The 30-year-old’s passion for reverse driving started in 2003, when his faithful Fiat Padmini got stuck in reverse gear late one night.
“I was outside the city, I had no money, so I thought of driving the car backwards until I reached Bhatinda,” he said. “Then I drove backwards a few times and started to gain confidence.”
That’s when he realised that he was really on to something, so the next morning he painted the words ‘Back Gear Champion’ on the side of the car and redesigned its gearbox to have four reverse gears and only one forward.
After years of practice, Harpreet, according to Reddit, can now comfortably drive backwards at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. An ambulance siren attached to the top of the car warns unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians about his peculiar driving.
“I take all the care I can to protect the other drivers on the road,” he declared proudly. “I always wanted to do something different, something unique,” he added. “In simpler terms I reversed the complete gear mechanism of the car so that I get maximum speeds while driving backwards.”
In 2005, Dev drove backwards all the way from Rajasthan, India, to Lahore, in Pakistan, to promote peace between the two countries.
Harpreet’s bizarre driving habit won him fame in his home town, but has had some negative effects as well – he now suffers from severe back and neck problems. “I do have pains in the neck – frequent pains in the neck – and I have had severe vomiting in the past,” he admitted. “I have got a severe backbone problem from driving so fast in reverse, because my whole body gets contorted.”
But Harpreet believes that it has all been worth the while. “Achieving something special is never easy,” he explained. “It is not giving in that counts. I will never stop doing this. It is a part of me now.”
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