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So much emotion for a little Maruti? But why?
Just to add some trivia, from memory, can be corrected, will not argue:)

When Maruti launched the car, they were not really ready. I remember that in the manual they recommended to use coolant. In the booklet which came with my van, the word coolant was scratched off and water was written. Because no coolant manufacturer was as yet ready with the product.

We got one of the first high roof vans in India. It was a lovely car. Only 5 items were Indian,
The horn-Lucas, replaced twice after warranty and then again after warranty was over, so paid for.
The paint, rust came up, a free touch up was given after 8 months and we were clearly informed that it would not last
The tyres, no problem
The Battery, again no problem
One more item I am not sure, perhaps the wipers which disintrated in no time.

Then we changed it for a Maruti Van ACTG, which, according to my memory, and I will not contest otherwise, was available only for the van. There was no DX model for the van.
On reflection, this change was stupidity as the car was by now widely indigenised. Within 5 days of purchase and hardly any running, the fuel pump failed on the first run to Thane while still on temp. plates. I was shocked, ran to the dealer. He made a big show of surprise, checked the pump and "discovered" that it was a recently indigenised item. And actually known to fail, specially on Ac vans. They promised that they would change this during the first service.
At the third service, the pump was still claimed to be not available. They maintained a register like in a ration shop where you were asked to put down your details for the modification. I immediately saw that this was a joke because they stopped putting serial numbers. This was at the Enpak service station at the drive-in cinema at Bandra. So I made friends with the service manager, Mr. Eric who was cribbing that his visa application was rejected. He wrote my name on a small piece of paper for special friends, called me his friend and said that he would ensure I got priority. But still no replaced fuel pump.
I found out that Maruti had an office at Nariman Point in one of the Maker buildings. I went there, narrated my tale of woe. The manager, a Mr. Gupta got furious, picked up the phone and fired Mr. Eric. The fact was that just the previous day Maruti had given them a box of fuel pumps for replacement. He requested me to go there the next day and they would do the needful. Mr. Eric had a very sheepish face and the pump was replaced. If Mr. Eric reads this, well I still remember this.:)

Talking to Karl, he told me that these first Maruti cars are becomming collectible, one can consider keeping a prime example. Each to his own, I will not, and I hope that no one comes to the idea of collecting a van.

Cheers harit

Errr.. actually guys, sorry to digress, but the original high roof van does look nice and retro now, doesn't it ? I'd love to have one in two tone !!

my friend in calicut has an high roof with original sliding roof will post the pics shortly relax:OT

Errr, sorry for not being explicit. I meant Maruti van. You show a Susuki. And I do have vans in my collection.
You are not disgressing, do not worry. Now I would like to hear, who is collecting Maruti Vans.

Cheers harit

The Omni/Van came with a Sliding roof???:confused:

Sliding roof or door? We had van no 117 from MUL in which I learned driving, after 8 years we sold her for more than what we bought her :D Yes fuel pump was replaced in our car also and the carbs were notorious for butterfly getting stuck if not used frequently.

Well, I wouldn't mind owning an original one. There is a blue high-roof example near my home which still has the Sealed Beams. I have not had the chance to see the interiors. Will get pics when I get a chance.

@SuperSelect: These are still being used in Australia and can carry a fair bit of load.

yes with sliding roof manaully oprated

Fortunately or unfortunately I hope to own one. We had MAF 1580, Jan 85 van bought new and sold in 2000 (ish) for 1.15 lakhs. Quite a sum. Colour was referred to as Tomato red, later models came in St. Germaine red (?). I keep seeing my old van, now in a very sorry state. We travelled all over the country in it. One day - I just might be tempted to make him an offer. It will complement my 800 perfectly - whenever I get one that is. And for me it has to be tomato red, MAF regd.:D

I don't think the Maruti Vans ever came with a sliding / opening roof.The only things that slid were the side doors and teh van itself.

Can you post a picture of this sliding roof van you mentioned.

Wasif

atleast in india none of the maruti vans came with a sliding roof for sure. dont know about other markets.

none of the maruti vans came with sliding roof, it had sliding doors. actually the sliding doors were misused for many anti social activities.In Kerala it became famous after its use in a block buster malayalam movie of the late 80''s' ' NEW DELHI'' the script of which was plagiariased from a Novel by IRWING WALLACE.
a/c tinted glass vans were introduced in late 87 and it had a clear polythene separator extending from the roof lining to the backside of the rear seat making it almost like a 3 box saloon.

The plastic curtain you refer to was actually to help the A/c keep the front half of the Van cold, that is when ther were no passengers in the rear, as if this wasn't there then it would take a while to cool down due to the big open interior.

i think there was only the luggage compartment behind that separator/curtain, no jump seats/third row of seats

That is correct. The ACTG vans had a partition which was meant to keep the cool air in the passenger compartment, and the space behind the partition was meant for luggauge. It was basically a 5 seater. We had such a van.
The successor vehicle was again a Maruti van. This time they did not have the AC option any more and at the back they had two rows of seats facing each other. So this was basically a 6/7 seater. We knocked off one row and fitted an AC. For that we had to remove the stepney from under the flooring as some part of the AC system was fitted there. There was no suitable off the shelf system available, adaption was required.
BTW, is this important? While Karls yearns for his MAF van, I doubt many will follow his shoes. Fortunately I will not be able to buy back one van as it was stolen from the next owner.

harit