Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


Reply
  Search this Thread
155,111 views
Old 7th May 2008, 10:32   #31
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: MUMBAI
Posts: 3,060
Thanked: 5,346 Times

Wow - all the responses are absolutely amazing. It makes for fantastic reading. Thank you.

As I worked there (read post 1 on page 1), I will share my experiences with you all. In all fairness, I will not mention any names.

My first day:
I joined on 01 April 1984 (all fools day) in R&D. R&D was divided into 2 main areas, design and testing. In design, there were 2 areas, PD and TS (Product Design and Technical Services). I was placed in the TS area, looking after transmission. I remember my first day - in the Padmini, the speedometer would not work as the drive in the transmission would slip off. This was a major problem as taxi meters would not operate as they were driven off the speedometer cable (they still do), so taxiwallahs would be up in arms. I was told to introduce a small button in the speedometer drive gear to provide a positive lock (see - we were doing what even FIAT of ITALY who designed this car did not know - Gangu Teli teaching Raja Bhoj - just kidding) but nobody analysed why the gear would slip in the first place. My job was clear - without questioning, I was to make the layout of how the button would work, make the drawings, get prototype parts made and get them tested (Aha - so now you know what we guys did in R&D back then). I was supposed to write letters to "all concerned" having coded designations like SREXICASS (Senior Executive Incharge After Sales Service), DDM (Design and Development Manager), PTM (Product Testing Manager), MVP (Manager Vehicle Proving), SVP (Superintendent Vehicle Proving) etc etc. and the mighty heavens would crush me if the seniority sequence was not followed to the tee. The funniest part was that I was supposed to mention all past references to this topic with the earliest reference put on top (the heavens would again ---- if I deviated). The content of the letter had to go like this without exception, otherwise the heavens ----- "Vide our letter ref 2 above, we had -----. Vide your letter ref 4 above, you have -----. Further to your reply, vide our letter ref 5 above, we had given our comments -----. My the then boss (no names) edited my complete letter and fired the hell out of me for not writing "vide our letter ref" etc etc.

Get the general idea ? Hold your horses. There's much more to come.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar
DHABHAR.BEHRAM is offline   (9) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 11:49   #32
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 119
Thanked: 2 Times

What a nice thread! Just reading others memories is fascinating in general, more so when it is about cars.

We (my family) were not in a position to own any cars in that era.

One of my colleague's dad owned a FIAT 1991(?) model. As late as 2007, i took out that car for a drive. The hand gear system and the ultra-smooth steering positively surprised me and made driving enjoyable!

Sadly, i understand that the car has been sold off now.
sreenidhibr is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 13:28   #33
Senior - BHPian
 
ramkya1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Palakkad, Keral
Posts: 1,826
Thanked: 431 Times
Papdmini Was A Light Ride......

Behram, what a nice thread!!!!

I vividly remember 87, had an Amby with a BMC Diesel engine, while almost everyone were changing over to the Matodor engine for power and speed. Till 88 end, from Cochin we had driven it in all direcitons, had the crank cut twice, had to open the engine and get the engine redone, was a pain. The BMC had that problem, exced 90 KMS and the crank could go burst. Changing the water was a chore, it was tireing to drive it around compared to the Padmini which my cousin had. Only day I had to drop it to the workshop for service and became an immediate fan of that nimble car.

Driving her 87 Padmini was a pleasure, a welcome change from driving the Amby, it had yoodles of space and a cavernous boot, whereas the Padmini could take only 5 people and a small luggage. The driving pleasure of the Padmini was unbeatable, used to do at least 2 trips to Palakkad from Cochin for a year. Finally switched to a 2nd hand 88 Padmini in 89 for 1.10 L !!!!

It was peppier, could easily do @ 90+ on the highway, was a breeze to overtake and the steering lighter. I loved the way it handled and loved the steering gear; dunking it inside the cramped parking space of our MIG house was a zip (in the Amby it used to be a horror every night), the workshop visits also far lesser than the Amby. The workshop guy (opposite Manorama in PP Nagar, Das) was pretty mad when I switched over, he sure was not a fan of the Padmini !!!! Had a wonderful 24 month ownership time with that baby. Finally switched over to M800 in 91.

Thanks for starting this thread, brings back lots of memories of the Amby and Padmini.

Happy Driving,

--Ramky
=========

Last edited by ramkya1 : 7th May 2008 at 13:30.
ramkya1 is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 15:00   #34
 
Cyrus43's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: London
Posts: 5,019
Thanked: 221 Times

Such a nice thread.. I have many fond memories of the padmini and everyday as my daily drive is still the padmini, The memories pile on.

