The 17^th of May 2026, will forever remain engraved in my heart as a super special day. It is the day on which we (Pratapsinh Gaikwad and I), were able to reconnect Dr. Bomsi Wadia (of the London to Sydney Rally fame) with the Ford Cortina, which has literally been salvaged from the seemingly irreparable scrapyard state it was in a few years ago. And yes, this is the same Cortina that he drove in the 1968 and 1977 London to Sydney Rallies.

This exhilarating reunion of Dr. Bomsi Wadia with the Cortina was a moment of radiant delight, which evoked both nostalgia and pleasure in equal measure.  For those who are not aware, let me quickly try and explain who Dr. Bomsi Wadia is, and why this Ford Lotus Cortina is such a significant car. And also why this reunion, which at one time looked near impossible, had my heart and spirits soaring.

Of late, Dr. Bomsi Wadia has been in the news because he has moved the courts to adopt his longtime caregiver, Rajeev Jha, despite having several relatives and nephews of his own, most of whom he has delivered with his own hands and who Dr. Wadia says, he enjoys excellent relations with.

While this is making news, not many people are aware that 91 year old Dr. Bomsi Wadia, a retired professor and renowned gynecologist, has performed almost 75,000 laparoscopic tubal ligation surgeries in his career! Dr. Wadia also says he has a record of doing 400 such surgeries in a single day! The Wadia retractor and Wadia forceps, both specialized surgical instruments developed for use in obstetrics, gynecology, and general surgery, are I am told named in honour of Dr. Bomsi Wadia too.

Dr. Wadia has also represented India at the highest levels of international bridge, including competing in the World Bridge Federation championships some nine times and he says he made it to the finals, on eight occasions! If that is not enough, he also has a PPL (private flying license).

And while all these are incredible achievements, I am his fan for a very different reason. Dr. Bomsi Wadia is someone I grew up idolizing because he is the only Indian ever to have participated in the London to Sydney Rally, not once, but twice, in 1968, and also 1977. Both these were epic, long-distance endurance marathons, with the 1968 event covering some 16,000 kms. The 1977 rally route of 30,000 km was even longer, with both events crossing Europe, Asia, and Australia. And what’s important for us Indian motor sport fans, is that these two legendary events also passed through our country, with halts at Bombay.

And on both occasions, Dr. Wadia participated in the Ford Lotus Cortina. And though there are many drivers who took part in 1968 and 1977, there is only one car that has done that, which is the Cortina featured here. And now that this historic car is back on the road, I want to rewind and share what happened to this car between 1977 and 2026.

I first saw this Ford Lotus Cortina in 1977, when Dr. Bomsi Wadia took part in the second London to Sydney Rally. He was my hero and when I met him, he was very kind to this young fan. After the 1977 London to Sydney, Dr. Wadia participated in a couple of local rallies in this Cortina, until I believe it developed some mechanical issues. He then moved to rallying in a Premier Padmini (also painted red and white – his favourite colours) and at one rally (IARC or MASA, I don’t exactly remember) he proudly showed me what modifications had been done to it. And I still remember that one solo spotlight mounted on that Premier Padmini’s roof. Dr. Bomsi Wadia also drove a Toyota Corolla in the inaugural Himalayan Rally in 1980.

Once Dr. Wadia stopped rallying in the Cortina in the late 1970s or early 1980s, it lay unused and parked in the open and was not moved or started for about the next 40 years! As can be seen in the photos here, these four decades of neglect and the ravages of time, turned the Ford Lotus Cortina into a heap of rusted and broken scrap metal.

After Dr. Bomsi Wadia completely gave up rallying sometime in the 1980s, I lost touch with him and we only met up again some years back, when I interviewed him for an article published in Overdrive.  When I asked him where his Ford Lotus Cortina was, he said he had not seen it for several years and it was lying in a scrap condition. On my insistence he took me to see it and when I told him that this historic Cortina needs to be saved and restored so future generations could become aware of his exploits in it, Dr. Bomsi Wadia told me, “Bob this car is completely rusted and broken into pieces. It is just scrap and a heap of metal and impossible to repair”.

