In conversation with Sukhpal Singh Ahluwali, Founder of Euro Car Parts

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: In the future, I intend to be spending, you know, more and more time. In India, I’m looking to build a house I’m looking to, to buy and you know, both options are on the table, I’ve been viewing properties on every trip. And I think back there in December 1 week, I could hope to finalize on one property, I already have three smaller properties. But you know, I wanted something that would be you know, equivalent to what I have here. So that’s what I’m trying to finalize on that.

Bertrand Dsouza: So so let me start first, with your connection with the automotive industry. You started Euro Car Parts from a small store taking up the business that it is today. What has that journey been like for you? So what inspired you to get into that? And how have you managed to take it forward and bring it to where it is today?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: Initially, no, I came to this country as a refugee. We were expelled from Uganda, there was a necessity to really survive. We had no umbrella we had no safety net. So you know, we just had to get up and do something and I very luckily stumbled upon a business at a very young age that you know, that I had a very close connection to so I mean, ever since I was a little kid I was just fascinated by cars and anything that was on wheels it moved it you know, whether they were even tanks or fire engines, you know, I just had a real love and passion. And at a very young age, I was known amongst my friends to be able to tell you what car it is from the sound. So you know, they will say So Paul, come on, what was that that went by, or make me turn away and I would be able to say well, that was a BMW that was Ferrari, that was something like that was my passion. And you to be able to get involved in that. You know, it never felt like work it was like you know, going and participating in your hobby.

Bertrand Dsouza: So Euro Car Parts, can you tell us a little bit through that journey, I mean starting that business, small store that I would say that you had when you started off?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: Ever since the age of 13 onwards in the mornings before school and in the evenings and weekends, and that’s where I got you to know, the taste for it. Buy Sell and you know to encourage people to buy. So those are the fundamentals and then this opportunity came of Prop business you know, which was for very money you know, and that also we had to pack and borrow. And you know, we just took that business over and as a small shop and you know, we give great service, got people what they wanted just you know, grew and grew from there.

Bertrand Dsouza: From your collection of cars, let me come straight to that because that’s one of the crops of our conversation. Looking at the collection, it is something with some very interesting cars in them as well. Some are personal favourites, also, especially the Porsche 356 Speedster.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: That’s it actually I keep that one just across the road, in a garage in the office and do like to go and see it sometime. Lunchtime. I walk past it is quite a sound that comes out of it when it runs you know. You don’t get anywhere with any other car. The era that really For me is the mid-50s, up to the early 70s. And afterwards, you know, they started bringing in those plastic bumpers and all that. And then I switched off. But yeah, I have some really nice cars, and I really enjoyed driving them. You know, in fact, I went to Southampton yesterday. And I took one of the cars, so I had a great trip. Oh, my back is hurting.

Bertrand Dsouza: That’s fantastic. That’s fantastic that you’re still driving these cars around and they are being used regularly.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I just want to make sure that it’s not raining and it’s wet. Yeah. Cold, it doesn’t matter. But if you don’t want them to be in rain, and then the other chassis gets hot, or if the worst is it’s snowing and then you know they put salt on the ground. And so the winter I try not to take them out. So I was looking at a collection and there are several, the larger part of the collection is all German cars. Has that got anything to do with you know, did that have any connection with Euro car parts, for instance, because you are catering to all the European cars Mercedes Benz BMWs Audi and Porsches? I’m a fan of, you know also some great British cars. I have Aston Martin DB5, XK140. These are great British cars as well. My theory loves the drive and feels very different to the German cars were very sort of precise and neat and tend to be more reliable. It’s a bit like the British ones. Yeah, no, absolutely.

Bertrand Dsouza: Absolutely. So how much of an effort is it, you know, kind of get kept keeping, you know, maintaining these cards, because some of them, you’ve restored, some of them, you brought them in better condition than the others. You have to restore them. You know, how much work is actually there involved with these cards? And do you really need to work on them now that they’ve been restored to almost pristine condition,

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I do like to get the cars in really good condition, and I want to drive them. And when I’m fully restoring them right now I’ve got one that has just come back the 190SL come back after three and a half years, I’m looking at the cars did because this model car over there. And there’s still about a 300 SL and the SK140 in restoration, but when we do them, we do a lot of hidden comforts we put in there, but you can’t see. So we’ll conceal the air conditioning. We’ll put electric windows in there, we’ll put electric power steering you can’t see it, but it’s there, it just makes it so much more pleasurable. Some people say Oh, well, you know, that’s not really the real authentic, but, but it’s fine. I, I do it for my own comfort. So you know, we put electronic ignition in it so that the cost starts every time you want it to start. Not that it’s a big drama to get it going after you haven’t used it for a few weeks. But a lot of hidden mod cons in there, and we keep the old parts. So one day, if we ever sell these cars, they can be restored back. Yeah. I’m a fairly short guy. In some of these calls, the seats are very low. So I get slightly raised. And it feels really nice.