The first time i drove one was 2006. I had just learnt how to drive the maruti and alas, as it was raining, it started flooding. So i went down in my chappals and shorts to put the cars on the footpath. At that time, MRY 3112 wasnt restored. So first goes the maruti onto the footpath..no problem.
Now , i take the fiat keys out of my pochet and think to myself, "Can i do this??" And then i think.."isnt it in my blood".. So i am soaking wet in the middle of the road, water rising. I open MRY 3112 and sit in it. Now as i have never driven both my fiats before i am confused which key it takes to start the car. Now my dad(Behram Dhabhar) usually keeps all his keys in one big bunch. So even God would get confused!! Finally i manage to start the car. Delight Delight..The car starts in the first shot. Put the car in first and slowly start driving. Its easy i think. And it is. Slowly i drive the car ont the nearby footpath and park it there. Two down, one to go.

Now comes MRJ 5540. The carzily fast fiat that i had come to know of just recently was staring at me. Begging me to take it up onto the footpath before anything happened to its small nuclear power plant below the hood. So i look at that massive bunch of keys again. In the meanwhile the rains get heavier and heavier. I am dripping wet and cold. Somehow i manage to open the door after what seems like an eternity and sit inside its cozy welcoming interiors. I put the key in the ignition, put it in neutral and fire it up. The roar of the Exhaust and its piper stage 1 engine could be heard very clearly over the rains pitter patter. So i put it in gear, leave the clutch, and it stalls. So i think to myself, "What the hell??" Start the car again, Put it in gear, And it stalls again. Now i am getting irritated. This happens again and again when finally i get so irritated that i decide to stop and think whats happening. Then i realize that instead of first, i have been putting it in third. So i calmy pull the gear shift towards me and put it in first and leave the clutch. With a massive jerk of acceleration, The car leaps ahead. There is water splashing all over the place engine roaring like a mad man!! I think to myself "What now??" A voice screams in my brain..."PUT IT IN SECOND YOU MORON!!!!" so i put it in second..drive the car to the end of the lane and turn around. By this time, i have guaged the power of the car and thus have an accurate control of the clutch and gas. Slowly and steadily, i plonk it up on the footpath and it is safe and sound.
I come out and pat myself on the back for doing such a wonderfull job. All this while my mom is worrying on wether i would by able to drive the fiats or not.
Cyrus43 is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 15:15   #35
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: MUMBAI
Posts: 3,060
Thanked: 5,346 Times

(result of long typing yesterday night, copying and pasting now)

Now let me walk you through the plant (as it used to be):
You drove down LBS Marg from Sion station (the old Mumbai Agra Road), took a right turn at Kamani and after some 200 mts you would see a blue gate with PAL written on it. Some 50 mts ahead was the personnel department and security building. The "factory" gate to your left and the "colony" gate to your right. A visitor would go to the security building, peer in through a small glass window (as you would do when buying cinema tickets), mention the department he would want to visit and he would get a yellow gate pass with something scrawled illegibly on it. Enter the factory gate and you had a straight road leading to the main building. You would immediately see the "sales building" and brand new RFD cars (ready for delivery) with all bonnets open with the dealer's name written on the inside of the bonnet in white chalk. The most prominent were BCMA (Bombay Cycle and Motor Agency) and PNM (Premnath Motors Delhi). You would see contract drivers milling around, trying to put jacks and wheel spanners in each car before driving them out of the gate. I still remember the crisp clear exhaust note of the brand new engines (today's cars are all antiseptic in comparison). Crossover to your right and walk around a 100 metres and you come to the WHRC (Walchand Hirachand Research Centre) and the service station. Walk a little ahead and you would enter transmission assembly and the machine shop. A little to the right was the main assembly line wioth the body and paint shops a little further leftwards. Further backwards was the "main building". This had the accounts and service departments on the ground floor, the senior executive offices (including that of the chairman) on the first floor and I don't know what on the second floor. Go ahead and you would hit the forge shop (yes, they made forgings in-house), the small press shop (with only one huge "Becker and Van Hullen" press for company) and the "balancing plant" as the engine assembly department was known for some odd reason. Next to the balancing plant was "ramp no 2" or the rectification department. Believe you me, every single car's doors were made to close here by hammering only God knows wherever with plastic hammers. Most of the doors would not close at the point of roll-down. A small test track with 2 "superelevations" completed the picture. The Central Railway yard line was just beyond the periphery. Production used to be 60 cars per day.

