[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by h14

Number plates definitely on the cards. Agree with your views.

Originally Posted by manishalive

Mubarak meter works in Bangalore scrap yard has many stuff like this. You have to call and check. Contact details are on forum. Do a search on Mubarak meter and you will find it.

Originally Posted by ajay99

I had seen an ad for Smiths meters MK1 in quikr from Coimbatore.
By the way I remember having seen an ad for Ambassador clock in some website.Will sent you the link if i find it

Originally Posted by Gearphile

Do you have any pointers to what the original number plates looked like ? If my memory serves me right, it looked like the 1988 photo from @h14 on page 6 - steel plate with curved edges and the numbers stencilled. That is what I remember from my father's car. He changed the plates to engraved steel plates in the 90s. I am having to change all these back and more as part of my restoration project.

Hi. Pardon the long post- but 'neways:

Car restoration was- is- and will always remain a complex thing. Some may be authentic- some may be not- and some may be done upto the owners taste. Over restorations- That is if you notice, all those Ferrari's, Maseraties coming to high profile events are very well restored. BUT- They just retain the soul of the original car. And here's why: In the post-war period (early 'Fifties), raw materials were scarce. So much so- that there is a rumour that the earliest Ferrari 250 GTO's were actually constructed of aluminium paint cans, and roadside signages, thus illustrated below: (pic source: Google.)



Similarly, the welding used to be pathetic as well- Ferrari's were well known for their useless build. But- in these so called 'restorations', the paint is excellent, and the welds perfect- in essence, the car is literally re-enginnered.

Same goes for the number plates. On a well restored car, authenticity is of prime essence. But- as I said, restoration MUST BE IN LIMITS. Little bits of a car actually show its true character. Note: There is nothing called an 'original' plate. It all boils down to what sort of plates were fitted to the car when new. In the 'Twenties, right upto the 'Forties, the likelihood of shabbily painted number plates was extremely high. Later on- proper painted numbers emerged, followed by 'castingwalla' number plates, and the stencilled ones, amongst others.

Dealer's also used to supply number plates, with their names embossed, perhaps from the late 'Forties. But coming to the present circumstances, by and large, the following number plates 'types' are seen commonly, and look good on classics:

A] Casted characters: MHP 1589- Pune. Credits-Karlosdeville.



On an Amby in Pune Cantonment : Credits: Karlosdeville.



B] Neatly Painted: BYF 8579- Pune. Credits: Karlosdeville.



C] Embossed (I haven't seen this sort recently- Only seen on preserved cars in Pune- that too- only on Presidents! ) Credits: TBHP.


D] Stickered properly : A Fintail in Pune!


E] Stencilled: A H14 in Bangalore:


Thus, it all boils down to you. Do whatever you find asthetically pleasing. The following things are of paramount importance:

A] Legality.

B]Looks. And what you find tasteful.

C] Should complement the car. IND plates, as an example, don't really complement an old Amby, do they now? And it must gel with the car.

A superb example of an Amby with complimentary plates: MRZ 4354-Bombay:



Thus- take a call. Whew! Photo credits to original authors. The Heckflosse pic is mine though.

[h14]

Well said FINTAIL. I'll decide once the car is ready.

BTW, my dad confirmed that out Amby originally came with autometer and not smith's. So sticking to autometer as of now. Thanks anyway guys for the links

And here is one pic I was able to dug out from an old album dating back to 1979

[h14]

Finally amby is back home after 15months. Few pics for now. Details to follow later.

[car love]

Beautiful....want to know more please so dont keep us waiting.

[av8er]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

h14

That place looks 'familiar'. I have seen a few restorations they do, and they are very professional.

Hi can you please tell me where this place is. Looking to restore my Amby and this place seems to be specialising in it. Would be very helpful. Thank you.

[h14]

Originally Posted by av8er

Hi can you please tell me where this place is. Looking to restore my Amby and this place seems to be specialising in it. Would be very helpful. Thank you.

Sorry for the delayed response. I'm skeptical about recommending this place since my experience has been very sour. I would suggest you look at alternatives.

I will come back with details on the same in sometime. Overall I was utterly disappointed and cursing myself for spoiling a perfectly running car and also for putting a huge sum of hard earned money down the drain.

[h14]

Been very long since the thread was updated! Car has been doing fine and has been doing decent runs.

Did a good long drive in December 2017 to Karaikudi. Some pics from that drive:









More on that trip in here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...amil-nadu.html

Last weekend got the exhaust muffler and tail pipe changed.





Followed it up with oil and filter changes. The Isuzu motor feels much better on the Mobil super 3000!







Also had a pair of Roots Vibrosonic lying at home. Got them serviced and plonked them into the Amby. The Vibor's sound nice and suits the amby's character!

From this


To This!


Planning the washing and greasing over the coming weekend.

[h14]

The amby was treated for some well deserved highway runs. It was a total of 1372 miles over a span of 1 month.

Did Coimbatore-Bangalore-Chennai-Coimbatore with city drives in both BLR and Chennai.

The car behaved brilliantly and needlessly to say, turned a lot of heads everywhere.

Super happy to have given it some much deserved highways runs and the car is back home getting some rest away from the summer showers

Leaving Coimbatore



Entering Karnataka



Off to Chennai



Off to Coimbatore



At Thiyagadurgam hill



Stats for Bangalore to Chennai



Stats for Chennai to Coimbatore

[batterylow]

The Amby deserves a photo shoot h14. After seeing the car in flesh I have to say that the pictures don't do justice to the car.

Time to bring the car for the next morning drive and the photoshoot.

[h14]

Originally Posted by batterylow

The Amby deserves a photo shoot h14. After seeing the car in flesh I have to say that the pictures don't do justice to the car.

Time to bring the car for the next morning drive and the photoshoot.

Done deal! Next meet Amby will come

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by h14

Followed it up with oil and filter changes. The Isuzu motor feels much better on the Mobil super 3000!

Fantastic thread, very rarely one gets to see a well maintained classic Amby kudos to you. Couple of pages back I thought I had seen a Matador engine under the hood, I hope you didn't go for an engine change or am i missing something.

[h14]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Fantastic thread, very rarely one gets to see a well maintained classic Amby kudos to you. Couple of pages back I thought I had seen a Matador engine under the hood, I hope you didn't go for an engine change or am i missing something.

Thanks! Yes, now running a more cleaner HM Isuzu D.

[h14]

Amby has been clocking some miles silently. Got the fluids replaced few weeks back and she is running super smooth with the Motul!

The starter motor too had to be overhauled as it gave up completely.

All well now and she has been busy doing intercity runs



Initial impressions from the Motul 4000 Motion plus has been great



Got Power Oil for the transmission and differential. This was heavily backed by the distributor. Will have to wait and see on this holds up.

[h14]

Been too long since this thread had some updates. Amby has been doing good but over last few months it hardly got driven around.

Made up for that with a drive yesterday with fellow bhp'ians in Coimbatore.









Below pics courtesy bhp'ian nskumar

[h14]

Some random clicks from last Sunday's drive to walayar