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Old 12th October 2020, 08:35   #31
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Very nice thread. Makes me nostalgic. My father in law use to drive Fiat had all soft of expertise over the possible niggles of old Fiat that use to come with dynamo battery charging system. Without which, it was impossible go on a long drive. Latter, Fiat started using alternator that solved battery charging problems.

My wife's mama use to trust only fiat and never ever driven Maruti 800. For him, Maruti 800 was not a safe car
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Old 12th October 2020, 12:15   #32
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Such a lovely post, Thanks for sharing
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Old 12th October 2020, 12:31   #33
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Great thread Sir. Reminded of my purchase of my 62' select from a Parsi gentleman 8 years ago and my journey with the car till date - Maybe I'll write about it someday on TBHP - but you've so nicely articulated each aspect of the car that most of us with these Italian beauties are accustomed to, like opening the air filter and spraying petrol, to the water pump seal - Thanks Sir for this thread
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Old 12th October 2020, 21:45   #34
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

This is such a beautiful post. Loved every bit of it. The story of a person who is scared to drive to restoring the car. The journey is amazing. Reminds of our Padmini - A 91 model without ac. We faced a funny problem in one of our journeys from Chennai to hyderabad, where once we speed over 60KMPH, the fan belt would slip out and we would have the radiator heating up and the temperature would rise. Dad and me would get out, use the tools to just ensure we put the belt back in place and then drive constantly just under 60 mph to ensure we dont have the problem....but the novice driver in me in the urge to overtake at times would go past the magic number and the belt would slip out again. We did that all the way from chennai to Guntur where we found a garage at 3am open and he sorted it out with a new belt and replaced a couple of parts. This is just one of the many memories that we had with our Padmini. Thank for this beautiful post and bringing a lot of memories back.
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Old 13th October 2020, 08:40   #35
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Quote:
Originally Posted by IP_Man View Post
My father in law use to drive Fiat had all soft of expertise over the possible niggles of old Fiat that use to come with dynamo battery charging system

My wife's mama use to trust only fiat and never ever driven Maruti 800. For him, Maruti 800 was not a safe car
Thank You, @IP_Man.

Yes, setting the dynamo output was an art. I am happy I didn't have to experience that.

On your Mama trusting only the Fiat, it was the same story with the Sethji(s) from whom I got the car. During day of delivery, I asked them why they had a fleet of Fiats and they said they trusted only this car for "safety".

The oldies in Surat used to say, " Fiat pharwa maate, Ambassador aaram maate, aane Maruti marwa maate" (Fiat to roam around, Ambassador for comfort, and Maruti to pop off)

Quote:
Originally Posted by clementw View Post
Such a lovely post, Thanks for sharing
Thank You, @clementw

Quote:
Originally Posted by raghuram.cg View Post
Reminded of my purchase of my 62' select from a Parsi gentleman 8 years ago and my journey with the car
Thank You @raghuram.cg

You must pen a long thread on your experiences. Please try capturing the fine experiences. It will be painstaking, but trust me, you'll feel so good once you've done it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pranava VS View Post
the fan belt would slip out

Dad and me would get out, use the tools to just ensure we put the belt back in place and then drive
Thank You, @Pranava VS

You could slip the belt back in this car and continue with your journey. That's how this car was - DIY type.

I think it was an issue of either the belt stretching and no further adjustment possible OR there was some tight bearing on one of the moving parts that was causing it to slip off.

Whatever, having a longitudinally placed engine helps for easy belt adjustment.

Today's cars have tensioners, so no such issues.
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Old 15th October 2020, 22:34   #36
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Brilliant thread Vigsom ! I Enjoyed reading every single bit off it. This thread is precisely like a time machine which helps the reader go back in time to the days when buying , maintaining and owning a car was not all that easy. I especially appreciate the fact that you took the effort to pen down every little thing that was done to the car during your ownership period. I'm sure those who own a Padmini even now and have read it have thanked you for it
I wish you all the best with your mission in trying to own a Padmini once again !
PS:- I too wish I can get a Fiat 1100, well maybe someday !
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Old 17th October 2020, 17:07   #37
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

Wonderful ownership experience written in a lucid and informative manner.
By the way it was not in 1989 but in 1987 that the quarter windows disappeared from the padminis.Till 1989 the 118NE also had front quarter windows
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Old 16th May 2021, 14:40   #38
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Re: 1993 Premier Padmini - Ownership Experience & Flood Restoration

This thread has been very special to me as in today's day and age finding mechanics, spares or specialist equipment is just a google search away but doing this in the '90s shows true passion and love for a vehicle. Thanks for the detailed write up it motivated me to become a part of this community
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