The models (I am listing all of them) - Incidentally the car was known inside the plant as "PP Car". Nobody ever said Premier Padmini, it was always PPCar:
Premier Padmini Standard
Premier Padmini Economy
Premier Padmini Economy Taxi (10 leaf rear springs and metallic speedometer gear)
Premier Padmini Deluxe BE (BE means bench seat)
Premier Padmini Deluxe (it is not "Deluxe BU" but "Deluxe" only which please note - BU means bucket seats - and corresponding floor shift gears
Premier Padmini Deluxe BE AC
Premier Padmini Deluxe AC
PDA (Premier Drive Away Chassis - the station wagon type body was built outside and the car used to be called "Premier Safari".
Premier Padmini S1 BE (column shift)
Premier Padmini S1 (floor shift)
Premier Padmini S1 BE AC
Premier Padmini S1 AC
Premier Padmini 137D (with the 1366 cc FNM derived diesel engine - origins in the VW Golf)

Whew ! See how many models we had ???????? For originality freaks like Karlosdeville and President, I can give you trim levels for all models which you can use for restoration purpose.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar
DHABHAR.BEHRAM is offline   (6) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 17:16   #36
Senior - BHPian
 
esteem_lover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Madras/Py
Posts: 7,556
Thanked: 500 Times

For example, what was the difference between PP Standard & PP Economy ?
esteem_lover is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 17:36   #37
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: MUMBAI
Posts: 3,060
Thanked: 5,346 Times

Dear Mr.Esteem Lover,

Your reply - PP Standard had chrome plated bumpers with metallic guards with square design type seats with matching door trims and stainless steel wheel caps but without reverse lights and front fender indicator lights. PP Economy had body coloured bumpers with rubber guards with black seats with small plastic wheel hub caps. PP Economy cars were sold in only 3 colours, Sabbia (a horrible pinkish cream), Ellora (a lightish green) and Pale Lilac (almost white). The on-road price of PP Standard in 1986 was Rs.87000.00 and the price of PP Economy was Rs.79498.92. I know the price because one of my friends purchased PP Economy (MFC5955).

My job was to release body drawings for all these plethora of models. If there is no side indicator, I had to remove the holes from the fenders means that the part number of the fender as well as the whole body assembly would change.

I'll provide details soon.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar
DHABHAR.BEHRAM is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 18:43   #38
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Faridabad/Delhi
Posts: 1,701
Thanked: 776 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM View Post
PDA (Premier Drive Away Chassis - the station wagon type body was built outside and the car used to be called "Premier Safari".
Wasn't this model sold by a company called SAN something? This model had its tail lights borrowed from Tata truck. It used to be advertised by the body fabricator in India Today magazine and was touted as a souped-up, luxury model.
directinjection is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 19:13   #39
BHPian
 
mmmjgm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: BOM, PNQ, DXB
Posts: 398
Thanked: 30 Times

Beautiful thread Dhabar Saheb !.

Well I learnt driving on Fiat's thats what we used to call them, the first memories of my family's cars are that of a black dukkar fiat, this was way back in 1972s. The number i do not clearly recollect but was BLM 9136 or something like that.

We had a series of Fiats (read as PPs). One very good car I remember was bought second hand from a Dr Kher of Bandra or Mahim car no MRF 5300 very powerful (not very clear as to what was done on it) white in colour and had dark red upholstery.

Another fiat owned by us was MMM 698. This one was the last within our family which then made way to Maruti 800 (Japanese model 1995).

I would like to comment on the fate of PAL & HM. Please note that you may hate the manufacturer. But then did the manufacturer have a choice ? Was he allowed to bring in technology ? Were his workers allowed their voices ? As succintly put by another t-bhpian that the labour leader was more interested in his pockets than the workers plight.

Please note that Indira Gandhi had a personal interest in MUL/Maruti Suzuki as it was Sanjay Gandhi's pet project. Now with the bureaucrats backing a project in India I doubt it could fail.

Well the big time goof came with the strike during the UNO times and the PAL Peugeot shutting down operations. Classic management blunder, excellent product very poor project execution.

Nevertheless the problem lies within our government who will not create a level playing field. If manufacture of cars were de-regulated during Independence we would not have had to face this problem of PALs and HMs and Standard Motors providing users with sub standard parts.

The history of automobile manufacturing has bore witness to one fact - the later (latest) the investment in technology the better has been the output. Vendor development, access to foreign design shops & production lines.

