Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion

freakmuzik · 1st February 2010, 17:47

Car: Premier Padmini deluxe BE
year:1989
year of purchase(2nd hand): 1996
Part 1
As you all know, all fiat cars have lots of enthusiasts, be it of any age. There is one such fiat(premier padmini) lover, who's just turned 16, and goes crazy while talking about the car and that's none other than ME!!

I have been having (actually my dad! lol) this car for the past 14 years , that is from 1996. When we shifted to chennai, my dad was in a dilemma. We wanted a car badly as all places are far away from the place where we stay and my mom had to do a lot of travel within the city. And my mom had got a liscense by around 1992 i guess. But she hasnt driven many times after that. So my dad decided that looking for a 2nd hand car would be better.

So my dad began the hunt, and atlast shortlisted over 2 cars-1) A maruti 800 which was in a pretty good condition and the asking price was around 1.3 lakhs(dont remember the colour)
2) as u all can guess, the 2nd car is none other than the premier padmini, a 1989 model, grey colour, with grey seats and stuff( guess factory fitted) and nearly 35k-40k in the odo and was in a good condition. The the price quoted was 1.05 lakhs.

due to certain financial constraints, (and also due to my luck) we opted for the fiat atlast.And i still feel how good the decision to buy the fiat was!

From then onwards, the fiat became a part of the family. And we were enjoying each and every moment with it.
I still remember me and my sister having a fight for washing the car!

So much was the craze and love.

As the days moved, here comes the first long drive in our beloved padmini.....(to be continued)

Pics:(now its having a metallic silver paint with maroon interior scheme.-but sorry guys, no interior pics with me now, so will click some and upload asap :-)

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat-1.jpg

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat-2.jpg

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat-3.jpg

Dippy · 2nd February 2010, 15:39

The Padmini has been an integral part of many of our lives here on Team BHP. Most people who have a car has had a Padmini as their first car. Your post made me nostalgic about my own car which we had for many many years. Your car looks very well kept. Do update this thread with more on your ownership experience. Looking forward to it.

shankarbn · 2nd February 2010, 21:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippy

The Padmini has been an integral part of many of our lives here on Team BHP. Most people who have a car has had a Padmini as their first car. Your post made me nostalgic about my own car which we had for many many years. Your car looks very well kept. Do update this thread with more on your ownership experience. Looking forward to it.

Absolutely! Dippy stole my words. My dad's first car was a Padmini. What a lovely car! It had a steering mounted gear shift and was in a colour called sahara dust. Those days of magnificent and sturdy cars! Oh how it pained me when he sold it. Do post more pictures and driving experiences.

freakmuzik · 3rd February 2010, 16:39

@dippy-thanks a lot . will surely try my best to update the thread regularly. And will fill in the next part asap. I am a little bit busy right now, with school and coaching classes!!

sorry!

@shankarbn - thanks a lot, will surely upload more pics and everything else asap!

samsag12 · 3rd February 2010, 18:54

Hey freakmuzik post some pics of interiors and engine bay of your car

arun1100 · 3rd February 2010, 19:00

Hello freakmuzik!! Welcome to Fiat Lovers Club on Team Bhp.

I (my dad's!!) have a 1991 single owner Padmini. First car in my family!!

freewheelburnin · 3rd February 2010, 19:11

I learned driving on my dad's white fiat which we had bought second hand.I remember it had a sweet handling and was fun to drive especially the steering mounted gear lever.We had bought it for Rs60,000.We repainted the car and did the interior upholstery work.I still remember the sporty exhaust note.We sold it in 1999.Would love to drive a Premier Padmini if i get a chance.

arun1100 · 3rd February 2010, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by freewheelburnin

Would love to drive a Premier Padmini if i get a chance.

Please join all the Fiat 1100 enthusiasts in B'lore during our next Fiat 1100 Club Meet! You can drive my car there!

freakmuzik · 4th February 2010, 19:43

Part-2:

.... The first long journey was to trichy from chennai (that's where we stayed earlier). My mom was having a program there and eventually we decided to take our car with us! Even though it’s not such a long distance, I was really really really exited. I did not sleep that night and was waiting for the clock to move to 4 A.M. I woke my dad up, and then all the others. I got ready very quickly and made my parents hurry! And finally, we began our journey at 5.30 A.M. And how wonderful it was. We stopped at one or two places during the journey, and throughout the journey I was having a very close look on how my dad was driving.