Bertrand Dsouza: Can you take me through, you know, some of the calls that you’ve got? And you know, like, for instance, how did you acquire them was there you know, we’ve just come up and you managed to pick them up in you know, in time 356 Speedster, for instance, you know, how do you how did you get that car? How do you get a hold of that?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I bought the 356 from the auction. I saw the condition and everything and went to see the car and it was really 10 out of 10. And when I bought that car, I went to pick it up I met the owner and I asked him you know why he was selling and then he told me that he was in some difficulty financially. But I asked him if he would any of it or something else this is what I have but I don’t want to sell it. He had the BB fire. So after a while he called me and said look, are you serious? I said yes. And I put the podcast but the boat I’ve had for about 15 years. So finally about five years ago I sent it away you know the engine went to Germany, the body went to Wales leather went to Poland, and it all gets put together. And that takes about three hours three years and it’s like a brand new pagoda with all the mod cons that give make it so much more pleasurable to drive.

Bertrand Dsouza: Oh, lovely. So is your collection, your collections, when I saw also was largely classics like you said you have an affinity you appreciate cars, it will be in the 50s in the 70s. But when Carmen then is the McLaren, the Mercedes, the McLaren SLR from a mistake? Yes, just one of the cars, which is a more modern car in that sense. Is there anything else in your collection that is more contained everyday

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I have a Bentley Mulsanne and a BMW seven series which is being replaced by the all-electric seven series, which has just come out. That’s probably being delivered in the next couple of weeks. And then the modern Lusso. So and then we have a Lamborghini four by four, you know, the Euros, euros? Yes. Modern cars, which I mean, I do not really have a passion for them. They’re there every day, but the real fun is driving the works of art.

Bertrand Dsouza: Did it ever occur to you to kind of you know, pick up Land Rovers, especially, you know, series, one series, two solos classics, which used to be I mean, I see a lot of restoration work also being done in the UK. On first-generation dolly generation Land Rovers.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I don’t have any desire for the land rover. But I believe that people are very fond of those cars. And they’re becoming quite valuable. I have a friend of mine, who has, I think about three of those and is very happy with their values of them as well.

Bertrand Dsouza: All right. All right. So what is going to be your next acquisition?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: We are looking for a 275. We were the underbidder on a very special 507 BMW. Yeah. So there’s another one in the Sotheby’s auction, a cream one that is coming up, I think next month. So the US so we will look at that and see if it doesn’t go for too much of a crazy price. But I really missed this one. This was owned by BMW themselves. And they did a private sale. I guess someone must have tipped off them. And you know, because they told me, you know, put a bid of 1.9 million I did. And then suddenly the guy gets it for 1.95 was on this but I think maybe it’s like something he had a tip-off or something.

Bertrand Dsouza: Absolutely. So you also have in your collection, you’ve got the two-wheeler, you’ve got the Honda cub as well. And those were very, very popular back in India. You know, several decades ago there was sold by Bajaj the MACD. And of course, it’s something that’s funny, that looks fantastic. I’ve seen some images of that, that today that you’ve got the 190 Yes. And, you know, what, what was that purchase all about?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: When I was a little boy, I used to go to pick up and drop off pots to my customers. And that’s actually that was my mode of transport to come to places quickly. So if they wanted a water pump, I would put it at get on the bike and take it to the garage. So one day on my birthday, my friend Richard, he gifted me that. So fully restored on that.

Bertrand Dsouza: That’s lovely. So I saw a few pictures with that condition. Yeah, yeah. And it did look pretty. It looked very, very impressive.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I’ve also noted I think the 1928 blanc was a Maharajah so when I was in India, I was walking this scrapyard near Delhi. I don’t know if you know the name. It’s called get broken up for pots, but it’s shooting maybe two kilometres long, just outside. Cars that had an accident or a fire or you know they come there then they strip them for pots. This guy takes the dough he takes the gearbox he takes the wheel, so the full body comes in and then it comes to the carcass by the time it has gone around the market everybody just buys the parts. And then I was working there because I was just interested as in microbore happens in a place because I was interested in recycling and salvage you know, this is ageing the take the thing it recycled back. And then I actually saw Dougie he was in this is not what you’re looking at. So we have some interesting bikes, or no real ones are in the back, which I own. So I said, Oh, it’s any chance I could see it coming? So then become another sick fellow, he was quite interested when I was abroad. He had five bikes there. So oh my God, I wish I could own one of them. So I ended up buying it. But the thing is, we couldn’t get it out of the country. So we broke it down into 100 pots so that you would ship one pot every day. England put it back into a bike so we have a bike.

