The over five-decade old traditional business of renting out hoodless cars for weddings and other marriage ceremonies in Hyderabad is teetering on the brink of closure.

The present generation of brides and grooms prefer taking their `wedding rides' on horse-drawn carriages or luxury sedans instead of these retro cars.

These red retro cars -1984 Contessa Classic, Nissan Bluebird, Sonata and Hyundai Elantra -can be seen parked on a flank of Abids Road near Gunfoundry, covered under layers of dust.

What adds to the fast decay is stagnant water that accumulates inside these cars after heavy spells of downpour. No wonder, these cars are slowly turning into junk and the third generation owners are losing interest to keep their `hoodless family business on wheels' alive.

Syed Habeeb Ali, an Old City resident, started this business in 1960 with around 45 convertible sedans, inclu ding Plymouth, Ford, Dodge, Austin that used to be parked in the same place. In 1999, his grandsons -Abeeb Saleem and Abeeb Jahangir -sold off or scrapped some of these cars.

Saleem said, "My father, Habeeb Abdulla, took over the business after my grandfather's death. The business was at its peak till my father's death in 1997. After that we named it Habeeb Travels. To cater to the taste of future generations, we purchased 80s models such as Contessa Classic and Bluebird."

These cars were bought for second-hand price and tai lored into hoodless ones.

"We painted all the cars red, which is an auspicious colour for any Telugu celebration," said Jahangir, who is a co-partner in the business with Saleem and two others, Syed Jawed and Pervej Khan.

However, for 10 years business has been going downhill with people shying away from hoodless cars for weddings.

"Now, we get 15 to 20 orders from marriage parties, mostly between May and June every year. Things were different a decade ago when business used to be at its peak for eight months in a row. We are not sure for how long would we be able to eke out living from this business. We all have taken up side-business to add to our income," said Jahangir.

They rue that fact that earnings from renting these cars was less than what they spend on maintenance. "So, we cannot afford to keep the cars in running condition and they are being reduced to scrap," said Saleem.

Dip in business also prompted them to break away from tradition and give the cars out on rent for shooting and joyrides. "But we cannot charge more as our rate is known. So, nobody wants to pay us more," ends Saleem.Read more at:http://www.marieaustralia.com/formal-dresses-2017-online | http://www.marieaustralia.com/formal-dresses-shops-sydney