Finally we reached there at some time (hehe, I was too exited to notice all such things, and I was too little, say around 5 or 6 years old Lol). Had a good stay there and mom's program went great. But I don't remember anything about the return journey (may be I felt asleep as a result of my sleepless excitement

)

Oh...and we reached home and what a journey it was! Our car was performing really well at that time, gave us a constant figure of around 12 in the Chennai traffic. By the way, there is something I forgot to mention and that's about my dad' driving. He is an extremely sedate driver. He is very soft on the pedal and it’s really difficult to understand that he is driving a FIAT. I just love the engine note but I rarely hear them while my dad drives the car! :-(
But his driving reflects a lot in the car. How smooth it feels even after such a long time. And we have always got excellent fuel efficiency figures. But when my mom drives, these figures go down a bit, as she is a much better FIAT driver (according to freakmuzik's Fiat engine note law!

)

When I was around 7 years old, my uncle had come to Chennai and was he had just started learning driving. So as we had a car, we gave it to him to drive in Chennai (of course in the presence of my dad). While he was driving, there was some projection on the road, some kerb or something. My uncle assumed that it would not hit the under body and drove over it, but uneventfully, it hit somewhere and we heard a big BANG!! We immediately took it to the workshop and checked it and here it goes - damaged clutch plate and other stuffs!! The whole family was sad, especially my uncle and repaired it. Along with that we made some other modifications too, like; we changed the position of the ignition switch. Earlier it was beneath the steering column, but we later shifted it to the centre and some other things too were changed.

By around 1999, the car was covered with rust in many places, which was an eyesore to our eyes. So we decided to give it a fresh lease of life! The tinkering was done, and the grey paint was changed to white and after a month or so, the car regained life and it looked.hmm...BEAUTIFUL!
Then onwards, life went good. My period on mother earth was increasing and when I was 9 years old, i.e., 2002, we had a plan to go to puttaparthi (hope u know the place, sai baba's ashram) as my mom had an onam program there. Everyone advised us to take a bus to puttaparthi, as the route is very risky and would turn out to be very strenuous. But solely due to my compulsion, my dad agreed to travel by car! Oh there comes again a wonderful time for me! :-). The countdown began and as the days closed I was excited like hell! I had nothing to talk about to my friends other than this! lol. On the previous day prior to the start of the journey, we made all our preparations and plans and all (don’t worry folks, unlike the last journey, I had a gr8 sleep the previous day! lol)

We started at around 5 AM in order to escape the congested city traffic early. We reached the highway and filled fuel to the brim. We took the route directly to Andhra Pradesh instead of the Bangalore route fearing the horrible traffic and bad road conditions in the highways around Bangalore (that’s what people told us then). Also the distance was considerably less. The roads were excellent, except for a few stretches just after the border (I remember all these stuff! yippee).

But after around 100 kms from the A.P border, the road seemed to lead us to some deserted region. There were no vehicles around and it was around 3 PM. We went and went, but could find any clue about the place. At last, we found some people and it looked like some small village. Their positive reply about the route gave us a sigh of relief!! But unfortunately, the route was completely through some forest like region where there were no signs of life (except the trees) and no vehicles too except for some occasional trucks. I still remember my dad telling me to pray to god so as to not get stranded in these places, looking at the tension on my face! But, thanks to god, we finally reached puttaparthi by around 6 PM (yea, I still remember -in a hilly region a ray of sunlight penetrating in through the front windshield just as we moved across a railway crossing. And WOW, how beautiful and magnificent that was! That’s what we call nature!!)

As soon as I reached there, we got all the accommodation made ready and I just jumped on to the bed and quickly fell asleep! Lol)...(to be continued).

freakmuzik · 4th February 2010, 20:14

@samsag12-I just got a few interior pics. will take more surely and upload them.

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat5.jpg

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat11.jpg

The front seats appear very shiny in these pics, but actually its not so bright! Actually, looking it through our naked eyes, it looks great.

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat9.jpg

This is the amount of dust that accumulates on the roof just in a single day!( we live close to a main road, where lots of trucks travel towards the bypass and the road is in a very bad condition too. So i guess these are the culprits!)

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat6.jpg

Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion-fiat7.jpg

freakmuzik · 4th February 2010, 22:41

@arun1100-thank you for inviting me for the b'lore meet! :-D. btw, do u have any reports of your car? if yes, would please do give the link, would love to read it .

Lucas_2007 · 5th February 2010, 11:49

Hey freakmuzik, you have a nice padmini man! Does the AC still work? Keep posting..cheers!

one more thing... can you please post the pics of the sound proofing/ heat shielding material in the firewall of your car?

arun1100 · 5th February 2010, 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

@arun1100-thank you for inviting me for the b'lore meet! :-D. btw, do u have any reports of your car? if yes, would please do give the link, would love to read it .

I will start a new thread on the restoration of my car and will give the complete details there.. I am restoring it to a real Classic look with complete Fiat 1100 Delight parts.

n.devdath · 5th February 2010, 12:41

You could consider covering your car using a good quality cover if it is so prone to dust. Just be careful while choosing the cover and its fitting.

