[Stribog]

Originally Posted by manchandap

Didn't knew that Maruti was a 70's child. I always took it be a 80's kid.



From the 80's, I remember how difficult it was to buy a new Bajaj Scooter (Priya, Cub or Chetak) due to its wait time and tantrums of the dealers. The license-permit raj controlled everything and those with 'connections' enjoyed the moolah. Really a sorry state of affairs.

It was a weird child.

Born in 1971, aborted by Janata in 79, then rebirthed as the Phoenix by Indira in 1981. The new entity Maruti Udyog absorbed all the assets and group companies (like MTS) and spun a new entity on its own.

As to permit raj, it was far worse than cub or Chetak. Did you know that in the 60's and till mid 70's, you could not walk into a showroom and pick up an HMT watch? You put in an application, waited anything from 6-9 months and then it got delivered in the showroom and you could only pick it up.

Anecdotally, my grand-dad wanted to gift my mom a watch for her 18th birthday, did this process, found the watch glass broken in transit, and had to live with it? He got it fixed later by sending it through a relative who regularly travelled to Singapore.

It is exactly this reason why I find the launching of Maruti Original so egregious in its violation of all norms and laws.

Another fun fact, a far more functional and better car than the Maruti of 1970's was called the "MEERA". The order to produce a small car was given to both Sanjay and an entrepreneur Shankar Rao Kulkarni.


Sadly though, while Meera was a far better car, Sanjay used his mom to kill this project in its infancy.

[mac187]

Everyone has a M800 story, here is mine.

I was born in 1983 hence I have heard this story from the owner and my dad. My uncle who was based in Belgaum bought a M800 but deliveries were available in Bangalore only. My uncle couldn't make himself available so he asked his son to pick-up the car, a young lad just out of college. He came to Bangalore by bus and took the delivery of the car the very next day. He wanted to immediately set off for Belgaum but my father was adamant that he only starts the trip next day morning. Everyone in the locality came over to our house to enquire about the car and you know helping themselves inside the car, touching and moving everything. Obviously, this young chap was not too happy about it and later decided to sleep in the car least something happens to the precious car.

Our neighbor was a cop with a govt. issued Jeep and had garage where it used to be parked over night. The 800 was parked outside the garage with a 6 foot bloke sleeping in it. The cop came late night and was surprised to see this new car and a guy snoozing to glory and woke him up. This startled the young man and seeing the cop yell at him to make way for him to park his Jeep he started the car without checking the gear it was in when he parked it, reverse. Promptly, the 800 jumped to life and went straight into the garage door. This gave the car its first shiner, a small dent on the rear. This dent remained with it until the car was written off due to a terrible accident years later. That's a story for another day.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Hayek

You are referring to Maruti I - the private entity set up by Sanjay Gandhi. But the car was launched by Maruti II - which took over the assets of Maruti I out of bankruptcy (or whatever passed for that back then), and then held a transparent (for the day) tender process to select an international partner. Agree private players were screwed - but frankly they too had benefited from 30 years of being the Big Fish in a small pond.

Thank you Hayek

Originally Posted by Stribog

Except sir, all other auto makers were throttled by the govt will Maruti was given exceptional and downright illegal (per the laws then) leeway.

This is how Maruti was birthed, you decide for yourself how many violations were allowed it.

Yes it was a revolution, but then it was an artificial revolution that was rooted in a giant massive uber scam.

The facts as you state them are correct. I lived through those years as these events unfolded. But what we are discussing here is Maruti 800 the Suzuki designed car and not the politics behind its once removed namesake. While I am no voice box of Shri Sanjay Gandhi & Co fact is that even when permitted a freehand from 1985 onwards Premier and Hindustan Motors failed spectacularly to infuse technology, improve production & material management practices, train their authorized service stations, and make products with even a modicum of quality. In the same era of relative freedom several others, Tata, Bajaj, Mahindra, Eicher, TVS, Hero blossomed forth. Hindustan Motors and Premier and Standard before them failed due to their own ineptness and not because of Maruti.

By bringing in politicians leveraging land prices to make a killing you are bringing in an age old issue that is not unique to Maruti and was not at the behest of the company we know today. By your yardstick every metro in every Indian city is tainted. This is a discussion on the Maruti 800 car and not any member's pet political grudge.

Let's not stray from the topic at hand i.e. the Maruti 800 car.

