that his two-year-old grandson Asad can start the car engine and is turning into quite a car buff.
Meanwhile, the visitors also enjoyed looking at and taking selfies with the other cars there such as Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Austin Mini, MG, VW, Toyota, Datsun and Suzuki. Aisha Anwar, a visitor, told Dawn that besides the great ambiance, she was happy to meet with so many antique car owners who were so knowledgeable about the overall mechanics and history of the cars. Another visitor, Ayesha Jameel, said she was hoping to find a 1969 Ford Mustang V8 there. The trio of friends Khubaib Azeem, Mohammed Meekal and Mohammed Haseeb could not stop talking about various models of Mercedes and Rolls Royce they encountered at the show. Shahid Ali was there with his three boys, 10-year-old Musa Shahid who was crazy about Ferraris, eight-year-old Essa Shahid who loved BMWs and a year-old Dawood Shahid, who was completely in awe of everything.
Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2026
