[stampro]

Sorry long time no see.

Saw this standard 20 van in a parking lot.
Probably used as ambulance.

[JayD]

I guessing this 20 is in Coimbatore? Its lying in a parking lot of a shopping complex. Its not an ambulance, but belonged to some political party or something. I've got some better pix of this vehicle. will post it too.

[srisha]

Some Standard cars I came across, looks like they all belong to one collector. Not sure if these have been posted already,

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by stampro

Sorry long time no see.

Saw this standard 20 van in a parking lot.
Probably used as ambulance.

Originally Posted by JayD

I guessing this 20 is in Coimbatore? Its lying in a parking lot of a shopping complex. Its not an ambulance, but belonged to some political party or something. I've got some better pix of this vehicle. will post it too.

JayD chettAn, is this the one you once mentioned to me?? I thought you told me it was the later mdoel though?

Yes, more pics. of it

Did either of you guys try and find out whom the van belongs to btw??

Still looks salvageable.

Originally Posted by srisha

Some Standard cars I came across, looks like they all belong to one collector. Not sure if these have been posted already,

Lovely cars, esp. the herald!

The other 2 look like they are in daily use?

[sudharma]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Wow, thanks to tbhp, you find Standards turning up from nearly every nook and corner of the country!
Indeed a very clean and original car, missing only the hubcaps and the st.steel strips along the bottom on both sides, as seen here:

Attachment 152102

I hope she goes to a good home if for sale.


Actually I think it is 6 bolts.

BTW, was this Herald in your family/known to you personally?? I have seen a couple of pics. of it, taken around early/mid '80s by a member of the Triumph Sports Six Club (TSSC), UK, who had been on holiday in India then, and had photo'd lots of Heralds in the country! One of those was this very car- KLK 7955, in a metallic gold colour in his photos.

I'd used the same pics. of his in an article I compiled on Indian Heralds for the same club a few years ago:

Attachment 152103

If you happen to know of this car, do you know it's current whereabouts?

Tbhp has also proved that it's a small world indeed!

This picture is of my same old Herald. I bought this Herald second hand in the late 70's from a gentle man (from Kottayam) in the Cochin Fisheries for Rs.7000/00 ( single owner). If I remember correctly, it is a 1967 model. I stripped the whole car, rebuilt the Chassis, coated the chassis with anti rust chrome primer and repainted it ( Tea Colour not metallic).

The mechanic built a wheel well inside the boot ( very good work) and relocated the spare wheel from the bottom to the trunk. He did something which was not in the scope of work. He fabricated a couple of plates with the letter "S" embossed on them ( very big), crome plated them and fixed on the rear sides next to the tail lamps. I still don't know whether he ment the letter "S" for "S"athish (me) or "S"tandard. Never asked him. You can see the Plate with "S" in your photo. He also wanted to weld the hinged bonnet to the body and make it like the normal cars. (Those days people used to do this to overcome the rattling of the bonnet assembly.) I stopped him from doing it. Also the red reflector tape I put on the lower edge of the trunk lid is still there in your Photo!.

I used the car for a few years and then exchanged it for an Ambassador in the early 80's.
. A very bad decision I realised later.

I have travelled to Ooty and Bangalore from Angamaly a few times in the Herald. You might have taken the photo soon after I sold the car. Thanks very much for the photograph. Its almost 30 years since I sold it. No idea what happened to it.

Now I remember its 6 Bolts. (4 in the front & 2 at the back?)

Indeed Its really a very small world.

BTW I still think that a "Standard Companian" is rotting in one of our work shops. (It was there a couple of years back.

Sathish

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by sudharma

This picture is of my same old Herald.
If I remember correctly, it is a 1967 model. I stripped the whole car, rebuilt the Chassis, coated the chassis with anti rust chrome primer and repainted it.

Wooww......what an amazing coincidence!!

Yes, you'd be right about it being a '67 model. Or else '68 atleast. If I'm not mistaken, it was made alongside the mk3 (4-door) Herald, as it shares quite a few panels, especially the roof with the broad 'C' pillars, with the latter.
BTW, could you highlight me a little more on the chrome-primer you mention? I haven't come across this kind of primer so far. Is it available only in coastal areas?

