Team-BHP - Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajmat (Post 3416349)

How we have progressed -
1984 - HM Contessa - Big car with 1.5 L 50BHP petrol engine
2014 - Renault Fluence - Big Car with 1.5 L 108BHP Diesel Engine

Well, it seems we haven't progressed at all! I can't believe my own eyes, but this is what I see from HM motors site for 1.5L diesel ambassador:

Max. Power 35.5 bhp @ 4000 rpm
Torque 7.44 kgm @ 2250 rpm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabsubs (Post 3416442)

When I was very young my father brought his first bike which was Enfield Explorer. Explorer is not a 75 cc bike it was a 50 cc bike with three gears. I still remember that the bike used give lots of trouble. Silver Plus which was also from Enfield and it was more popular than other 2. Silver Plus had the same 50 CC engine as Explorer's and 3 geared. All these 3 vehicles were flop in India market.

Here's an Ad of the silver plus sourced from our very own TBHP. Never knew it was from Enfield until I read your post. Was it pitted against the TVS 50?

Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene-silver-plus-may-.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp (Post 3416443)

HM has its own website! Wow, that is definitely an improvement from the 80s. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels (Post 3416462)

Here's an Ad of the silver plus sourced from our very own TBHP. Never knew it was from Enfield until I read your post. Was it pitted against the TVS 50?
Attachment 1231714

It came with alloy wheels too. Which year was this?

Sooraj was first Indian diesel motorcycle AFAIK and became a hit in rural UP. The bike was manufactured by mixing parts of other manufacturers. Enfield also brought out a diesel Bullet. Both eventually failed due to reliability issue.

Narmada 150 Prince was another scooter that was produced by using parts from other manufacturer's stable. It also flopped eventually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by autonarr (Post 3415090)

Fun read, GTO!:thumbs up

I especially liked the video with the Premier Padmini exhaust note. I first learned to drive on my father's Padmini which used to stay garaged most of the time due to "mechanical issues" lol:

That Padmini in the video is mine :D. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across it. (Thanks GTO).

Quote:

Originally Posted by slicvic (Post 3416212)

It was quite a car for its price.
The car came with a single wiper like the Mercs of those days, and a massive 1.9L diesel engine like the Skoda Octavia

The Uno diesel came with a 1.7L engine (1697cc). It was the first Palio diesel that came with the 1.9L engine.

:) Kajah, a prominent business family from kerala established a car making unit in circa 1998. Their kickoff project called Kazwa, was pitched as the first customized car to be made in India. The buyer was able to customize the car's interiors to match his personal tastes or preferences. However, the business didn't took off and eventually the company bite the dust. I believe only 2 cars were ever released to the public. Later, they tried to reenter the market with some international tie-ups, but none of the deals materialized.

:) Yezdi Roadking's kick start lever doubled up as its gear stick.

My friend recently bought a 1994 model Yezdi Roadking for Rs.50,000 and its showroom price was Rs.15,000 back in the year 1994.

Quote:

Originally Posted by a4anurag (Post 3416364)

Not clearly sure of which year but AFAIK the HM Ambassador early 1980's had:

1) Floor mounted low/high bean switch;

2) Indicator switch placed in the centre hub of the steering wheel.

It was this way in Ambys from the beginning till they changed it - I don't know when. The foot dipper switch was awfully hard to press; needed a lot of effort. Pretty bad ergonomics with this and the turn signal switch. However, there were aftermarket devices that mounted to the steering column and functioned like modern controls. My dad had one installed in his Mark II Amby that he personally drove.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheTeacher (Post 3416568)

Pretty bad ergonomics with this

And not to forget the control switches running right up to the co-passenger's estate:eek:
We had a Mark II Amby for quite some time, but I was too young then. When we got the FIAT 1100D, despite it being of the same era, felt a lot modern in most of the aspects.

Hi guys.
Exhaustive thread, lots of trivia. Phew!!

BTW I'm surprised no one mentioned SAN STORM in our Indian cars.
What a looker it was - supposedly designed by the French Le Mans Group with a Renault engine. One of the first two-seat sports car.

I've seen a few on road a decade ago. Guess it's out of production now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn (Post 3416362)

The Familiar Christmas tree taillights in the indica were developed to hide the huge panel gaps and alignment issues of the rear hatch door.

Never heard that before. Can you please cite the source? I have doubts about the authenticity of that info. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenren (Post 3416317)

Sumant Moolgaonkar was appointed as director in charge of TELCO back in 1949 and is widely credited as the person responsible for Telco's growth over half a century to become a dominant force in India. I didn't know he was associated with Maruti. Can you please recheck?

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 3416301)

The story about the Sumo being named after Sumant Moolgaonkar is popular, but not sure if that was the really the case.

That was indeed the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 3416301)

The man himself was with Maruti Udyog before that, and had even said that MUL being a govt undertaking, should be more into (manufacturing) public transport.

Sumant Moolgaonkar was with Tata Motors from the very beginning. He did not come from MUL. He was made the Chairman of MUL when the company was nationalised after Sanjay Gandhi's death. He continued to be TELCO MD even when he was MUL Chairman. Sumant was strongly opposed to the idea of MUL making cars. He believed that the country required better quality public transport more and hence MUL should make buses. So, he resigned from the post fairly soon.

As a matter of fact, even Sanjay Gandhi used the Maruti factory to make bus bodies for state RTCs after his small car failed the fitness tests. During the period 1976-77, under instructions from the top, all state transport corporations were forced to get bus bodies made from MUL.

What fun is trivia, if we do not look at some models developed in India. Not many know that there were attempts made by Indians to develop cars and even a scooters.

First car shown is the Arvind Car from Kerala