Snippet = the Indica would not have been possible had the restrictions on foreign exchange and foreign collaboration not lifted/liberalised. The entire manufacturing line is imported and used to be owned by Nissan.

Btw all car enthusiasts and users now pay for this folly of the govt.- we pay higher margins to car manufacturers for providing us with the so called "world class features" which should have been there in the first place.

The fact will remain. Had the government allowed foreign designs & tools to be imported things would be different. Why will a foriegn collaborator provide know how without any funds or without equity or royalty participation ?

Mods : sorry for the long post.

Cheers

M M M
mmmjgm is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 21:11   #40
Ram
Senior - BHPian
 
Ram's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
Posts: 2,166
Thanked: 219 Times

Hi Behram:

Thanks for starting this thread.

May I put on my nostalgia cap and reminisce too?

A friend of my dad had booked a Fiat 1100D I think in late 1966. The booking matured in December 1968 and my dad's friend gifted him the booking. My dad traveled to Hyderabad, took delivery and drove back to Bombay.

The car: ADX 4717 was Heather Brown with long wraparound rear bumpers with a chrome bolt securing each of the side ends to the body. The over-riders were trapezoidal and without any rubber bumpers on them. The seats were in two tone rexine. Light grey edges with dark grey panels.

The Premier Automobiles Ltd - The Remembrances Thread-fiat1100dint.jpg

There was a little lamp next to the ignition key that indicated high beams and the instrument cluster had three Yenkay dials with two red and two amber idiot lights. IGN LEFT RIGHT and OIL.

The idiot lights were so bright they threw a beam on the rexine ceiling.

The raspy note of the new engine and the new car smell of the interior is unforgettable. The car had CEAT wide white wall tires and dull aluminium hub caps that snapped onto spring ears on the lipless wheels.

The door handles inner and outer also were in dull die-cast aluminium finish, as was the round turn-signal lamp bezel on the front fenders.
The grille was made of a single sheet of aluminium with stamped rectangular holes with semicircular ends.

Back in 1968 in Hyderabad, there was a custom of painting the top half of the headlamp lenses black, to prevent glare to oncoming traffic.
Our car however had a dealer supplied option -- stainless steel semicircular headlamp blinds. The stainless steel blinds gleamed in daylight but cut the headlamp apertures to semicircular openings at night.

I was eleven years old and would happily ride to school Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, Chembur every morning in that Fiat 1100D.

Around 1971 the car was re-registered in Bombay as MRG-2917. In 1978 when I was away at engineering college, the car was painted bright blue as my dad took a fancy to his friend's brand new blue Padmini.

Around that time we also added a cream 1965 Fiat 1100D MRD 1338 bought second hand. The grille had the square aluminium mesh, the instrument cluster had four piano-key switches for wiper and lights and Yenkay instruments with blue faces.

In early 1982, just before my marriage, we bought a new Premier Padmini Deluxe MMY 7517 which came in a delicate light grey named "Silver Gray" (I remember the documents using the British spelling Gray rather than Grey ).

Deluxe at this time, meant, a paper-element type air cleaner, chrome hubcaps, bright metal inserts in the windshield and backlight rubber gaskets, reversing lights, turn signals on the sides of the front wings and four ashtrays -- in the dash, behind the rear seat and in the rear doors. We got MRG 2917 also painted the same Silver Gray.

My last and final Padmini MH 01 R 9440 was bought in 4Q1995. That's the red-white and blue car I still have in my garage.

I gave a cheque for Rs. 2.38 lakh to Wasan Automobiles, Chembur on Ganesh Chaturthi, 29-Aug-1995 and signed on the dotted line.
On Thu. 7 Sep, I visited Premier Automobiles Ltd. and saw my car being put together. Met Mr. Kamat in Sales, Mr. A.S.Basrur, Plant Superintendent, Deepak Honavar in RoadTesting and Mr. Bandvidekar at Chassis/Body marriage.
On Mon. 9-Oct-1995, I got a call from Premier Automobiles that my Imperial Maroon Padmini S1 deluxe BU was being delivered to the dealer.

It came with a factory-fitted 118NE gearbox and rear axle, crossflow radiator and temperature-triggered electric fan, along with catalytic converter, special linkages on the carburetor for pollution control and automatic advance/retard on the distributor. It puts out a max. of 48 bhp, compared to the standard Padmini's 40 bhp.

Wed. 11-Oct 1995, they started doing the dealer options ordered by me: Fiberglass coating on the complete flooring, inside the doors and all four fenders, trunk and trunk wells. And faint green tinted glass.

