[tharian]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Is/was there any front-wheel drive commercial vehicle in India? I don't mean people movers like Tata Winger.

I remember there was a pickup truck based on Tempo Metador. But it quickly vanished after Tata introduced 407.

Yes, it was the Matador which had a FWD. The F305 and F307.

Towards the end they introduced a model called R307 which was a RWD and looked like a FWD version on stilts.
The company also sold a 3 wheeled pick up van the size of a Tata Ace .

Members in Bangalore may also remember a set of Matadors which had a modified rear axle which had dual tires on them that used to be parked for hire at the end of Brigade road in the 90's.

[VinodDevil81]

Quite Interesting! Thank you GTO for sharing these interesting facts.

In those days there used to be a practice of converting the petrol ambys to diesel engines.Matador engine was a popular option.Another commonly heard option during those times was Jaya Engine. Jaya was the name of a diesel engine manufactured in Coimbatore IIRC. Don't know much about the specifications and efficiency of these engines though.

Originally Posted by dean5545

A car rolls out of Maruti's Manesar Plant every 0.6 seconds at full production capactiy.It has a total production capacity of 5,50,000 vehicles per annum.

Are you sure about that? I have my doubts.
0.6 seconds for a car means 100 cars in a minute.
That translates to 6000 cars an hour and 1.44 Lakh cars a day.

That means the total production capacity of 5,50,000 vehicles per annum, as stated in your post, could be reached in just 4 days of continuous production.

[voyageur]

Great thread. Appreciate the effort for compiling the same.

My small bits

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Excellent! Amusing and insightful read. All stars!
2) The RX 100 when launched in the late 80s had a bigger capacity engine (110 cc?) and was sold as a 100 cc. Now a days, we call 98 cc as 100 cc.

1. The Hero Honda CBZ also featured a 156.8cc engine though it was sold as a 150cc bike.

2. The CBZ again I believe is the first bike in India to have 5 speed gearbox on a 4 stroke bike.

3. The CBZ yet again was the first Indian bike (afaik) to offer 240mm Nissin front disc and had a mind blowing pick up (0-60 kmph in 5 secs and top speed of 114 kmph).

4. In my childhood, I have heard a rumour that Pulsar had to cut down its fuel tank size from 18 liters to 15 liters. (not so sure about this) The design was inspired by a muscular wide open muscular human arm.

5. Electric start came as a standard feature in Bajaj Pulsar 180 which was not introduced by the other manufacturers at that time (2001) I believe.

6. The Hero Honda CBZ was the only bike that I have seen that kicker lever hits the foot pegs if not folded. One had to fold the foot pegs and then kick start the bike and again unfold the foot pegs.


Couple of nostalgic advertisements that I cherish seeing even today, even today's advertisements can't match them.

Hero Honda Splendor was a dream to own and I used to watch television with eagerness to see this ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTNOsya5C0g

The Royal Enfield 'Bullet' advertisement. Bullet meri jaan (Bullet my soul)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwO-LgzJs5Q

One of my favourite advertisements. The Bajaj Pulsar Dts-i

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqMoSk1z59Q

Cheers

[vish_wagon]

Recently, the best selling car for Nissan in India is the Terrano. It's is a car that's actually got the brandbadge changed (or should I say transferred) TWICE!
Nissan got it from Renault, and Renault have got it from Dacia.

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

Are you sure about that? I have my doubts.
0.6 seconds for a car means 100 cars in a minute.
That translates to 6000 cars an hour and 1.44 Lakh cars a day.

That's what I was told by the ARAI Guys. We too were amused by this fact.
Worst part is I cannot find it written anywhere on the web. Type Manesar and the only thing you are shown isthe labour clash.

[Nitrous Power]

Originally Posted by voyageur

5. Electric start came as a standard feature in Bajaj Pulsar 180 which was not introduced by the other manufacturers at that time (2001) I believe.

Small correction here: It was Kawasaki Eliminator that came with electric starter. Eliminator was launched before Pulsar for sure.

I think Eliminator was first motorcycle to come with 130 section rear tyre in India.

[_raVan_]

Originally Posted by Nitrous Power

Small correction here: It was Kawasaki Eliminator that came with electric starter. Eliminator was launched before Pulsar for sure.

I think Eliminator was first motorcycle to come with 130 section rear tyre in India.

Both were launched almost in the same timeframe. But as far as I remember, Pulsar was launched before Eliminator.

Eliminator was launched on Jul, 2001. Source

[texmonster]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The quarter glass of the Ambassador survives till today. It came with the Hindustan 14 design in 1949 (the Hindustan 10 did not have a pair) and has survived in the Landmaster years (1954-57) and the great ol' Ambassador Era (1958 - till today).

Thanks, @anjan_c2007! Is the quarter glass still openable as before?

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Texmonster, the pic you've put up is that of a Landmaster, not Amby.

Oh,sorry! I didn't know that! I just wanted to illustrate the opened cut-glass, so I took a picture of (supposedly) Ambassador from internet.

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

Are you sure about that? I have my doubts.
0.6 seconds for a car means 100 cars in a minute.
That translates to 6000 cars an hour and 1.44 Lakh cars a day.

That means the total production capacity of 5,50,000 vehicles per annum, as stated in your post, could be reached in just 4 days of continuous production.

550000 cars per annum translates to roughly 1 car per minute.

Continuing with the two wheelers, the KB Caliber was originally named Mercury.
Also, the Bajaj Legend was the first 150 cc four stroke scooter.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by mints21

Can someone highlight when was the first 5 speed Maruti 800 launched. I believe this was after the launch of Indica. The deluxe variant of Maruti had 5speed gearbox and so was the case with Indica. Though, I am not sure about it but some members may be knowing this.

The 5 Speed MPFi version of the M800 was launched during the first half of 2000. IIRC, in February 2000. So, to answer your question, yes, it was launched after the Indica. Also, not only the DX version, but probably all versions of the 800 were shot with the 5 speed gearbox and MPFi engines. MPFi engines were plonked in to comply with mandatory Euro norms. And that 800 was a hoot to drive car.

When Indica was launched, it had a 4 speed gearbox, but that was soon upgraded to 5 speed ones to be level with competitors and new technology.

Also, FIAT was unhappy with IDeA, the organization which designed the Indica with inputs from Tata Engineers because it shared a partially similar design (particularly the rear doors & windows) to another FIAT car which was also being designed at IDeA.

Indica was the brain child of Mr. Ratan Tata and the whole idea spiced up when Mr. Tata claimed at a press conference that "Soon, We'll have a car with the Zen's size, the Ambassador's internal dimensions, the price of a Maruti 800 and the running cost of diesel!"

Regards,
Saket

[zenren]

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

0.6 seconds for a car means 100 cars in a minute.
That translates to 6000 cars an hour and 1.44 Lakh cars a day.

That means the total production capacity of 5,50,000 vehicles per annum, as stated in your post, could be reached in just 4 days of continuous production.

Capacity of 5,50,000 translates to roughly 1 car per minute, which is still an amazing number. Manesar and Gurgaon combined has a capacity of ~14,50,000 which means 1 car every 20 seconds.

Originally Posted by saket77

The 5 Speed MPFi version of the M800 was launched during the first half of 2000. IIRC, in February 2000. So, to answer your question, yes, it was launched after the Indica. Also, not only the DX version, but probably all versions of the 800 were shot with the 5 speed gearbox and MPFi engines. MPFi engines were plonked in to comply with mandatory Euro norms. And that 800 was a hoot to drive car.

800 had 3 variants back then: Std non-AC variant with 4-speed gearbox and the EX/DX variants which were the non-AC & AC variants with 5-speed gearbox. Only EX/DX were Euro-II compliant but the Std was still sold in the rest of the country except the 14 cities were Euro-II was required.

I've come across a 1999 model 5-speed 800 when we were hunting for a used 5-speed 800 for my friend's father. I don't know the original purchase date though - may be this example was from the pre-launch lot.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by zenren

800 had 3 variants back then: Std non-AC variant with 4-speed gearbox and the EX/DX variants which were the non-AC & AC variants with 5-speed gearbox. Only EX/DX were Euro-II compliant but the Std was still sold in the rest of the country except the 14 cities were Euro-II was required.

Also, in addition I think the EX & DX versions had improved rear suspension from the Std model. The rear suspension was probably derived from the other hot hatch and Maruti Sibling, ZEN.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by saket77

Also, in addition I think the EX & DX versions had improved rear suspension from the Std model. The rear suspension was probably derived from the other hot hatch and Maruti Sibling, ZEN.

It was from Alto, not Zen.

Maruti used to do a lot of "wolf-in-sheep-skin" in those days. 5-speed 800 was essentially an Alto with 800's body. Similarly, they had Alto VX 1.1 with the 1.1L engine from Wagon R.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

the Allwyn Nissan Cabstar

Did the Allwyn Nissan Cabstar have a column shift gearbox? It had a very different engine note too compared to Toyota, Mitsubishi and Mazda. It had the lowest payload capacity but a look at the rear axle suggested it was the most rugged of the competition.

Originally Posted by TheARUN

DCM Toyota Dyna

It was called the Dyna Clipper, for good reason.

Okay; so I agree that I put a lot of lives at risk but heck, I pushed my school bus driver to floor the DCM Toyota 27 seater. I was sitting on top of the engine hood watching the speedometer. We hit 109kmph. This was on the Palarivattom - Edapally by pass road. Back then, this road was speed nirvana. This was with a full pay load of students in the bus.

The DCM Toyota was the best in terms of build quality among the Japanese LCV brigade.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by zenren

It was from Alto, not Zen.

Maruti used to do a lot of "wolf-in-sheep-skin" in those days. 5-speed 800 was essentially an Alto with 800's body. Similarly, they had Alto VX 1.1 with the 1.1L engine from Wagon R.

Thanks for the correction.
And of course, the 1.1ltr. Wagon R engine, which was actually a 1061CC engine is nothing but one additional cylinder in the same 796CC Maruti's older basic driving unit:

3 Cylinders = 796 CC
1 CYlinder = 796/3 = 265.33CC
4 Cylinders = 1061 CC

And would like to ask the members that if Honda is the only manufacturer with different logo for its cars & two wheelers?