In 1937, when the Bose family had bought it, the Wanderer had cost a princely sum of Rs 4,650.
It is the 120th birth anniversary of freedom struggle icon Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on Monday and on its eve, President Pranab Mukherjee got a rare present: a front seat in the fully restored car called the Wanderer in which Netaji had made his great escape from Kolkata on 16 January 1941 to go to Peshawar and found the Azad Hind Fauj.
The Wanderer is a German car made by the company Auto Union which does not exist anymore. But one of the four companies that made it up does - Audi - and its Kolkata unit restored the 80-year-old car to its original glory for just a little under half a crore rupees.
In 1937, when the Bose family had bought it, the Wanderer had cost a princely sum of Rs 4,650.
"You have done a wonderful jo12b of refurbishing the car, Wanderer, which is the mute witness to that great event by the great personality," said President Mukherjee on Wednesday at a function at Netaji Research Bureau.
Professor Sugata Bose, son of Dr Sisir Bose who had driven his uncle Subhas Bose from Kolkata to Gomoh, said, "Netaji was disguised as Mohammad Zia Uddin, a North Indian Muslim insurance agent travelling around for his insurance business. In fact my father had carefully painted MZ on the suitcase which Shubas Chandra Bose took with him."
After Dr Bose stopped using it as a family car, the Wanderer became a popular exhibit at the Netaji Research Bureau located at Netaji's home which is now a museum.
But it was not in the best shape, its wooden framework, crumbling. So for the 75th anniversary of the great escape, the Bureau assigned Audi to restore the car.
Said Prof Sugata Bose, "It is a symbol of such an inspiring story in our freedom struggle, not just of courage but also the ingenuity, to hoodwink the British intelligence and leave India to go outside and raise an army of liberation."
Now, this bit of history of the Great Escape will never repeat itself but the clock has certainly been turned back for the Wanderer. But for one thing. She is belching out fumes and would never pass a pollution test.
Professor Bose however, has promised to tune things up. "I am told too much engine oil was poured in. The mechanical experts have promised to fix the problem and get a pollution certificate.