Cars drive you down memory lane

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Ambassador is our National car. After all it is the car used by politicians and leaders and has been around as long as one can remember. Similarly, the national car of Iran is Paykan. This car was fully made in Iran and by the Iranian company Iran Khodro Industrial Group. The car was very popular in Iran from the late 1960s to the late '90s. It was often referred as the Iranian "chariot" just as we refer to the Ambassador as “Raja Gaadi”.

The company stopped production 11 years ago. The car was introduced during the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi who worked hard to make Iran modern and this car was a symbol of the new-age then. Like the Amby, this car, the Paykan too underwent a lot of cosmetic changes and was a looked upon as the vehicle to make a political statement, a car which conveyed that you were powerful.  During its last years, the order backlog for Paykan was nearly two years long.

There are many in Iran who get nostalgic about the car whenever one is seen on the streets. It reminds one of the olden times, the simpler days. This is again something which we Indian can also relate to. It is indeed strange how a car, in two different countries, two different models, can still be so similar in terms of what it represents and the kind of emotions it evokes.