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Old 5th August 2016, 18:43   #1
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Greetings to all fellow members of Team-BHP

Its an honour to be amongst the distinguished members of this forum. I have been a silent admirer of Team-BHP and have finally got a voice here.


My first love has always been vehicles. When I got my Driving Licence in 1984, I was a student in Assam. (Without having to reach for a calculator, I will say that I have completed a half century in age). The DL issued by Gauhati RTO was a bulky 12 vertical-pages, cloth lined book in the form of a scroll which had to be folded up to close and rolled down to open. I was so proud of the DL that for a few days I used to carry the bulky document in my pocked even when riding my bicycle. I cut my teeth on my family owned Ambassador 1971 Mark II. An excellent vehicle to say the least. Of course, it had no power brakes & power steering. So I didn’t have to go to the Gym to build up my biceps or calf muscles.


Later on when I shifted to Mumbai, a cop at the Flora Fountain signal once stopped me to check my DL and he nearly fell off his bike in disbelief when I showed it to him. The first page of the DL was in his hand and the 12th page was scraping the ground. He thought it was a fake and took it to his boss nearby for confirmation. I had a tough time convincing them that it was a genuine DL issued by a genuine RTO in Assam. How things have changed now. We have credit card sized DL & Car Registration Certificate.


We have indeed come a long way in India now. I have had the good fortune of being able to drive all types of cars/jeeps ranging from Ambassador, Padmini, 3 geared Jeeps to the present day Scorpios & XUVs. Though the present day cars are safer and more reliable, I feel that the cars in the olden days had a certain charm. They were tough and simpler to maintain. I could single handedly dismantle the carburettor of an Ambassador and service it in 1 hour flat with a spanner and a screwdriver. Now, without the laptop & associated software, it is difficult to do anything.


It goes without saying that I love Cars and Road travel. I am presently based in Mumbai and frequently keep shuttling between Mumbai & Bangalore. I always prefer to use road travel between the two cities. The distance of 1050 kms. on NH4 is covered in about 16 hours without over-speeding. Presently I have a Wagon R and a Scorpio. Generally the Waggy is for city runs and the Scorpio is for outstation long distance tours. The milage on both is around a lakh kms. I should say that both the vehicles are extremely reliable, easy to maintain and a pleasure to drive. The Scorpio is a mile muncher and can go on forever at 120 kmph without breaking a sweat.


I always had the travel bug in me. Most of the times I am in the driving seat with my wife helping on long distance tours. She is an excellent driver and has a brilliant control on the Scorpio. I have travelled in quite a few states – Assam, Maharastra, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat and interesting parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Here I would like to give credit to Team-BHP for my travel inspiration and various other nuggets on routes, car maintenance and safety tips.


The Scorpio is now getting long in the tooth and I am intend to cover the rest of India in a new vehicle. Hopefully in an XUV. Fingers Crossed.


Since the Wagon R is also getting on in age, I was thinking of replacing it with the Zwift ZXI Petrol. Any thoughts on whether I should wait for the new model slated in 2017 or try to get the old model in 2016 for a good price?


The other interest I have is reading. Anything I can lay my hands on. P.G.Wodehouse is my favourite. I have his complete collection. It is the best stress buster and a few pages of Wodehouse always puts me in a good mood. Agatha Christie follows close behind.


Thank you guys for going through my introductory ramble. Hope to have lots of fruitful interactions with you all in the future.


Once again, thanks to the excellent Moderators on Team-BHP for taking me on board. Please go easy on me if I have goofed up somewhere since this is my first post.
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Old 6th August 2016, 09:32   #2
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Re: Greetings to all fellow members of Team-BHP

Quote:
Originally Posted by carmohan View Post
Its an honour to be amongst the distinguished members of this forum. I have been a silent admirer of Team-BHP and have finally got a voice here.

My first love has always been vehicles. When I got my Driving Licence in 1984, I was a student in Assam. (Without having to reach for a calculator, I will say that I have completed a half century in age). The DL issued by Gauhati RTO was a bulky 12 vertical-pages, cloth lined book in the form of a scroll which had to be folded up to close and rolled down to open.


Though the present day cars are safer and more reliable, I feel that the cars in the olden days had a certain charm. They were tough and simpler to maintain. I could single handedly dismantle the carburettor of an Ambassador and service it in 1 hour flat with a spanner and a screwdriver. Now, without the laptop & associated software, it is difficult to do anything.


Thank you guys for going through my introductory ramble. Hope to have lots of fruitful interactions with you all in the future.
Welcome, CarMohan and a very nice introduction. We are probably from the same era and I am reminded of my driving licence from Madras. It was an A4 page folded into 4 quarters - and Mumbai cops used to look at it suspiciously. Anyways one of the positives was, it was easy to photocopy !

Yes, I miss the week-end car-maintenance sessions with those cars where the regular tune-ups involved spark-plug cleaning/gap adjustments, distributor contact/condensor replacement,timing advance retard , carburetter cleaning , slow speed /high speed jets cleaning, etc, etc.

You have travelled quite a bit and we look forward to your posts, which would be very helpful.
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Old 7th August 2016, 07:49   #3
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Re: Greetings to all fellow members of Team-BHP

Welcome aboard!

IMHO, Swift is also getting long in the tooth at the market now. I better suggest you to wait for the new model or go for some other car which is latest. In today's market you have ample choices to choose from. Do post some of your travelogues and ownership threads.

Last edited by GTO : 8th August 2016 at 11:54. Reason: Typos
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