[Perakath]

Hi Philedonos, the car looks so much better with all that stuff removed from the front. what are the two remaining things sitting on the bumper? Horns? How come those managed to survive the culling?

Originally Posted by Philedonos

In the meantime I post some pictures of the engine.

I saw that picture and my first reaction was: "Where's the engine block??"

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Daniel, hindustan motors may have followed the saying NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. I took delivery of a mark 4, drove the car home, and asked the driver to park it. He did so and came back to report that the car had no hand brake. I went to see and also was puzzled, searched all over thinking that they had changed its position, to no avail. Next morning when I went back to the dealer, they had a look and said OH< THEY MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN TO FIT THE LEVER. Sure enough, the cable was in place, not the activating lever.

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Two more mark 2's, MRJ 9636 and MMB 1684 came with the same guages in a faux wood finish dash and the centre round guage housing the lights gave way to a strip of rectangular lights.

Remember the rectangular lights strip on the dashboard from my grandfather's old Amby. Pleasure to see the pictures and have memories stirred after so many years.

[Philedonos]

Originally Posted by Perakath

Hi Philedonos, the car looks so much better with all that stuff removed from the front. what are the two remaining things sitting on the bumper? Horns? How come those managed to survive the culling?[...]

Hello, they are indeed horns. I need to leave them until I get the "new" correct grille, at which point the horns will get back to their original position. So many things to do, so little time...

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Daniel, the handles on the glove box lids never came in the centre. This is a modification done by that car owner. I may add that it is a bit thoughtless, since it would take greater effort to open the lid from the centre than from the top. Simple physics, since the hinges are at the bottom.

Rightly said, the owner has done such a modification with the glove box lid handles

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Another point to be noted is that some time in 1966 the Smiths meters gave way to Autometer make Smiths lookalikes graduated in metric system ie., KMs.
This were OEs then and in 1968 Autometer also bought in the Yenkay lookalike type of meters. And the funny part is that the needles of the three Yenkay make meters (of Fuek gauge, Anneter and Oil Pressure gauge) were different to one another.

Rajeev, my relative owned a January 1966 canary yellow (original company shade) car with the new Yenkay 1 +3 / 4 meter configuration. So its about late 1965 when the Smiths were gone.Imports were cut and indigenisation mantra was on. So most components had to be Indian.The Fiat 1100D, Herald and Willys jeep lost the imported meters.

Originally Posted by Philedonos

Anjan, I have to thank you for the lovely sequence of dashboard pictures. I had done a similar one on my personal files, copying all the pictures I found on the net and through friends.
I seem to have a car of a rather odd year: end 1965.
In the subsequent picture of the light blue/dark blue interior, the handles are still on the upper side of the glovebox, but the ashtray appears and the clock is gone. This is I think early 1965.

Welcome and yes, Philedonos the air ventilation vents gave way to the ashtray with the disappearance of the clock. I am posting more pictures and this will be evident.

Originally Posted by Philedonos

What puzzles me is the next picture, though, which you state is late 1965: the two Smith metres are gone and are replaced by a total of 4 small and one large instrument. This configuration remains until 1968 it seems.
So the major changes happened in 1965. The question is: when did the clock disappear and the ashtray appear (I presume early 1965)? And when did the Smith metres disappear?
I think I can safely say that my December 1965 model never had a clock, but I am trying to understand if it had the two Smith metres (which I hope, as they are so much prettier) or the 4 + 1 Yenkay

Harit, thanks for the link to the old picture. It again shows a model with a clock and the glove box handles on the top side. There doesn’t seem to be an ashtray (difficult to see) so it should be a late 1964 model.

Ok, if the research goes on like this I have found a new job in India: I will write the first book on Landmasters/Ambassadors in India, I seem to have at least 5 co- authors already, haha. And I'll grow old by the time I have all the information.

Yes indeed,Philedonos, 1965 brought some changes at HM. The Mark II came in January 1964, by early 1965 the clock was gone, the ashtray appeared. Imports were minimised by all automobile makers. Luckily, SU carburettors survived till 1970/71 in the Ambassadors.

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Anjan, the last mark 2 bought by us did come with the rear lenses in one piece ,like the later, mark 3 . Our first mark 3 MMB 7411followed shortly after our last mark2 , MMB1684 . Maybe they just ran out of the old lenses? With HM anything was possible. Thanks for the pictures of all the dashes. They brought back happy memories. In those days , we were glad to get rid of those cars. Who would have thought people would actually begin collecting them!!