He fabricated a couple of plates with the letter "S" embossed on them ( very big), crome plated them and fixed on the rear sides next to the tail lamps. I still don't know whether he ment the letter "S" for "S"athish (me) or "S"tandard. Never asked him. You can see the Plate with "S" in your photo.

Aah yes! 'always had wondered what those plates were for- I initially even wondered if the 'S' were some fancy lights/side-indicators. Thank you for clarifying!

You might have taken the photo soon after I sold the car. Thanks very much for the photograph. Its almost 30 years since I sold it. No idea what happened to it.
Now I remember its 6 Bolts. (4 in the front & 2 at the back?)

You're most welcome! 'glad to hear more about the car from an ex-owner himself! Most intriguing! Uh, it wasn't me who had taken the photos though- as I mentioned, it was by an erstwhile member of the Triumph Sports Six club, UK, who had been on holiday to India at the time. I was probably just a toddler then and was much yet to know what a Herald was!
There were also among his photos, a white mk1 Herald- KLK 6513 I think and a nice blue mk1 Gazel- KLF 7190 or so.
I was sent these photos (among many others) by another erstwhile member of said club back in 2001/02. The same photos (albeit in B & W) were first used in this club's first article on Indian ('Standard') Heralds back in 1985. Quite a few club members from the UK had taken pics. of various Heralds (and also Gazels) they could still find in India around that time.
Reg., the roof bolts, actually it would be 2 front + 2 at sides (the B-pillars), then 2 at the rear (below the rear windscreen)

BTW I still think that a "Standard Companian" is rotting in one of our work shops. (It was there a couple of years back.

If still there, any piccs. (and even parts!) welcome!

[sudharma]

Originally Posted by varunroy

Any car thats over 30 years old is classified as Vintage. Correct me I am wrong.

BTW, The Standard herald was the car that was given only to the CMDs' of the Company for their official use. It was quite a classy car in its days. Had a wnderful Floor shift unlike the Ambys and the Fiats. I wonder if anyone can provide the actual cost of the new car in those days, the late 60s and the early 70s.

So long....

A new Standard Herald used to cost around Rs.25K those days if I rember correctly.

Sathish

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by sudharma

A new Standard Herald used to cost around Rs.25K those days if I rember correctly.

I remember being told by quite a few people that it cost 14k when brand new.
25k was the cost of the Gazel I guess.

[sudharma]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Wooww......what an amazing coincidence!!


BTW, could you highlight me a little more on the chrome-primer you mention? I haven't come across this kind of primer so far. Is it available only in coastal areas?


Aah yes! 'always had wondered what those plates were for- I initially even wondered if the 'S' were some fancy lights/side-indicators. Thank you for clarifying!






If still there, any piccs. (and even parts!) welcome!

One of my Co-Worker from UK owned a Triumph Herald and he had a Haynes work Shop Manual for the car which he gave me when I bought the Herald. I may still have it.!!!

The "Chrome Primer" and "Paints" were supplied by "TELK" for their Transformers for which we had a Sand Blasting and Painting contract. I used this Primer on the Herald after Sand Blasting it in our sand Blasting & Painting Unit. I don't remember the Primer's name off-hand but could find out.

Our Sand Blasting Unit became an Engineering Works and later became a Chocolate Factory. This is where I last saw the "Standard Companion". We used the "Companion" for transporting Welding sets, Gas Cylinders etc for our Engineering Works those days. We sold the property a few years back and no idea what happened to the Companion since.

I am off to Kerala in a couple of days and will look around for the car. I have an old photo of the car some where and will post it when I find it.

Regards,
Sathish

[sudharma]

Originally Posted by Stanher

I remember being told by quite a few people that it cost 14k when brand new.
25k was the cost of the Gazel I guess.

I think you are right.

