[JeepMkd]

I've been reading this forum for quite some time now, posting from time to time, and now decided to present my Jeep.

I have a Mahindra CJ 4, made in Bombay in 1970. It's in my family for 12 years now. The Jeep is still pretty much original with the exception of the engine. When we got it, it had the original petrol F-head Hurricane. Due to the immense fuel consumption after only 800km done, it was swapped with a 2.3 liter diesel from Ford Sierra. Now the Hurricane sits in the yard with only 12.000km done. The transmission, transfer case, brakes, axles etc. is all original.

The interior is perfect and the seats are protected with seat covers so they won't get damaged.

The Mahindra has clocked nearly 55.000km with much of that travelled off the road (about 90% ). Later I will share some great videos.

I know you want photos, so here they are:

[vinod_nookala]

Hi jeepMKD,
U have a very nice piece with you! I have seen your jeep pics and videos on youtube. You have a true classic in your hands. Interesting to see that u have 4 forward gearbox on your mahindra. Here in india it was introduced after 1979 i suppose.
Full interior carpet, heater and a small steering wheel is unique. You have kept it well i must say. I do remember seeing such body styled jeep in india for ambulance purposes. Yours must be specially made for export market.

p.s -Behram sir, please throw some light on this model.

[Parm]

Glad to see the trust in MM across the globe and the faith its followers show in the MM vehicles.

thats a very well kept and maintained jeep!

i have never see this kind of jeep on indian road!

[Samurai]

Wow, a member from Macedonia, the land of Alexander the Great!

A very different looking Jeep, gotta ask you this, is the body original? I don't ever recall seeing a hardtop Jeep from the 70s.

[JeepMkd]

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

Hi jeepMKD,
U have a very nice piece with you! I have seen your jeep pics and videos on Youtube. You have a true classic in your hands. Interesting to see that u have 4 forward gearbox on your mahindra. Here in india it was introduced after 1979 i suppose.
Full interior carpet, heater and a small steering wheel is unique. You have kept it well i must say. I do remember seeing such body styled jeep in india for ambulance purposes. Yours must be specially made for export market.

p.s -Behram sir, please throw some light on this model.

Thank you vinod_nookala, I'll try my best to keep it in this condition.
The gearbox (T-90 I believe) is actually 3 speed + reverse, the knob is from some other vehicle.

About the model - From what I read in the past couple of years, trying to find out what model is, I understood that this is a very rare Mahindra. On the Mahindra webpage is stated that in 1970, 3.304 vehicles were made for export only, mostly in Yugoslavia (Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia at the time) and Indonesia. I believe this is one of them.

You are correct about the ambulance. This model on the other hand, is slightly longer, has larger windows and wider rear doors. The mechanincs are identical.

Originally Posted by Parm

Glad to see the trust in MM across the globe and the faith its followers show in the MM vehicles.

thats a very well kept and maintained jeep!

i have never see this kind of jeep on indian road!

Thank you Parm , these are extremely rare here, too. There's one in Slovenia, Croatia and another one in Macedonia. I haven't seen any others yet.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Wow, a member from Macedonia, the land of Alexander the Great!

A very different looking Jeep, gotta ask you this, is the body original? I don't ever recall seeing a hardtop Jeep from the 70s.

You're correct about Alexander the Great, I feel like I don't need to spread the good words about him and Macedonia

The body is all original, and yes, no one has can think of a hardtop Jeep from the 1970s, probably because there wasn't any


Thank you again for the warm welcome.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear all - from the photograph this appears to be a CJ ("J" before 1994), 4A ("A" because of higher rear overhang, difference between 4 and 4A is very very minor, was done to accommodate the exhaust), LHD export 101" wheelbase 4 wheel drive MBW (metal body wagonette). I am surprised because we did not make MBWs till the 1980s and this is a 1970 so it may be an original CJ3B which was converted after exporting. As the front of the chassis is not clear in the photographs, I cannot be sure eitherways. The CJ3B had a smaller chassis section where the chassis number is punched (Sharath, your CL340 has it, check it out), as compared to the CJ4 series. Also we never made 2 door wagonettes. All wagonettes were 4 door and the wheelbase was increased to 101" to accommodate the rear doors but this vehicle seems to be made after exporting. We never made two door type tailgate.

The instrument panel looks nice. Gives me ideas for -----.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[gbanavar]

JeepMkd,
The logo on the steering wheel is that of American Motors Corp that bought the Jeep brand from Kaiser in 1970. Is that an original or was it changed later?

My sister-in-law is from Skopje and remembers fond days of her childhood, riding in the back of her father's Jeep. I have seen the beautiful & scenic pictures of Macedonia and it is amazing.

