Pakistan’s Own Online Antique Car Show

We have all eithervisited or bucket-listed a car museumabroad. Sadly,although Pakistan has someunique and sought-after vintageand classic machines, we havenot a single car museum in thecountry, and this is all the morepuzzling when you look aroundand see the sheer number ofcollections and collectors in themajor cities. There has beenNO museum initiative from theowners of classic car collections,and this important facet of anycountry’s identity has (with oneor two small exceptions) receivedno government support either.

Enter Shoaib Qureshy,MD, Bulls Eye DDB, a rarecombination of a classicautos enthusiast as well as anadvertising guru, which madespeaking to him about hispassion a breath of fresh air. Hehas a vision, a mission and aclear road map for the contentof Pakistan’s first online carmuseum website: antiquecars.com.pk. Log on to the link and itopens to show a rolling display ofclassic car photos. Ranging fromthe well-known Marques RollsRoyce, Mercedes and Buick,to the obscure French Amilcarand Renault, the photos are anenthusiast’s delight. The ‘About’page is a brief on Qureshy’slove for cars, his keennessto showcase our country’senthusiasm for these vintagemachines, and the commonalitiesbetween our society and the restof the car world.

I had a conversation withQureshy to find out moreabout the website, whichspanned 15 minutes of ‘autospeak’, and we touched uponthe following topics.

He briefed me on the launchevent staged at the Quaid-e-Azam House/Flagstaff House,Karachi on May 14 this year.The actual process of acquiringthe pictures and information onthe classics began three monthsprior when he gave a heads-up on all the Pakistani socialmedia auto pages. Consideringthe lack of urgency that is inour DNA, Qureshy has beenremarkably successful!

Explaining the genesisbehind the idea, he says itwas Covid-19 and the lackof outdoor social events thatkickstarted his page. “We werealready short of auto events,and when even that went away,it bothered me and that is whenthe idea grew.” The impetuswas all his, and luckily, as heowns an advertising agency,creation, design, website andactivation were all in-house.Keen to showcase to theworld Pakistan’s car cultureand serious collectors, healso wants to expose youngerPakistanis to an appreciation ofvintage cars and highlight thepassion collectors bring to thepreservation of these machines.

Qureshy’s display modelis through permission andsubmission. No vehicle pictureis uploaded without the owner’spermission and a mandatoryaccompanying test. Ownersfill a form and the informationis then posted on the website(inevitably, there are somenoticeable inaccuracies, and wehope these will be edited in duecourse). Sticking to a format ofa rotating display, the currentcars on view will be archived,and come December a new lotof vehicles will grace the page.Older displays will always beviewable in the archives section.

When asked how he proposedto establish contact with ownersnot on social media, he agreedthat it was a challenge, andwent on to give examples ofmany owners who, despite beingcontacted and briefed, just didnot bother to send pictures ora write-up. As a result, he hadto visit multiple residences topersonally take pictures and fillout the data forms. I supposelaziness is a national trait,but he was charitable enoughto say that he hoped thingswould improve in the future,and as motor events picked up,collectors in other cities wouldalso come on board.

Admitting that these ventureshave a sizeable cost, he alsoacknowledged the financialcontribution of a senior carcollector towards funding theinaugural event in May. He isclear that any financial model willbe solely to fund the website, it isnot a profit-generating business,and in line with this plan, he plansto create more museum eventsthat will help pay for websitehosting, social media postingand staff. He then reverted(unprompted I might add!) tothe challenges he faces gettingclassic car owners to simply fillout a form and send pictures. Soyes, inertia is the enemy here!Some names were mentioned,however, I will protect the guiltyand not ‘out’ them!

Growth plans came up next,and Qureshy had big dreamsfor this platform. He sees itas the launch pad for multipleevents and social mediacampaigns, all geared towardscreating awareness aboutfuture events countrywide, carshows, drives and rallies toname a few. Content will bekey, and his Instagram pagewith short videos on cars,collectors and events, will bethe dynamic central point of the‘classic car scene’.

We concluded by talkingabout advertising and onceagain Qureshy will be dippinginto his pocket to fund this.He is hopeful to get partnerson board whose productsand services align with hisvision, and he will look tothem to push website visibility,adding that any potentialpartner will be taking a backseat and not take over thepage. It all sounds like classy,low-key branding, and weare rooting for this man andhis determination to make ithappen! He did mention SCOsand SEOs, so yes, we see abigger and active future forthis website! Continuous autosactivity advertisement is key!

So the next time you wonderif there are any Rolls-RoyceSilver Ghosts, or Aston MartinDBS’ out there, go check outand visit the virtual museum.It’s all there! You can makea small contribution to thisventure by visiting the onlineshop and making a purchaseof a personalised T-shirt or amug. With Christmas aroundthe corner, they make greatpresents too!

Romano Karim Yousuf is a vintage carenthusiast. romanokarim@gmail.com