[srishiva]

I remember reading in the 50 years ago column, there was a proposal by Karnataka to develop a small car. I think HMT was going to do that. It didnt happen or was not allowed to happen.

I still remember my first 800 sighting in late 80s. It was a light blue colour one and looked so good. I was equally impressed by Maruti Suzuki and Ind Suzuki Both were a whiff of fresh air in our vehicle market.

[chennai-indian]

Ever since I was a kid, we always had an ambassador at home so our family never bought an 800. When I was studying in Yercaud (a hill station) have got stuck on the ghat roads many a time in our Amby with radiator water boing over. Then had a chance to climb up the ghat section in my friend's dad's 800 and marveled at the ease with which the car climbed!! One of my relatives was the first one in Kerala to get the car (the original CKD batch) and he lovingly maintained that until 2012 when he passed away. It had a gem of an engine!!

[bullock-Car]

I have my 1995,carburettor model M-800 still doing my local errands.It has been 25 years with great memories with 2 Fitness certificates. Though last 2 years spare parts is getting problem. My daughter learnt driving and got license. Now a days only me and my daughter can drive as others find it difficult due to lack of power steering,windows, brakes(almost flimsy). But I love this car, I consider it as extension of my body and comfortable with it. It is perfectly running but I do not take beyond 10 km range. I am avoiding major repairs but maintain with local mechanics and change of oils/liquids every year. I quote everyone about reliability of this 25 year car, which runs without any problem, so they need not worry about modern cars.

[aabhimanyu04]

What an Iconic Car!

We still have one in the family for those errands. I recently got it serviced for the cost of a motorbike service.

My uncle gifted this car to mom so she could learn driving. Not just she but our entire neighborhood used it for their driving classes before the actual upgrade

[RGK]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

For its time the Maruti 800 was a hot car in terms of power to weight ratio, speed, acceleration and sheer reliability. For those of us who grew up on the old trio of Ambassador, Premier & Standard Herald the reliability of the Maruti 800 and the mind blowing service methods at their ASS were a revelation of the world outside the walls of our license raj economy.

Very true sir.

The quality of the iron and steel used in the smaller parts was ample proof of Japan's manufacturing quality.

I was so confused to see a car without any pull-type switches. To be frank I never slept that night after seeing this little marvel.

Originally Posted by kiku007

Is there anyone who hasn't driven the M800?

Absolutely.

It was the only car in India which was given/taken for the highest number of friendly test rides . When my friend brought this from someone, I asked him to start the engine. He replied, "Machi it is already on".

The number of female drivers grew up after the launch of Maruthi .

[Mustang Sammy]

Some nice memories of this car. We never owned one but had a Maruti Van (later the Omni) that my sister and I both learned driving on. Even as a novice I could zip past most of the traffic.
In hindsight we realize how dangerous that car was for a head-on collision.

[fhdowntheline]

I have actually driven this car only once, while TDing a used car for potential purchase some years ago (ended up getting the Nano).
It was a car that I used to covet as a child getting interested in automobiles, but never had the opportunity to even sit inside as the cars we got were the Amby, followed by 118NE, then the Esteem.By the time I grew up to be 18+ the M800 had begun to go out of vogue, being replaced by the Zen and then the Santro/WagonR . I learnt driving on the Padmini, so again no opportunity there !.And when I now see this machine slouched low, keeping pace with anything from a TVS Scooty to a BMW 7 on either side, I get amazed that it's still got some "go minus the show".

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by shancz

Respect to the car which changed it for us.
I preferred the 800DX(shown in pic) over the next generation.
The lowered seating position, the brilliant engine, the gear shifter and the exhaust note together gave it a very sporty character.
A fine and fun to drive car.

The car in the pic is HARPAL SINGHS car and it was a standard variant. Deliveries of DX models started only in 1984

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Industrialists were literally extorted into buying shares of this company...if you didn't, you had family members thrown into jail till you paid up. Listing rules for the share market were outright broken to allow special provisions to this company. MMS was the RBI chief then and as always turned a blind eye to all of this.

If you had applied to be a dealer, you were out of luck as you were threatened to buy shares (literally using goons and threat of violence) in the company...or else. Even if you were not applying to be a dealer, you were doomed.

Some random guy, applying with the Harayana Govt to buy some land was told that he had to buy shares in the company, or kiss his licenses good bye...he got the shares!

