After visiting 59 countries on his 1923 Springfield Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce, Rick Brown, a 70-year-old American, has a target to prove his mettle in the highest and dangerous roads of India -- the daunting Manali - Leh highway. The road trip to Ladakh has always been fascinating the adventure enthusiasts from across the world, but nobody has ever attempted this in a vintage car. After being surrounded by hundreds of curious people in Manali for a whole day, Rick’s dream journey to drive on Manali-Leh-Srinagar highway, along with driving his vintage car to Khardungla pass and Changla pass, started on Wednesday. Most of the people not belonging to mountains would be terrified only with imagination to drive on Manali-Leh highway with some of the highest motorable passes of the world like Marsimik-la and Khardung-la. But, this elderly American is going to do this with his 1923 make vintage car. He has successfully cleared first and hard leg of the tour on Wednesday. When many modern high efficient jeeps had given up before bad condition of Manali-Rohtang road, Rick drove his car like he was enjoying a ride on super highway. He would stay in Keylong (Lahaul) and start his second leg to Sarchu on Thursday and cross 16,050 feet high Baralacha pass. “I love the company of my second wife (Silver Ghost) and I will keep exploring the world till I die,” Rick said, while giving a ride on his car which he believes is the most driven Rolls-Royce of the world. “I purchased it in 1996 and have driven it over 3.5 lakh kilometers.” Tom Stevenson, a 59-year-old Canadian, has joined Rick in his adventurous journey. They are fishing friends and have travelled many countries together. Despite being the oldest model, the duo -- Rick and Tom -- came first place in
After visiting 59 countries on his 1923 Springfield Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce, Rick Brown, a 70-year-old American, has a target to prove his mettle in the highest and dangerous roads of India — the daunting Manali – Leh highway. The road trip to Ladakh has always been fascinating the adventure enthusiasts from across the world, but