Sat. 14th Oct my son Aniruddh and I took delivery of specially made new Padmini. My other car back then was MAM 7590, the four wheel drive 1988 Mahindra MM540 DP -- my daily driver.

Cheers...
Ram

Last edited by Ram : 7th May 2008 at 21:18.
Ram is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 7th May 2008, 21:14   #41
BHPian
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 747
Thanked: 48 Times

Quote:
The models (I am listing all of them) - Incidentally the car was known inside the plant as "PP Car". Nobody ever said Premier Padmini, it was always PPCar:
Premier Padmini Standard
Premier Padmini Economy
Premier Padmini Economy Taxi (10 leaf rear springs and metallic speedometer gear)
Premier Padmini Deluxe BE (BE means bench seat)
Premier Padmini Deluxe (it is not "Deluxe BU" but "Deluxe" only which please note - BU means bucket seats - and corresponding floor shift gears
Premier Padmini Deluxe BE AC
Premier Padmini Deluxe AC
PDA (Premier Drive Away Chassis - the station wagon type body was built outside and the car used to be called "Premier Safari".
Premier Padmini S1 BE (column shift)
Premier Padmini S1 (floor shift)
Premier Padmini S1 BE AC
Premier Padmini S1 AC
Premier Padmini 137D (with the 1366 cc FNM derived diesel engine - origins in the VW Golf)

Whew ! See how many models we had ???????? For originality freaks like Karlosdeville and President, I can give you trim levels for all models which you can use for restoration purpose.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar
Yes, thats the one i've got & starline fitted the a/c. earlier owner would know why & how.
Im indebted to you for starting this thread, & makes that much not give away 4035, till I get its replacement.

Last edited by Rehaan : 8th May 2008 at 11:13. Reason: quote fixed
kavesh55 is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 21:19   #42
Senior - BHPian
 
aaggoswami's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Vadodara
Posts: 4,982
Thanked: 2,929 Times
Beautiful.

An excellent thread apart from being one of the most beautifull one. Almost all of us have been attached to Padmini. May be after 10 years that status might go to M800!


I think that my grandfather bought the car for Rs. 85000.

I have one query: Did the president have front windsheild sun visor as standard equipment ??

Our President had sun visor at the point where the front windshield ended and roof started i.e. at the top end of the front windsheild running the entire width of the windsheild.

Hope somebody can throw light on this.
aaggoswami is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 21:53   #43
Ram
Senior - BHPian
 
Ram's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
Posts: 2,166
Thanked: 219 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by aaggoswami View Post
May be after 10 years that status might go to M800!
One of the nicely fixed up old M800s is Edmund Spitz's skyline-gtr-blue 1st gen. Maruti 800 with 13-inch wheels and 175 wide 60% aspect ratio Falken rubber.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aaggoswami View Post
I have one query: Did the president have front windshield sun visor as standard equipment ??

Hope somebody can throw light on this.
No the sun visor was always an aftermarket add on.

I do seem to remember that there were at least three kinds.
  1. There was the flat sunvisor with two chrome strips across it.
  2. There was one with a colored perspex panel component instead of steel between the bright-metal strips.
  3. And there was a visor made up of a contoured aluminium frame, with an embedded colored perspex panel.
Ram
Ram is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 22:26   #44
Senior - BHPian
 
aaggoswami's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Vadodara
Posts: 4,982
Thanked: 2,929 Times
Thanks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ram View Post
One of the nicely fixed up old M800s is Edmund Spitz's skyline-gtr-blue 1st gen. Maruti 800 with 13-inch wheels and 175 wide 60% aspect ratio Falken rubber.


No the sun visor was always an aftermarket add on.

I do seem to remember that there were at least three kinds.
  1. There was the flat sunvisor with two chrome strips across it.
  2. There was one with a colored perspex panel component instead of steel between the bright-metal strips.
  3. And there was a visor made up of a contoured aluminium frame, with an embedded colored perspex panel.
Ram
Well the nex time I go to A'bad, I will ask for my dad's marriage photographs where I can see the visor was of which kind.
My dad got married in 1982 and at that point of the time the President did duty. No wonder, whenever someone from our family looks at those photographs, everyone will atleast remember the President.
aaggoswami is offline  
Old 7th May 2008, 23:19   #45
Ram
Senior - BHPian
 
Ram's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
Posts: 2,166
Thanked: 219 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by directinjection View Post
Wasn't this model sold by a company called SAN something?
The company was SAB (for Starline Auto Builders). They were located at Tardeo, Bombay. The estate car was called the Premier Safari.
Ram is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks