I was quite overwhelmed to read about the amazing trip undertaken by four brothers of the Mukherjee family from Calcutta to Lahore in April 1933. The brothers originally planned to travel all the way to Peshawar, but that dream had to be shelved.
Nonetheless, Lahore was quite an achievement. The group essentially followed the Grand Trunk Road all the way from Calcutta to Lahore. The brothers were much impressed by towns like Allahabad, Aligarh and Kanpur, which they found well laid out and with scope for shopping.
The trip was filled with dangers and challenges and I will try to cover some of them here. The fact that it was in early summer did complicate matters a bit on account of the heat. So, the trip deserves great praise.

The car

The family had just bought a Fiat 522 passenger car and chose this for the journey. Produced by Fiat between 1931 and 1933, the 522 was offered in three different body styles: 522C (short wheelbase), 522L (long wheelbase) and 522S (Sport).

Possibly sold by French Motor Car Company, it was an unusual vehicle to buy, and to use on the highway. Spares were almost impossible to find, for example.

It was a fast, powerful car with good brakes. It had a 6-cylinder engine of 2,516 cc in-line, with a claimed output of 52 bhp (39 kW). For that era, it was quite a vehicle.

The car also featured a four-speed all-synchromesh transmission, which set the model well ahead of its time. It had a light open bodywork. This would have assisted fast driving.

The 522 was the first model to feature Fiat's rectangular logo. Its front radiator sported the longish badge using gold lettering on a red background. Along with a more luxurious version called the Fiat 524. A total of 10,135 cars were produced and I understand several hundred were sold in India.

The driving

The four brothers rotated the driving every 150 miles or so. Speeds were quite high, from 40 miles per hour (65 kmph) to 55 mph (88 kmph) on open roads. Because of the summer heat, they hardly met any other vehicle on the road.
Progress was slowed either by towns, or by herds of animals and people. At other times, there were car problems to hamper rapid progress. The planned daily schedule was departure by 4 am every dawn, for a steady drive for about five hours before the first break for some food, then another drive till around 1 pm, when they would break to shelter from the sun for two hours or so. The car would hit the road after 2 pm for another 4-5 hours or till the next destination.
It did not always pan out as planned. The least of the problems was getting stopped at various railway level crossings that dotted the Grand Trunk Road and led to delays.

A different world
The 1930s were a different world. For one, the amazingly detailed account tells us that the Grand Trunk Road was metalled only up to Barakar, 148 miles from Calcutta and marking the border with Bihar. After this, the road was a gravel one all the way to Mughalsarai, and then metalled again. There was a lot of dust but the surface was good.
Secondly, petrol was sold at local grocery stores and petrol pumps were few and far between. Petrol was sold by the gallon (4.5 litres) and priced between Rs 1.50 to Rs 2 per gallon. Besides, the car consumed quite a bit of lubricating oil – around 1 litre every 250 miles. I guess it was typical of engines at that age, even on a new car. Lube was sold by petrol pumps.

In one scary development, the tie rods of the car’s steering came off while it was being parked at the Bagodar, about 220 miles from Calcutta. What followed was truly amazing: a local mechanic repaired and put together the tie rods by inserting steel foil from a biscuit tin between the threads. This fixed the tie rods so well the car drove fine all the way to Delhi. The cost of the repair was only Rs 2!!
While we will explore the trip in more detail in the coming months, it’s clear that despite being powerful with great brakes and headlights, the new Fiat was far from perfect in terms of build quality. The car suffered from problems regularly but the energy and sporting spirit of the young group triumphed over the problems with a smile.