[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Some classic commercial vehicle memories:

The Swadeshi Mills Kurla Vehicles:
When I was in school in Dadar in Mumbai from 1960 to 1973, we used to stay at the Swadeshi Mills quarters at Chunabhatti Kurla as my father worked there. There was this lovely Chevrolet bus belonging to the company. It was BMZ9863. It was light blue in colour, had a normal bonnet in front and had a brass handle which the driver operated to open the foldable door. It was very silent in running, it must have been petrol operated. It used to drop me to school, pick me up from school and then at 7.30 in the evening, it used to stand opposite Sakaria Chemists in Sion (below the convent school next to Sion station - leisurely parking was possible in those days) so that any employees and their families could use it to go home to Kurla after some shopping in Sion (after Sion, everything was jungle). The names of the drivers were - Keki Mama, Narayan and Paankhau (nobody knew his real name, he used to eat paan so he was paankhau). There was a garage inside Swadeshi Mills where all company and officer's cars were maintained. Mr.Charlie was the incharge there. Charlie himself was a classic - I remember. I used to be "Dhabhar saab ka ladka" so I had some access to the garage. The last I saw BMZ9863 was maybe around 30 years back, lying unused inside the garage in corroded condition. Maybe I shold visit the place sometime. Swadeshi Mills also had a Jeep Station Wagon with the 6 cylinder tornado petrol engine, a black Dodge Kingsway with high tailfins which my father used for some time and a cream coloured Hanseat Tempo 3 wheeler besides numerous white Ambassadors. All memories now. Sigh !

School Buses in Parsee Colony Dadar:
When I was in school, I used to see this old parsee gentleman who owned and operated a beautifully maintained fleet of dark and light brown coloured petrol driven school buses for the Auxilium Convent School. These buses used to me parked in the compound of the Dadar Athornan Boarding Madressa. The gentleman used to be immaculately dressed in a white shirt and light browm shorts with brown shoes and a brown hat. I remember that he would drive one of the buses personally and never allow anyone else to operate it. All only memories now. If any team BHPian can search for old photographs, it would be welcome.

Classic Commercial Vehicles that I have spotted in Nasik:
I see a TMB school bus with the original front end and the original 3 pointed star in a circle monogram on my way to work almost everyday (Karl - will you be angry at me if I try and buy some monograms off it ?). I will post a photograph soon. I also see some kind of a Bedford truck with a BYJ or some such registration number going around Satpur.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[ajay99]

There were a lot of Mercedes Benz buses with the State Transport Corporations , from the mid 50's. they used to ply till the late 70's.They were auctioned off later.
Some are still in daily use , as per my info.
There is a split window MB bus in KK dist(TAMIL NADU) with its original MB logo diesel engine and original radiator grill with tri pointed star used for daily trips.!!!
Any one knows of other such buses still in service.?

NB:Karlos, please dont merge this with the Commercial vehicle thread

[karlosdeville]

There was one genuine Mercedes Benz Bus ferrying children of St Helenas girls school in Pune. I havent seen it in a couple of years, but it was in damn good shape.

Originally Posted by ajay99

NB:Karlos, please dont merge this with the Commercial vehicle thread

I dont have the power to merge threads, but may I ask why it should not be merged? It is after all a classic commercial vehicle in India.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Classic Commercial Vehicles that I have spotted in Nasik:
I see a TMB school bus with the original front end and the original 3 pointed star in a circle monogram on my way to work almost everyday (Karl - will you be angry at me if I try and buy some monograms off it ?). I will post a photograph soon. I also see some kind of a Bedford truck with a BYJ or some such registration number going around Satpur.

You must start documenting these jalopies in Nashik, carry a camera with you the next time round. Who knows how long it will be there. The threat of getting old commercial vehicles off the road is clear and present.

As for the badges, get me some too

[the mole]

there was one in Bandra till last year, it had the top skylight windows et all. It was in very good condition got sold to a collector.

[JayD]

Originally Posted by the mole

there was one in Bandra till last year, it had the top skylight windows et all. It was in very good condition got sold to a collector.

Wow! graet too hear that collectors are finally showing interest in commercial vehicles. Dunno much about the buses, but we had a lot of TMB lorrys rinning around here till the late 90's.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by the mole

there was one in Bandra till last year, it had the top skylight windows et all. It was in very good condition got sold to a collector.

Black and green? I remember I used to see it at a corner but never got down to taking any pictures unfortunately. Damn unique looking van. Haryana regd right? Who picked it up?

[egangsta]

Even Godrej Industries Ltd in Vikhroli had a few Merc trucks with them till a few years back. These were used within the company premises. Dont know if they have been scrapped or if they are still there laying negleted.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by egangsta

Even Godrej Industries Ltd in Vikhroli had a few Merc trucks with them till a few years back. These were used within the company premises. Dont know if they have been scrapped or if they are still there laying negleted.

Next time you are there do snoop around and get us some pictures.

[carbug]

hi karl
i found an interesting looking van couple of months back at a garage in hyd,it did not have any logo to indicate the marque.. well i chanced upon the image of the same van on the net... it turned out to be a citreon van...
like the one in this pic from net....i image of the vehicle in hyd is more than 760kb.unable to post it.. i will try and post it soon... i was told it is currently on a metador engine..it has been lying abandoned for over 6-7 years..

[carbug]

the photo of the citroen van.. there is a ford ln the back ground

[Stanher]

Hey Ive been to this garage once- the Ford (which had a couple of dogs tied to it) was there, so was this Van and a turqouise green super-select adjacent to this select.
There were also some other vintage cars around. But I wasnt sure if they'd allow us to take pics.

[carbug]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Hey Ive been to this garage once- the Ford (which had a couple of dogs tied to it) was there, so was this Van and a turqouise green super-select adjacent to this select.
There were also some other vintage cars around. But I wasnt sure if they'd allow us to take pics.

well i had my beetle here for a while,i know the mechanic well..most of the other classics (mostly unrestorable) belong to the guy from whom i had bought my beetle and land rover.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by carbug

the photo of the citroen van.. there is a ford ln the back ground

Thats quite a rarity. One has recently arrived in Pune and is being restored. He tells me that the Pope had donated one to each state in India at the time.

Originally Posted by Stanher

There were also some other vintage cars around. But I wasnt sure if they'd allow us to take pics.

Only one way to find out now isn't there?

[fx45]

my mama had a similar registerd and similar looking 61-62 fiat some years back.. APU 1730.. when he bought it .. it had " ram lakhan ki ram piyari" written on it at the back. so we used to call it Rampiyari..