Bertrand Dsouza: Absolutely, absolutely. So you intend when whenever you move down to India, you intend to get your cars along with you too.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I’m not gonna just come and stay in India and never leave India, I have my family, I have four grandkids, their cars will be here, my kids use the car, some of the cars even owned by them. So, you know, they will use them I will use will have a car here. But for certain cars, I haven’t actually explored how difficult it is. It is pretty tough getting the cars down to India, I noticed the huge challenges around that and being able to drive them,

Bertrand Dsouza: Get them on a Tane. And you could drive them in a carny. I mean, that would be a temporary solution, not a permanent solution. This means you have to ship the cars down to India, and then ship them back again once you’re done. Yeah, but that’s how a lot of Middle East cars also now come to London. When they turn around London, they are shipped back to Dubai. It’s something similar that you’d have to do for India as well. But regulations are getting more stringent in India, for using classic cars, there is a huge challenge at this point in time because of emission regulations. And the classic car movement itself is quite affected by it. Because the regulation does have not been updated or at least has not taken into account the fact that a lot of people own classic cars in India, and they are driven around insistently. So they’re still working out legislation around that and what they can what can be done. There are challenges here in India as well with classic cars. And shipping them down will be one of those, one of those huge problems, but they are Neela. You have to we have to wait and see what happens about that. But you know, just completely off your collection. What do you think about this whole movement towards electronics? And you know, it’s personally I think it’s certainly it’s required, but it somehow seems to lack the soul. And the character that we’ve experienced from, you know, IC engines. What’s your opinion? How do you what do you think about the whole movement?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: It’s here to stay, and particularly in sort of affluent countries, and in city centres and things like that? Yes, I think there will be a significant proportion of the car sales will be either electric combination or something else, or hydro water that’s coming for sure. But I think for it to completely take over the market. I think we have many, many, many decades away from it because the price point for electric cars is still you know is many times higher than the normal car you understand. So for the masses to be able to afford it the price has to drastically come and secondly, I’m also concerned about it these cars are not so environmentally friendly as they are made out to be you know, the production of the battery lithium battery or whatever what it takes out of the environment and release is a is also kind of a big question mark. They are rapid, you know, increasing their market share. But I think outside the city centres I mean, the network of recharging and charging, and that is still some years ago.

Bertrand Dsouza: So what are some of what are some of your favourite cars? What are the cars that you can have, you know, two years actually looked up? Is there any car apart from the final sale? For instance, are there any other cars that you thought would want to add to your collection? At some point, whenever they come up for sale or auction?

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: I think Ferrari 250 Short, short wheelbase California? Yes, probably the ultimate desire and a price for me. So, well, maybe a couple of years away from that. But let me just get the 275 and 507, then I guess the two, the 250 could be the next one. And I think I’ll be done after that.

Bertrand Dsouza: So tell me something. I mean, this is just a general question, how easy is it to acquire, you know, classic cars in the UK, because in India, there is a limited number of cars you could buy. And it usually just exchanges hands from one owner to the other, if at all that happens. There are no new cars coming in and whatever is there or was there in the market, you know, decades ago, as people discover them lying around in Ghana, like you said, in garages, or you know, in scrap yards restore them. And that’s essentially why it is not as large a market as it is in the UK, for that matter. But even in the UK, how easy or how difficult is it to kind of acquire some of these cars and

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: What’s happened in the last few years in the market has become quite the global market now. So you know, whenever you’re caught, you want to buy or sell, it doesn’t matter. I recently bought a car from Melbourne, you know, I never saw it. Call my friend who lives in Melbourne as a good I’ve looked at his Porsche 911 2.4 ie, he went and looked at it, he said the guys had it for 50 years important brand new. And it’s absolutely genuine condition. He’s got lots of things to do on it. And I bought it It took six months to get over. It’s in restoration. I’ll see it in two and a half years’ time. You get the cars the car that came from the news, the McLaren came from the USA. And again, you know, it’s it’s through reputable auction sites. So they describe the car very well they give you a couple of 100 photographs of every angle of the car. And I’ve not been disappointed so far. So as in the classic car market, it’s no longer local, unless the cheap cars, you know 10 But if it’s any value, then it’s the international market.

Bertrand Dsouza: There isn’t an issue with legislation or with any regulation regulatory framework that prevents you or makes it challenging to get cars into the UK

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia: Not with the US and Europe or in Australia. It’s very simple. There are shipping agents to call that ship then you test to be registered. There are duties, for example, 4% to be paid from the US and some depend on the countries there may be some other taxes but no there are no problems other than time. It’s just a cost.

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Keyword: In conversation with Sukhpal Singh Ahluwali, Founder of Euro Car Parts