Businessmen who complained, including to the then Minister of state for finance, our Hon exPresident Mr Mukherjee (who did nothing) were then arrested under various acts, including the infamous MISA. Yes, if you protested, you saw jail time.


After the Janata Gov took power, they rightfully scrapped this company, established a commission, whose report has been buried by a compliant media (though it's freely available now)

Yes it was a revolution, but then it was an artificial revolution that was rooted in a giant massive uber scam.

Lot of misfacts and convoluted facts being said here.Manmohan singh became RBI governor only in 1982 and Pranabji Finance Minister in that period only. Janata government came to power in 1977.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by ajay99

The car in the pic is HARPAL SINGHS car and it was a standard variant. Deliveries of DX models started only in 1984

Sorry, my bad didn't check that before posting, just wanted to highlight that generation.

Thanks for correcting

Originally Posted by Iksvaku

Each tour would entail a travel distance of around 6,500km. Though we did follow the norm of taking a driver-mechanic with us, not once have we experienced a breakdown.

Wow, that amount of traveling during those years is incredible but much more enjoyable I guess.

Clearly your cars were maintained well. Our trips were under 200km one way with full load of people and luggage. But it was a norm for that car to overheat after the ghats(ghati as called here) were crossed. We actually scheduled our breaks right after the ghati to save time

But that was the last car to do it, once M800 took over the duties we never stopped because of the car.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by GTO

As was the reliability, something we take for granted today. Climbing up the Mahabaleshwar ghat without overheating or breaking down was revolutionary .

My dad tells me the same thing about climbing Tirumala ghat to reach the Tirupati Tirumala temple. People selling distilled water were apparently a common sight by the side of the road.

[for_cars1]

We had our 800 STD booked around May 1990 and after a wait of more than one year, it was finally delivered in June 1991 for about Rs 1.5L. A white little beautiful car that I remember being driven in out of the showroom.
We had even travelled by train to the nearest major city to take delivery and had quite a long eventful highway drive back to our city where no showrooms existed. Cars were relatively fewer back then and would turn heads, especially in its early years.
Even during the long waiting period after the booking, we had eagerly bought accessories like front guard, metal guard for the turn indicators, flaps, wheel covers, reverse music (this was purchased but never packed by the store, thankfully as I hated reverse gear music and felt good that we didn't have it). We didn't install the front metal guard and the metal turn indicator covers as holes had to be drilled on the sheet metal.
Wheel caps and flaps were installed though. Later we installed a music system and the black sunfilm for the windows. It looked pretty cool in those dark tints for a white car.

Amazingly comfortable, whisper quiet, pretty zippy and fuel efficient. The quality of all the parts in those early cars were very good. It had a great new car feel initially. Ah the smell of a new car The light switches also had a very good high quality tactile feel. When the light switch stalk had to be changed around the year 2000, I realized how the quality of the new light stalk was so low and clunky compared to the original smooth turning switch.
For us as Kids, there were a lot of stuff (knobs) to meddle on the dashboard. Although it didn't come with an AC, it had inbuilt blower and a windshield washer spray was fun. I vividly recall my classmate once comment sitting inside that the dashboard looks like a spaceship It was pretty futuristic compared to the metallic plan dash of a Premier Padmini or an Ambasador.

It was literally a go-anywhere car with great climbing ability on ghats. On the highways, 70kmph was its comfort zone, 80 kmph was kind of a comfort limit, around 90 kmph, it used to feel like the car would take off from the road.
I wanted to atleast touch 100 kmph on this car, but only dared to reach 95 kmph max never touched 100kmph in this car, it simply didn't feel safe at those speeds.

Driving about 350 KMs would take a whole day in this car (leaving at 6 AM and we would reach in the evening around 5 or 6 PM ). Also the lack of AC mean't pretty hot afternoon drives.
With no safety features and no seat belts even, we had installed a front seat belts around 1999 and there was no provision to install rear seat belts.

Not once did it ever have any mechanical trouble or breakdowns. It was pretty demanding on regular servicing though. It had to be serviced every 5000 KM and the engine literally begged for service with the carbureted engine as the 5000 KM was nearing each time.
While we had other cars coming in over the years, this one stayed for 19 years before we sold it in 2010. It was pretty well maintained and zippy even after those long years always started with a single crank. I believe the new owner also used it for about 9 years. Not sure where it is now, but it still must be around being driven somewhere I hope.