Sathish

[Stanher]

I don't know what explains it but lately, I've been coming across quite a few Standard cars that I'd known long ago, and never seen again, only to spot them again recently after years!
It's a different issue that unfortunately all these "long time no see" cars I've come across so far have deteriorated in various degrees from the last time I'd seen them!

I'd mentioned seeing a mk2 and a mk3 Herald (pics. in Rust in pieces thread) I've seen after many years....and today, I came across this Pennant! Seeing this car brought me joy as well as grief!



I'd mentioned this car once on team bhp as well. It belonged to an elderly Tamilian gent, a Mr. Iyengar, in Secunderabad, also the FIL of one of my dad's ex-colleagues/friends who lives in the same colony where we used to live. He was the 2nd owner of this car since 1968, originally bought in Bangalore, and in Hyd. since the early 70s going by the regn.
And, believe it or not, this very car was in absoultely MINT condition when he had it (until 2003-04)! SERIOUSLY!
He with his wife, used to drive down in it to our colony all the way from Sec'bad and back, to visit his daughter/son-in-law, which was very often. I remember it like yesterday, I used to see the car from the same angle as in this pic., parked in front of their house on his visits in our colony. And I would admire not just the car but the gent's ability to maintain it that way at his age (he was 80+ by then!)
He eventually went for a brand new Santro (in 2001-02) but retained the Pennant. Although I didn't know his house and I'd met him just once, I did go to his daughter's house quite a few times and enquire about the car thereafter, but she always smilingly gave me one reply- "he doesn't want to part with it!"
So, I took it that the old gent was indeed passionate about his car and didn't pester them further. Besides, I also then happened to go to Singapore on further studies, 2003-05. I did come home a couple of times on vacation and then too, when I was home, I still asked Aunty one more time about the car. She then told me that he might give it to his nephew (who'd asked him for it long ago) although he was still reluctant to let it go.
We then moved out of that colony, and I eventually forgot the issue. After I came home for good, I once visited them in 2005. I then asked Aunty if her father still had the car and she told me (much to my disapointment) that his health had taken a downturn and he finally parted with it. And insisting on selling to his own mechanic who always helped him maintained it, that too for a pittance (<10k!!)

I then enquired the wherabouts of said mechanic (who was also based in Sec'bad) from a few sources since, but couldn't trace him. None had any idea about his having the car either. I assumed that the car would've been sold.........only to find it again today! And turns out that it's the same mechanic who has this mk3 Herald I've seen:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1362619-post2157.html

He said that he had driven the Pennant for a while after he bought it, until a few years ago. He's parked it at this spot since, open to the elements, as seen! He plans to restore it fully(!) and then sell it (for a good profit.)Ironically, when he bought it, the car wouldn't have needed ANY restoring at all in the condition that it was then!
I ASSURE you, had it been kept the same way, it would've needed ZERO work, atleast bodily!!

I couldn't go closer to the car for more pics. (it's parked in the compound of an old Parsi bungalow, no-one around so was afraid of 'trespassing') but I hope it hasn't gone worse than it looks!

PS: Sorry for the long post, got a bit carried away!

[Spitfire]

Keep them coming. Its great reading each line of your posts.

The passion is felt in each word.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Keep them coming. Its great reading each line of your posts.
The passion is felt in each word.

Thanks for your comments!
I just visited the gent's son-in-law this evening to show the above pic. The lady then told me that her father (aged 86) had expired in Jan. this year! Not having been in touch with them for quite some time, I wasn't aware. Sad news indeed!

I then told them all about tracing his old car and showed them the pic. She really appreciated my gesture of taking the pic. but was also a bit upset about the present condition of the car, and although she said that it's upto the present owner as to what he does with it, she did say that had her father been around to see this, he would've been really heartbroken about it indeed!

Well, I'll just wait and watch, hoping for the best!

[SuperSelect]

I very much remember this car in your earlier post Shyam.
This epilogue brought tears to my eyes.. really.
Hope something better happens to this car very soon.

[Cyrus43]

She looks very very restorable indeed!! Hope you get her Shyam!!
And hope she comes back to her original glory!!
Your posts always makes me yearn for one myself!!