Thanks Bulldogji for the information. As they say "anything can happen at HM." Again the hand brake missing in your new car is something that makes history for HM.Once a 1978 car was leaking when brand new in Calcutta. The owner took it to the showroom and they said don't see the body, see the engine. This fact was reported by The Statesman.

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

How interesting to see them all on one page. Brings back old memories to some people. By the way that after market gauge in the center looks like a vacuum gauge to me. It had average, idle drive fair poor etc.. with the different colors. I think. Drive is the blue shade. Idle is to its left. Car had to idle well to be on that color band. And if you drove well you were on the blue band. Red band was poor I think. I still have a couple of these some where.

Yes, my uncle was perhaps fed up with the malfunctioning clock.

Some more pictures:



These are Autometers as an aftermarket fitment in a Landmaster. As rajeev rightly put it this was a stop gap between the Smiths and Autometer in 1965



My uncle's car with no ash tray but with the ventilation vents that have been covered





Series III Morris Oxford



The ventilation vents with the clock



Manual

(most pictures are from teambhp and my album)

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by thebulletboy

I've always wondered which year the shift to KMPH was made.
Perhaps the move to KMPH might have come in earlier during the SMITHS era.
Attached is a pic of a Smiths KMPH speedo. I'm assuming that these speedos were used after the Smiths MPH meters and before the Autometer KMPH meters.

Though I'm unsure of the model year of the car this was pulled out of.
Hopefully the experts can confirm and shed more light on this.

Attachment 1047817

I have already posted a low resolution picture of this 1957 Landmaster dash. The meters are not Smiths but Autometer and are very clearly aftermarket fitments. This Autometer phase came as Rajeev puts it between the Smiths and the Yenkay in 1965. Presumably then, the MPH to Kmph shift was made. But I beg to say, I am no expert.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Philedonos

but the ashtray appears and the clock is gone. This is I think early 1965."
then, while the clock disappered (as in the case of the above mentioned light blue/dark blue interior) subsequently in the same year.
Finally even the two Smith meters disappered to give place to Autometers according to Rajeev but then these were in turn replaced by the 4 + 1 Yenkays. and all this before the end of 1966? Good Lord, I am getting lost :-)

In 1968 there were Autometer 4+1 configuration similar to Yenkays.
Regarding ashtrays in 1971, the separate screwed on ash tray mounting plate disappeared and the ashtray was mounted on the same location onto the main dash board. More confusion? Sorry can't help it.

The Smiths lookalike Autometer which I referred to in my earlier post is what Anjanji has shown in his post above. The owners manual supplied even with a 1970 June delivered car had indicated both the Autometer as well as Yenkay meters as OE. There is a mention about it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-w...allery-36.html This post by manishalive shows the Autometer instrument in the Mark II

[thebulletboy]

A close look at the pics, and here are some observations :

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

I have already posted a low resolution picture of this 1957 Landmaster dash. The meters are not Smiths but Autometer and are very clearly aftermarket fitments. This Autometer phase came as Rajeev puts it between the Smiths and the Yenkay in 1965. Presumably then, the MPH to Kmph shift was made. But I beg to say, I am no expert.

This kmph speedo posted by Anjan has Autometer scripted on the face and is clearly an Indian made piece.

The kmph speedo posted by me earlier has "SMITHS" on the top and "MADE in UK" at the bottom of the face

Originally Posted by rajeev k

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-w...allery-36.html This post by manishalive shows the Autometer instrument in the Mark II

This kmph speedo posted by Rajeev/Manish appears to have the "Made in UK" script, but no "SMITHS" !!

If we assume that the speedos posted by me & Manish/Rajeev are Autometer units manufactured under license (this *might* explain the "SMITHS" script on one of them), this would still not explain why they both have "MADE in UK" scripted on the face.

Another strange observation is that all the MPH speedos seen so far have "MADE in ENGLAND" on the face, while the kmph Smiths speedos seem to have "MADE in UK" ?!

I'm still confused :-(

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

I am posting more pictures and this will be evident.
SU carburetors survived till 1970/71 in the Ambassadors.

I am attaching the instrument cluster picture of mark3 and early mark4 here.

