40+ years and going stronger than ever

[Psycho]

Well today we had a classy drive like you read in the Bangalore meet thread however the star of the show amongst the Honda, Suzuki's and Mahindra's was our own humble Amby...

I was after Rudra to pull out the Amby for a long run today's meet allowed me to pester him to bring it out. With so many new tech cars on the run the amby was a sight for sore eyes immaculately polished and standing out better than most of the car's present.

During the drive we followed the Amby quite a bit mind you all the time over 120 the car was quite poised and never sluggish through the drive. God you should see some of the newer smaller cars being gobbled up by Rudra's amby being left way behind in our rear views one of the best scenes was when freakrz Scorpio was over taking Rudra Chetan and me were watching the body roll the Scorpio had while the Amby was rock still and even better was freakrz flooring his accelerator to get past Rudra.

Then Amit and Me took off on the Baleno VS VTEC run and stopped in front of woody's at Kolar Rudra came roaring in to a smooth stop on the side of the road... God he was but a few mins behind us and had caught up so quickly. Post this point Rudra Led till Mulbagal with his AC and Music on. The only thing that went out on the Amby was his speedo cable and he also learned that his car actually did 120 when the sppedo showed 100. The return trip as you read was quite eventful but we had to scatter our own ways when the rain stopped.

However with most Jap car's and ruling the roost it was good fun to see a 40 year old Amby keeping up to the challenge and coming out a winner in it's own right.

[shravan316]

My ride in Rudra's Amby was long overdue.. i was wanting to check out his ride from quite sometime and today at the meet when Rudra showed up in his Amby, my eyes lit up... i thought to myself... this is it.. today is the day...

And what a car it turned out to be! truly one of a kind... my first leg of the drive was in the Amby and as i was hopping in... Rudra said "i'm running it in after the head job.. so i won't be fast".. so i expected him to do around 60-80kmph... but, only later would i realise that "running it in" for this Amby meant comfortably cruise at 100-110kmph!! The speedo was a bit off so it was showing around 80kmph. Later Anush was the one who said we were doing 100+ at some places!! All this while keeping the rpm below 3500.
Later, during our first stop, i hopped along with Anush in his Esteem, who decided to follow the Amby along the way... and as Keshav mentioned in the above post.. the car was rock steady while doing 90-100kmph!
Hell! no other car, apart from maybe a couple of cars from our group, could beat this Amby.. and in the Esteem we were doing 100-110 just to keep in touch with it! It changed directions like no other amby i've ever seen.. and absolutely poised while doing so..
This Amby really moves...while overtaking other cars it never felt the lack of power or torque... there was plenty of it.. always... even with the AC on, the car was doing good speeds comfortably.
The ride is immaculate, no complains what so ever and while keeping the ride clean, like i've already mentioned earlier, it sort of liked to change directions quickly..like modern day cars or maybe even better than some.
The interiors are top class as most of the members already know.. awesome looking bucket seats with leathers, really nice audio setup along with a good instrument console.
The engine note is really really pleasing. It produces a nice little grunty sort of note that puts a smile on your face.
The one thing i really like in this car is its functionality. Unlike many old (and maybe a few newer) Ambys , the door knobs work, the headlamps work, the window rollers work.. everything is just right. But, the fine tuning and finishing for the car is still pending, which i'm sure will be done shortly...
For a 40+ year old car....... its doing great! The engine note will take some time to stop ringing in my ears. For anyone who wants to know a car or rather a classic car feels like...... take a ride in this Amby. This has it all, classic looks, the interiors... the engine.. well, i can brag about it all day.
It turns out that everything about this car is about 20-30% better than i expected, and i was expecting a lot from this car. I would say that this is the best Amby in the entire country... nowhere would you find a more well maintained Amby which would be this quick. The best Amby in India.. without a doubt.

[ported_head]

She is a charmer, isn't she. Not a seductress, a charmer.

