[jkdas]

Originally Posted by venkatrx

In my search for 'armrest for baleno' i had called the honda guys, i asked them if they stock of the 'OHC armrest' they told that b'cos its discontinued, they dont sell 'OHC armrest' anymore.....

so may be the 10 year rule is may be only for a certain category of spares :?

try teh Skoda guys

[Technocrat]

Yes i guess so, We faced thsi rpblem in dad's Alto VXi, he had front crash recently & in that accident the front chrome stripe on grill was damaged & the dealer said the same to him. He had to put the black stripe, dang I loved that chrome strip :(

[sajo]

Originally Posted by ram

Bajaj Tempo (Firodia/Force) products
Tempo Hanseat
Tempo Viking
Tempo Matador

IMHO, the death of the Matador has left a gaping hole in the Indian commercial van market. The bigger ones from Tata (407 based) and Tempo Traveller dont just cut it for small/medium businesses. Omni is just too small and is petrol driven. Same with the Versa.
Mahindra Voyager, if it were still in production , would have fit nicely in the above mentioned segment.

[streetlife]

I loved the Sierra...
Wish tata relaunch it with a new avtar but with the same fishtank like window

[sajo]

@streetlife : Me a Sierra lover too, especially the turbo. Would go for one right away, if I had the resources.

What happened to the 3 door Safari which was shown at some auto shows as a potential replacement for the Sierra?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by sajo

IMHO, the death of the Matador has left a gaping hole in the Indian commercial van market. The bigger ones from Tata (407 based) and Tempo Traveller dont just cut it for small/medium businesses. Omni is just too small and is petrol driven. Same with the Versa.
Mahindra Voyager, if it were still in production , would have fit nicely in the above mentioned segment.

Does anybody remember the Standard "20" Atlas van?

Some fellow TeamBHPians quite likely, weren't born yet when these
cute Art Deco style vans were seen over India.
I believe they used the same engine as the Standard 2000.

Standard Motor Products of Perungalathur, Tamil Nadu existed (1948..1988). They made the Standard Vanguard, 8, 10, Companion, Herald, Gazel and Standard 2000 before fading out into the sunset.

Here is a sketch I made to jog some memories and maybe make some new ones.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by ram

Standard Motor Products of Perungalathur, Tamil Nadu existed (1948..1988). They made the Standard Vanguard, 8, 10, Companion, Herald, Gazel and Standard 2000 before fading out into the sunset.

Leyland 15 and 20
Originally introduced in 1958 as the Standard Atlas, Leyland had inherited this van when they bought Standard-Triumph in 1960; it was rebranded shortly after. When extra production capacity for the [COLOR=#0000ff]Triumph 1300[/COLOR] and TR4 was required at Triumph's Speke plant, [COLOR=#606420]George Turnbull[/COLOR] struck a deal with Carbodies which would see them take over production of the range. When UK production ceased following the formation of BLMC in 1968, the van enjoyed a long afterlife in India as the Standard 20.



Source: http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index....carbodiesf.htm

[sajo]

Yups, seen one of those recently, but at a roadside camp of nomads. Didnt know though that it was called the Standard 20. Werent they mostly available in a dull shade of gray?
Also, are these the same ones called as "service vans" (if thats the term) which used be pressed into service to transport anything and everything? Some of them had (seen once in an old hindi movie, dont remember which) Dodge written on the hood. Wonder when Dodge sold/produced vans/converted mini-trucks in India?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by sajo

Some of them had (seen once in an old hindi movie, dont remember which) Dodge written on the hood.

The Dodge light vans and the Standard Atlas van are two different animals from different manufacturers.

Originally Posted by sajo

Wonder when Dodge sold/produced vans/converted mini-trucks in India?

In 1939, Seth Walchand Hirachand Doshi visited the USA to sell Chrysler Corp., the idea of a new independent co. paying royalties or a tech-transfer payment to the American automaker.
Seth Walchand would provide Indian mgmt, capital, and employees. Chrysler would maintain quality standards and train Indian engineers.
Doshi and Chrysler signed on the dotted line in Bombay in 1940. In 1944, Premier Automobiles Ltd was born.
The Coorla, Bombay (modern spelling:Kurla) factory was built around Independence Day.

The first two vehicles were a Plymouth car and a Dodge truck.
The Plymouth car was re-branded for India to be sold under three brands: Dodge, Plymouth, and DeSoto.
The truck was sold as Dodge, Fargo, and DeSoto. As Plymouth dealers shouldn't sell the Dodge brand, they sold Dodge trucks, rebranded as Fargo!

Both Chrysler and the Indian Dept of Defence, appreciated early quality.

The other Dodge light truck in India, [COLOR=#000000][FONT=verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif]that comes to mind[/FONT][/COLOR] is the Nissan, Japan knock-off of the American WorldWar2, 4x4 Dodge 3/4 ton WC-51 Weapons Carrier. In early 1960, the Indian government signed an agreement with Nissan, Japan to produce the one-ton Nissan 4x4 truck. These vehicles were built at the Jabalpur Vehicle Factory, since 1970. They are now being replaced with Tata one-tonners.

[sajo]

Though this is slightly off-topic, the grille of the WC-51 reminds me of the "Shaktimaan" series of army trucks I see around.
Even those are phased out, I think, to be replaced by Ashok Leyland trucks.

[himanshugoswami]

another mahindra model- The Armada/Grand

san storm- or is it still available?

[msprabhakar]

Originally Posted by ram

...Here is a sketch I made to jog some memories and maybe make some new ones...

Beautiful sketch ram... Can you make sketches of Herald and Gazelle too? Would be very nostalgic...!

[Nitinz]

Originally Posted by ram

You are right Nitinz.

Hiding under the cover of marketing hype, GM discontinued their solid long-life GM Europe products: The Opel Vectra, Opel Kadett/Vauxhall Astra and the Opel Corsa.

Hitherto in India, "Chevrolet" connoted the V8 Impala muscle car and the never-say-die Chevrolet school buses that kids of my time and me, went to school in, in the 1960s. IMHO, I see that Chevrolet brand of solidity and long-life, being murdered in India.

GM's India representation now sell second class Asian products:
Subaru Forester as Chevrolet Forester
Daewoo Nubira as Chevrolet Optra
Isuzu Panther as Chevrolet Tavera

Ergo, their latest placebo: the Aveo doesn't appeal to my heart!

I totally agree with you on this ! Murder of Good Brand (Chevy) and Exile for Another (Opel). Perhaps what GM fails to understand is by branding chevy to lower rung of cars, it may be able to put some volume to it's Sales in India (Finally) but has lowered it's Image and sustainablity in the longer run

[apurvapatel]

There was a car called Dolphin, dont remember the manufacturer's name. It came with a fiber body, and looked quite similar to the first generation M800s if I remember correctly.

[Technocrat]

Dolphin has been mentioned in the first post iteslf