Yes SU carburetor exited in 1971 and Solex carburetor became the OE along with the instruments getting mounted on the Aluminium and laminate panel. Also the mark II monogram got shifted to the rear boot door on the right side of the number plate from the fender sides.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Philedonos

If you look at the pictures with care, you will notice that at some point the handles of the two glove boxes moved from centre top to centre middle. I think that this happened just before the ashtray appeared on top of the dashboard, but I could be mistaken.

No, never the glove box grab handles moved down from its centre top position as OE. When aftermarket locks were fitted for safety the handles were shifted by mechanics to accommodate these aftermarket locks. In later mark4s these handles gave way to some smaller push-down-to-open plastic knobs.

[Philedonos]

Dear fellow enthusiasts,

I haven't updated this thread in over a month, sorry.
In the meantime the Ambassador has been thoroughly cleaned, inside, underside and outside. It is astounding how everyday movements (shutting doors, steering, surviving potholes) get easier just with a good clean and a bit of grease!
I have been able to find (and polish) two tail lamps and a front grille; not perfect you will point out, but at least they are period correct. They should be in their original place by mid next week and I'll post new pictures.
The indicators are migrating back to their place, the horn works, later exterior additions have been removed.

Now I still have to buy the instruments, which I found, but which my bank manager doesn't allow me to buy :-)
White walls should be on soon, but I am still looking for at least two correct Mark II wheels. Also, the Mark II emblems are missing, as are the chromed wipers, the thick front lamp chrome rings ecc ecc ecc. If you happen to have any of the above, I'd gladly hear from you

I drive the car to and from work every single day and often bump into Bulldogji on the way (not literally, fortunately). Of course I sweat. Sometimes a lot. But I LOVE this car, it makes my comute fun!
In finis, please enjoy a picture of George the greyhound, who so loves the old Ambassador that he can't wait to get in, sometimes he gets his position wrong though...

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by Philedonos

I have been able to find (and polish) two tail lamps and a front grille; not perfect you will point out, but at least they are period correct. They should be in their original place by mid next week and I'll post new pictures.

Congrats on finally finding the much-needed parts! They look ok to me atleast. Good to know that you're only polishing and not re-chroming them!

Meanwhile here's a rather well-maintained mk2 Amby, with atleast the correct exterior fittings like the tail-lamps and grille, I recently came across.

[Philedonos]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Congrats on finally finding the much-needed parts! They look ok to me atleast. Good to know that you're only polishing and not re-chroming them!
Meanwhile here's a rather well-maintained mk2 Amby, with atleast the correct exterior fittings like the tail-lamps and grille, I recently came across.

Thank you for the two photos of this lovely car. And in one of my favourite colours! It has the chromed wipers, the chromed front windshield surround, the front lamp covers and other parts I need. Surely it's owner wouldn't mind if you played the "chor" and gave them to me :-)

[Philedonos]

In the meantime, progress is being made. Patience helps to bring the old face back:




The interior shines after a deep wash and the treatment of the upholstery:







The tail lamps are still giving headakes, but it seems that four original rims have finally come together, so that we can paint them and fit whitewalls.
Step by step

[manishalive]

Hi Philedonos,

Your car is coming out great. Do you still need the headlight rings. I think I have one suitable for your car. It came on my 1959 Fiat, I got the original ones and thus the Ambassador ones are lying unused.

I will post pictures soon, If you need them please give me your postal address and I will mail them to you

EDIT: I found one pictutre. Hope these hadlight rings are period correct for your car.

[Philedonos]

Latests update: while Bombay was getting colourfull on Holi, yours truly spent the morning at Chor Bazaar and did some shopping.
The results are: two chromed wipers, 2 Mark II badges, the three Autometer instruments (combo, speedo and clock), a whole dashboard (including the right glovebox I was missing) and two correct rims. The items are not in perfect state, but than, this is what I could find...and afford!

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Congrats on finally finding the much-needed parts! They look ok to me atleast. Good to know that you're only polishing and not re-chroming them!

Meanwhile here's a rather well-maintained mk2 Amby, with atleast the correct exterior fittings like the tail-lamps and grille, I recently came across.

Attachment 1062746

Attachment 1062747

We had the same color! Over the course of about 20 odd years a lot of things were changed including the color. Still unable to trace the car.