[fixpaana]

Hello all! It feels good to finally be able to interact with all you distinguished BHPians! I have been a consumer of the information available on teamBHP for quite a few years now. Having tried to register as a member my fare share number of times, I guess I finally have succeeded. Anyways…

I personally have a special place for the Hindustan Ambassador in my heart (especially the Mark 2). So, my idea with this thread is to document the evolution of the Ambassador from Mark 1 up till the Mark 4 (at least up till Mark 4 and if possible, up till the last Encore in 2013). I do realize that this topic has been somewhat discussed in the different Ambassador threads on TeamBHP but it would be nice to bring all valuable info that’s scattered all over, under one single roof!

To get the ball rolling, I can share what info I have and all of us can either correct or add to what I have said and we could proceed from there? To give some structure to the discussion I think it would be ideal if we could further categorize the evolution of the Amby in terms of: 1. Body/Trim/Design; 2. Interiors; 3. Powertrain, Electricals and Technical specs.

So lets begin with a few pictures of the 1957 Morris Oxford series 3 and then discuss the similarities/differences compared to the Mark 1 Amby.

Images sourced from Wikipidea:



1. Body/Trim/Design: when the Ambassador Mark 1 was launched in 1957 (or was it 1958?) it had the exact same body as the Morris Oxford of 1957. The only apparent changes were the Oxford badges on the bonnet and boot being replaced with the Ambassador badges and the bonnet mascot saying an “H” for Hindustan instead of the “M” for Morris. Other differences included the lack of side mirrors option on the HM car. Other than that, the lights, grille and chrome bits etc were all the same! However, I have seen a few Mark 1s with the "OHV" arrow badge which now seems to me to not be original. Is that the case? Was it an aftermarket fitting? *see image below

Images sourced from TeamBHP





2. Interiors: the interiors on the Mark 1 were identical to the Oxford S3 as well. Both cars came with the three-gauge Smiths cluster with a speedometer (calibrated in MPH) on the right, a clock in the middle and a 4 in 1 gauge on the left which had a fuel level, oil pressure, ammeter and apparently a temperature gauge on the Oxford as opposed to only a lights on/off indicator on the Amby (this is something I just noticed while trying to get the pictures, I always thought they had the exact same gauges,*see pics below). The other major difference was the absence of the air-con controls on the Amby. Although I am not sure if the Oxford had an AC or was it just a blower (probably it was just a blower). From this pic I can see the control on top has an option for “AIR” and “CAR” but the one on the extreme left I cannot make out (turns out its for “SCREEN”). The second control has “ON”, “HEAT” and “OFF” modes. I did take some help from my Oxford workshop manual to figure this out however didn’t go too deep into the functioning of it! Apart from that, I believe both cars shared the same interiors (NOTE the leather straps for door handles in the Oxford picture, I believe these were carried on up till the Mark 3? Or was it only till the Mark 2?). Also, both cars seem to have had a ignition switch with a pull-to-start button system. In terms of the gauges, did all Mark 1s come along with the Smiths? Was there ever a Smiths speedo with Kmph calibration? When did the Autometer gauges come in? Was there ever an Autometer clock?

Morris Oxford Series 3 interiors:





Mark 1 Interiors:



Image borrowed from arun1100's thread on the Mark1. However, I must point out that the clock is not the stock smiths one but does the job nonetheless!
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3. Powertrain/Electricals/Tech.specs: this is where things get more interesting! While the Morris Oxford series 3 always came with the 1489cc BMC B-Series OHV engine, the first batch of Mark 1s came with a the Landmaster’s side valve 1476cc engine (also known as a flathead engine). To go a bit off topic here, I had read somewhere that a few early Mark 1s also had the semaphore side indicators on the B-pillar (no idea about the validity of that claim, experts may please shed some more light on this.). Anyways, a few unanswered questions here are: how many side valve Ambassador Mark 1s were made? Up till when were they made? When did the OHV become business-as-usual? And finally, are there any Amby Mark 1s in the country that currently have a side valve engine? Anyways, moving on, like the OHV Oxford, the Amby came stock with SU H2 semi-downdraught carburettor (referred to by some mechanics as the “batli carburettor”). Electrically, a Lucas DM2 distributor with a vacuum advance and a Lucas dynamo came stock on both the Mark 1 and the Oxford S3. And gearbox wise both were once again identical (4speed manual). The Amby however only came with the 4-speed on the column while the Oxford had the optional floor shift too as well as a "manumatic" semi-automatic gearbox (do not know enough about the tech on that gearbox personally).

Engine bay of the Oxford: (note the additional setup for the heating system on the firewall.


Engine bay of the Landmaster:


Engine bay of the Mark 1:



And with that, in my limited knowledge, we seem to have come to an end of the comparison between the Morris Oxford series 3 and the Ambassador Mark1. The question that arises at this point is that, what further evolution did the Mark 1 undergo over its life span (from 1957 to 1962 when the Mark 2 was introduced)? From the other threads here it seems the Mark 1 had almost everything from the headlights to the operation manuals all made in England… Was that true right till the end of the Mark 1s life or did some indigenization take place during this time?

Will continue with the Mark 2 soon! Looking forward to replies from our automotive veterans!

[studedude]

Most of your article is accurate. I will however try and give you details regarding the doubts raised. First off regarding the arrow badging with OHV on the sides and a similar one with wings on the boot, these were factory fitted and came in the Mk1 cars. This was because the Landmasters or Oxford series 2 cars had the side-valve engines. With the Mk1/Oxford S3 the engine was upgraded to Overhead Valves. This is clearly visible in the pictures of the Landmaster a Mk1 engine bays posted in your thread. So the badging. Secondly the switch for the heater was present only in the Morris cars. The Amby didn’t need heaters for our climate so it was eliminated altogether. Thirdly, yes later Mk1s came with Smiths meters with Kmph markings on the speedo. After mid ‘61 I think. Autometer clocks were absent. Early Mk1s also came with trafficators. I think the ‘60 and early’61 yr models.