When I was persistent with my requests he agreed and said “Okay try your luck. You can have the car, but I think you are just wasting your time and energy”. And that’s how I got the Ford Lotus Cortina from Dr. Bomsi Wadia. I promised him I would try my best to save and salvage it, and put it back on the road, where it belonged. I not only gave him my word ( but also signed an agreement), that as far as possible, I would ensure that this Ford Lotus Cortina would always carry his name and I would try my best to make people aware of its unique and unmatched motorsport journey with him.

The day the dilapidated Cortina got moved and put onto a truck, Dr. Bomsi Wadia was standing with me and hard as the labourer’s tried, it broke even further while being lifted out from behind the trees that had come up in front of it. Yes, the path to move the Cortina was completely blocked by trees and therefore it had to be lifted out.

As I did have any vacant space to keep the Cortina, and neither had I decided who I would give it to for restoration, I sent it to my friend Khushru Patel’s house in Lonavala for safe keeping. And there it lay for the next couple of years, because shortly after getting the Cortina from Dr. Bomsi Wadia, I was diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized for treatment. My battle with this dreaded disease carried on for the next few years and given my health condition, the restoration of the Cortina went on to the back burner because the scale of repairs, parts, and research and efforts required, were beyond me.

It was during this period that the famous car restorer and historian Manvendra Singh Barwani approached me and said he would take the Cortina from me and restore it on his own. That way I would not have to look for parts, study quotations, make any payments, or anything. By then the Cortina had been lying out in the open, exposed to Lonavala’s heavy monsoons for a couple of seasons, and was deteriorating even more. The car I had wanted to save and promised Dr. Wadia that I would do my best to restore, was getting even worse.

So I accepted Manvendra’s offer, because that way the car would at least get saved. Manvendra also said that he wanted to keep the car for his son Siddhraj, who I know is a rally fan. Manvendra has done an excellent job of restoring it and the resurrected Cortina made its first public appearance at the Oberoi Concourse event held in Udaipur in February 2026. Thanks to Manvendra, I got a chance to drive this historic Ford Lotus Cortina at that event, and that is also where I met Pratapsinh Gaikwad for the first time. Later I learnt that Manvendra had sold the Cortina to him.

Soon after I drove the Cortina in Udaipur and returned to Mumbai, I met Dr. Bomsi Wadia and told him that the Cortina had been saved and was once again on the road. He was super delighted and happy to know this, and that’s when the thought of having a reunion of Dr. Wadia and the Cortina occurred to me.

And then just recently, Pratapsinh Gaekwad who also lives in Mumbai, got in touch and asked if it would be possible to show Dr. Wadia the Cortina? I told Pratapsinh that the same thought had occurred to me and was constantly playing on my mind, and I was also actually meaning to reach out to him about it. What a coincidence, it’s almost like – God was making it all happen anonymously.

And that’s how on 17^th May morning, I went along with Dr. Bomsi Wadia and his caretaker Rajiv Jha and other staff, to Pratapsinh Gaekwad’s residence. We met below the house in the garage where the Ford Lotus Cortina was parked. In the photographs here you can get a slight glimpse of the emotions and joy at this amazing reunion. But I cannot describe the sense of fulfillment and relief I felt that my promise to Dr. Wadia that his car would be saved, and would carry his name, has finally been honoured. What thrilled me even more – is that after seeing the car and sitting it in, Dr. Bomsi Wadia said to me, “This is terrific Bob, you are a man of your word”. Later he also thanked me for taking the initiative to save the Cortina. But none of this matters as much as seeing the pure joy on Dr. Bomsi Wadia’s face, during the reunion.

A big thank you to Pratapsinh Gaekwad for helping making this “Magical Moment” happen. If I am not mistaken, after meeting Dr. Bomsi Wadia and hearing him talk of his exploits in the Cortina, Pratapsinh now has an even deeper sense of understanding and appreciation of the importance of the rally legacy of this historic car. Pratapsinh Gaekwad, you are now a custodian of a very important piece and symbol of Indian motorsport, and on behalf of all genuine motorsport lovers, I request you to give this legacy the respect and care it deserves. Long live the Ford Lotus Cortina in which Dr. Bomsi Wadia took part in two London to Sydney Rallies. And “Thank You” to all those who have helped make this magic happen.

All photo copyrights Rupani Media.