Congrats on having a very well maintained car.

freewheelburnin · 5th February 2010, 12:45

Thanks for the offer Arun.Would love to drive your car

Quote:

Originally Posted by arun1100

Please join all the Fiat 1100 enthusiasts in B'lore during our next Fiat 1100 Club Meet! You can drive my car there!

1st February 2010, 17:47	#1
freakmuzik BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 620 Thanked: 1,342 Times	Premier Padmini - My love, My pride, my passion Car: Premier Padmini deluxe BE year:1989 year of purchase(2nd hand): 1996 *Part 1* As you all know, all fiat cars have lots of enthusiasts, be it of any age. There is one such fiat(premier padmini) lover, who's just turned 16, and goes crazy while talking about the car and that's none other than ME!! I have been having (actually my dad! lol) this car for the past 14 years , that is from 1996. When we shifted to chennai, my dad was in a dilemma. We wanted a car badly as all places are far away from the place where we stay and my mom had to do a lot of travel within the city. And my mom had got a liscense by around 1992 i guess. But she hasnt driven many times after that. So my dad decided that looking for a 2nd hand car would be better. So my dad began the hunt, and atlast shortlisted over 2 cars-1) A maruti 800 which was in a pretty good condition and the asking price was around 1.3 lakhs(dont remember the colour) 2) as u all can guess, the 2nd car is none other than the premier padmini, a 1989 model, grey colour, with grey seats and stuff( guess factory fitted) and nearly 35k-40k in the odo and was in a good condition. The the price quoted was 1.05 lakhs. due to certain financial constraints, (and also due to my luck) we opted for the fiat atlast.And i still feel how good the decision to buy the fiat was! From then onwards, the fiat became a part of the family. And we were enjoying each and every moment with it. I still remember me and my sister having a fight for washing the car! So much was the craze and love. As the days moved, here comes the first long drive in our beloved padmini.....(to be continued) Pics:(now its having a metallic silver paint with maroon interior scheme.-but sorry guys, no interior pics with me now, so will click some and upload asap :-)
	() Thanks

2nd February 2010, 15:39	#2
Dippy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 7,561 Thanked: 2,469 Times	The Padmini has been an integral part of many of our lives here on Team BHP. Most people who have a car has had a Padmini as their first car. Your post made me nostalgic about my own car which we had for many many years. Your car looks very well kept. Do update this thread with more on your ownership experience. Looking forward to it.
	() Thanks

3rd February 2010, 16:39	#4
freakmuzik BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 620 Thanked: 1,342 Times	@dippy-thanks a lot . will surely try my best to update the thread regularly. And will fill in the next part asap. I am a little bit busy right now, with school and coaching classes!! sorry! @shankarbn - thanks a lot, will surely upload more pics and everything else asap!
	() Thanks

3rd February 2010, 18:54	#5
samsag12 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: City of Nawaabs Posts: 1,624 Thanked: 242 Times View My Garage	Hey freakmuzik post some pics of interiors and engine bay of your car
	() Thanks

3rd February 2010, 19:00	#6
arun1100 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,087 Thanked: 5,577 Times View My Garage	Hello freakmuzik!! Welcome to Fiat Lovers Club on Team Bhp. I (my dad's!!) have a 1991 single owner Padmini. First car in my family!!
	() Thanks

3rd February 2010, 19:11	#7
freewheelburnin BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: bangalore Posts: 277 Thanked: 33 Times View My Garage	I learned driving on my dad's white fiat which we had bought second hand.I remember it had a sweet handling and was fun to drive especially the steering mounted gear lever.We had bought it for Rs60,000.We repainted the car and did the interior upholstery work.I still remember the sporty exhaust note.We sold it in 1999.Would love to drive a Premier Padmini if i get a chance.
	() Thanks