Is there a Jeeping community there? and what kinds of Jeeps do you see these days?

[harjeev]

Great looking jeep buddy!!!

I like the red (body) & white (wheels & top) combination very much!!!

[vinod_nookala]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear all - from the photograph this appears to be a CJ ("J" before 1994), 4A ("A" because of higher rear overhang, difference between 4 and 4A is very very minor, was done to accommodate the exhaust), LHD export 101" wheelbase 4 wheel drive MBW (metal body wagonette). I am surprised because we did not make MBWs till the 1980s and this is a 1970 so it may be an original CJ3B which was converted after exporting. As the front of the chassis is not clear in the photographs, I cannot be sure eitherways. The CJ3B had a smaller chassis section where the chassis number is punched (Sharath, your CL340 has it, check it out), as compared to the CJ4 series. Also we never made 2 door wagonettes. All wagonettes were 4 door and the wheelbase was increased to 101" to accommodate the rear doors but this vehicle seems to be made after exporting. We never made two door type tailgate.

The instrument panel looks nice. Gives me ideas for -----.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Dhabar sir,
I have seen MWB ambulances with Government organisations. Had XDp 4.90 engines with 4 speed gearbox. Petrol versions had 3 speed gearbox. You are right about 2 piece tailgate. Never saw them on indian versions. The above example must have been sold as chassis and bodies must have been made on them on foreign soil. (Hence no rust i suppose)
The long wheel base versions in india had 4 doors and bodies were made by 'Nicholous'. It was considered elite SUV kind of vehicle then. Was made on NC640dp chassis. Our project general managers used it:-))

These jeeps brings back old memories with NMDC (govt mining company). My dad must have used all these jeeps, but never enjoyed them

[desertfox]

Are you interested in selling th Hurricane engine lying with you unused ?

[beejay]

Nice Jeep. What is that next to the gear levers below the manufacturers plate.
For a jeep of its age it quite well maintained.

[dhrishikesh]

Nice jeep, keep it up.
Its really well maintained.

[Ramsagar]

Nice one you have there.
Thought Mahindra had recently started exporting jeeps. Never thought they were exporting even in 70’s
DB sir, pardon my ignorance

[The Wolf]

Well well...thats a impressive little jeep there!!! Kudos to Mahindra, looks like their products have reached places we cant imagine of.

How abt some offroading vids??

[JeepMkd]

Originally Posted by gbanavar

JeepMkd,
The logo on the steering wheel is that of American Motors Corp that bought the Jeep brand from Kaiser in 1970. Is that an original or was it changed later?

My sister-in-law is from Skopje and remembers fond days of her childhood, riding in the back of her father's Jeep. I have seen the beautiful & scenic pictures of Macedonia and it is amazing.

Is there a Jeeping community there? and what kinds of Jeeps do you see these days?

The logo on the steering wheel actually represents the Universal Jeep logo.
The steering wheel itself was there when we got the Jeep, but I think it's from some limited edition of a Volkswagen Golf, since I've seen it on some forums. Feels great in the hands and it's not as big as the original.

I'm happy for your sister-in-law, you can say hi from Kavadarci when you see her.

To this day there is not a single off road club, no Jeep community. People here don't have the time and money to go on adventures, pay for excesive fuel and expensive repairs :((. But, I'm trying my best to change this situation. I have friends on the largest macedonian forum (I'm moderator there aswell) and we have our Oldtimer club, we share informations and photos. I think off road trips and meetings are distant future.

Jeep (the US made) is not so common, at least the Wranglers aren't. The main reason - thirsty petrol engines and expensive parts. Cherokees, Grand Cherokees are more common with the 2.5TD or 2.1 Renault diesel engine. Nowadays the Compass and Patriot are very popular amongst young people like me.

You may be surprised again, but there are a lot of Mahindras in Macedonia. Occasionally you can see an original CJ3B with TAM or Mercedes diesels. More common are the KZ4x4 models, assembled in Greece around 1996 and 1997 with the 2.1 Peugeot diesel engine.

Now, BD Intercar ltd. imports the Pick-up and the Scorpio (sold as Goa in Europe because of the Ford Scorpio).

Originally Posted by beejay

Nice Jeep. What is that next to the gear levers below the manufacturers plate.
For a jeep of its age it quite well maintained.

That's the original heater, but if you're asking for the thing hanging down, it's something like a hand operated pump for the windshield washers. Cool extra that is hard to notice.

Here are some photos of the KZ4x4, the pick-up (on a farm equipment farm fair) and an Ambulance CJ 4 in my town.

Lada Nivas and Uaz (69 and 469) are used much more due to availabiluty and cost of the parts.