Originally Posted by shravan316

The one thing i really like in this car is its functionality. Unlike many old (and maybe a few newer) Ambys , the door knobs work, the headlamps work, the window rollers work.. everything is just right. But, the fine tuning and finishing for the car is still pending, which i'm sure will be done shortly...
For a 40+ year old car....... its doing great! The engine note will take some time to stop ringing in my ears. For anyone who wants to know a car or rather a classic car feels like...... take a ride in this Amby. This has it all, classic looks, the interiors... the engine.. well, i can brag about it all day.
It turns out that everything about this car is about 20-30% better than i expected, and i was expecting a lot from this car. I would say that this is the best Amby in the entire country... nowhere would you find a more well maintained Amby which would be this quick. The best Amby in India.. without a doubt.

Old man's attention to minor detail is unparalleled.

[iceman91]

well my 2 cents:
that car is ROCK STEADY....man i have gone to great lengths to get my car to handle and be like a rock onthe highway and was shocked to see that the amby was just like her till speeds of 120kmph!!! yeah maybe i stay like that at much higher speeds too but for an amby it was amazing...in fact saw quite a few amby's on teh way and all at the speed of 80-90...this baby is doing a running in at 120!!!!!!!!
hats off to rudra sir!!!! and of psycho...one amazing machine

[Montoya]

Thats the best Amby i have ever seen in my life..

Rudra sir has mainted her better then the best..

And though that car is old its still gold..

Ambys are rock stready but with age they keep losiing their charm but here its gaining more charm and as ported said she is a charmer

[Rudra Sen]

Psycho, few things after yesterday's run:
1. Alignment needs to be checked. Be it toe in/out issue or camber.
2. New mount for universal joint
3. Gas cable change
4. May be we should consider balance rods for rear

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Psycho, few things after yesterday's run:
1. Alignment needs to be checked. Be it toe in/out issue or camber.
2. New mount for universal joint
3. Gas cable change
4. May be we should consider balance rods for rear

And I thought I was going overboard with the work I was doing on my suspension.... well I guess I got enough time and the understanding is coming too

Bring it on man at least this time it is not a long list.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Psycho, few things after yesterday's run:
1. Alignment needs to be checked. Be it toe in/out issue or camber.
2. New mount for universal joint
3. Gas cable change
4. May be we should consider balance rods for rear

Old habits die hard, and older habits never die.....

[v1p3r]

That Amby gleams like nothing on earth in the mid-morning sun. And then Rudra sir says, "It's a little dirty. Needs to be cleaned." Oh my God! I've never seen any Amby shine like that, and evidently it wasn't at 100%.

Whattacar!

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Old habits die hard, and older habits never die.....

My, my. I thought I've atleast one friend who I can talk to with whisky glass in hand and Floyd in background...alas!!!

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

My, my. I thought I've atleast one friend who I can talk to with whisky glass in hand and Floyd in background...alas!!!

Those are habits that will never die, either. A few differences amongst friends never hurt - you like scotch and I like Irish, you like old ambys and I like old fiats...the list goes on.

Relaxing at home with a Black Bush on the rocks...you should try Irish, you know.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Psycho

However with most Jap car's and ruling the roost it was good fun to see a 40 year old Amby keeping up to the challenge and coming out a winner in it's own right.

Hmmm...dosen't this amby have a Japanese heart as well. I guess the Amby should be faster than a Conti theoritically because it has the same engine/trans with a lighter body shell.

Good report, those pics were so nostalgic. Hopefully we can do one of these when I am in Bangalore. Having grown up in the back seat of an Amby, I'd love to check out Rudra's machine.

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Hmmm...dosen't this amby have a Japanese heart as well. I guess the Amby should be faster than a Conti theoritically because it has the same engine/trans with a lighter body shell.

Theoritically it will be faster but wehavent pitted them against each other as yet and neither do I think that Rudra would like to do somethiing like it.

As for the Jap car's point I meant newer technology vehicles...