4th February 2010, 19:43	#9
freakmuzik BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 620 Thanked: 1,342 Times	Part-2: .... The first long journey was to trichy from chennai (that's where we stayed earlier). My mom was having a program there and eventually we decided to take our car with us! Even though it’s not such a long distance, I was really really really exited. I did not sleep that night and was waiting for the clock to move to 4 A.M. I woke my dad up, and then all the others. I got ready very quickly and made my parents hurry! And finally, we began our journey at 5.30 A.M. And how wonderful it was. We stopped at one or two places during the journey, and throughout the journey I was having a very close look on how my dad was driving. Finally we reached there at some time (hehe, I was too exited to notice all such things, and I was too little, say around 5 or 6 years old Lol). Had a good stay there and mom's program went great. But I don't remember anything about the return journey (may be I felt asleep as a result of my sleepless excitement) Oh...and we reached home and what a journey it was! Our car was performing really well at that time, gave us a constant figure of around 12 in the Chennai traffic. By the way, there is something I forgot to mention and that's about my dad' driving. He is an extremely sedate driver. He is very soft on the pedal and it’s really difficult to understand that he is driving a FIAT. I just love the engine note but I rarely hear them while my dad drives the car! :-( But his driving reflects a lot in the car. How smooth it feels even after such a long time. And we have always got excellent fuel efficiency figures. But when my mom drives, these figures go down a bit, as she is a much better FIAT driver (according to freakmuzik's Fiat engine note law!) When I was around 7 years old, my uncle had come to Chennai and was he had just started learning driving. So as we had a car, we gave it to him to drive in Chennai (of course in the presence of my dad). While he was driving, there was some projection on the road, some kerb or something. My uncle assumed that it would not hit the under body and drove over it, but uneventfully, it hit somewhere and we heard a big BANG!! We immediately took it to the workshop and checked it and here it goes - damaged clutch plate and other stuffs!! The whole family was sad, especially my uncle and repaired it. Along with that we made some other modifications too, like; we changed the position of the ignition switch. Earlier it was beneath the steering column, but we later shifted it to the centre and some other things too were changed. By around 1999, the car was covered with rust in many places, which was an eyesore to our eyes. So we decided to give it a fresh lease of life! The tinkering was done, and the grey paint was changed to white and after a month or so, the car regained life and it looked.hmm...BEAUTIFUL! Then onwards, life went good. My period on mother earth was increasing and when I was 9 years old, i.e., 2002, we had a plan to go to puttaparthi (hope u know the place, sai baba's ashram) as my mom had an onam program there. Everyone advised us to take a bus to puttaparthi, as the route is very risky and would turn out to be very strenuous. But solely due to my compulsion, my dad agreed to travel by car! Oh there comes again a wonderful time for me! :-). The countdown began and as the days closed I was excited like hell! I had nothing to talk about to my friends other than this! lol. On the previous day prior to the start of the journey, we made all our preparations and plans and all (don’t worry folks, unlike the last journey, I had a gr8 sleep the previous day! lol) We started at around 5 AM in order to escape the congested city traffic early. We reached the highway and filled fuel to the brim. We took the route directly to Andhra Pradesh instead of the Bangalore route fearing the horrible traffic and bad road conditions in the highways around Bangalore (that’s what people told us then). Also the distance was considerably less. The roads were excellent, except for a few stretches just after the border (I remember all these stuff! yippee). But after around 100 kms from the A.P border, the road seemed to lead us to some deserted region. There were no vehicles around and it was around 3 PM. We went and went, but could find any clue about the place. At last, we found some people and it looked like some small village. Their positive reply about the route gave us a sigh of relief!! But unfortunately, the route was completely through some forest like region where there were no signs of life (except the trees) and no vehicles too except for some occasional trucks. I still remember my dad telling me to pray to god so as to not get stranded in these places, looking at the tension on my face! But, thanks to god, we finally reached puttaparthi by around 6 PM (yea, I still remember -in a hilly region a ray of sunlight penetrating in through the front windshield just as we moved across a railway crossing. And WOW, how beautiful and magnificent that was! That’s what we call nature!!) As soon as I reached there, we got all the accommodation made ready and I just jumped on to the bed and quickly fell asleep! Lol)...(to be continued). Attached Thumbnails Last edited by freakmuzik : 4th February 2010 at 19:55. Reason: forgot to hide the number
	() Thanks

4th February 2010, 20:14	#10
freakmuzik BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 620 Thanked: 1,342 Times	@samsag12-I just got a few interior pics. will take more surely and upload them. The front seats appear very shiny in these pics, but actually its not so bright! Actually, looking it through our naked eyes, it looks great. This is the amount of dust that accumulates on the roof just in a single day!( we live close to a main road, where lots of trucks travel towards the bypass and the road is in a very bad condition too. So i guess these are the culprits!)
	() Thanks

4th February 2010, 22:41	#11
freakmuzik BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 620 Thanked: 1,342 Times	@arun1100-thank you for inviting me for the b'lore meet! :-D. btw, do u have any reports of your car? if yes, would please do give the link, would love to read it .
	() Thanks

5th February 2010, 11:49	#12
Lucas_2007 BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: GUWAHATI Posts: 67 Thanked: 12 Times	Hey freakmuzik, you have a nice padmini man! Does the AC still work? Keep posting..cheers! one more thing... can you please post the pics of the sound proofing/ heat shielding material in the firewall of your car? Last edited by bblost : 28th August 2010 at 22:52. Reason: back 2 back posts. Please use edit if posting within 20 mins. Thanks
	() Thanks

5th February 2010, 12:41	#14
n.devdath BANNED Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 4,287 Thanked: 2,811 Times	You could consider covering your car using a good quality cover if it is so prone to dust. Just be careful while choosing the cover and its fitting. Congrats on having a very well maintained car.
	() Thanks