[manishalive]

Originally Posted by Shreeram

Hello

I recently found this Vehicle, its an Electric one with a Huge motor in the front with all the Control unit and stuff, has a Huge Battery in the Rear, nearly that of the width and height of the Boot.

he Electric Motor drives the Rear Wheel through a 2 Speed Transmission (1 Forward , 1 Reverse)

Any Idea about it, Not sure if it is and Individual Job or a Company one. But Interesting enough. Would love to know more about it if there is

This for sure looks like a custom creation. There was a Sardarji, who in the days had created a similar looking car (3 wheeler) form the parts bin of Maruti and Bajaj. The artical came in economic times then.

[Shreeram]

Yes it does use lot of parts from the Maruti Parts Bin, The Doors, most of the Interior is from the Maruti.


I have a Video too, i think i will have to upload it on Youtube and then post a link. or is there any other way ?

[harit]

Originally Posted by Shreeram

Hello

I recently found this Vehicle, its an Electric one with .......

Hi Shreeram, this is a nice find, you should try to aquire it and store safely. Its a part of Indian Automotive history, a bit modern though.

Going back to the 1920's, I came across several newspapers which carried advertisements of automobiles. Many marques are obscure, some have only a few survivors left in the world, some are cause for puzzlement, others I cannot even find on the net.
Here is one example of a Pullman Car. Here is a puzzle. The advertisement was placed in The Statesman Calcutta in 1920. But when you google Pullman Car Co, it was liquidated in 1917. So was this some other marque using the same name? Googlebaba does not throw up anything else.
And, any info on the dealership?

Cheers harit

[Shreeram]

Yes Harit Sir, I have seen and have quite a few Magazine Cuttings featuring such one off cars, built by individuals, having a dream to make it big, If one visits The Microcar Museum Atlanta Website they have had preserved and featured quite a number of One off Cars Built by individuals from acrosss the Globe, and many have them have either very less info or an interesting History behind them, so saving this is definitely on my mind, considering my love for small cars.


Do visit the Micro car Website if u have not done already.
http://www.microcarmuseum.com/

I am not sure if the website will be up and running as the entire collection has been sold, over 300 Microcars, so i have downloaded the entire website on my Computer for offline viewing too.

[anjan_c2007]

I am just privy to a database generated by Mr Gerard Wilson, who lives in Yonkers, New York. He was a part of the Peace Corps in India in the 1960's and his presence here sparked interest in the Indian automobiles. His friend Mr Bill Fillip who is my FB friend has communicated with me on behalf of Mr Gerard. We acknowledge the efforts of Mr Gerard Wilson and also acknowledge Mr Bill Fillip's help, that helped us acquire the write-up and production data from 1947 to 1967.

Quoting Mr Bill Fillip's mail extract to me:

"My friend who compiled the Indian production figures and the brief historical document is Gerard Wilson, and he lives in Yonkers, New York. He is a fellow member of the Society of Automotive Historians, and like me, enjoys researching statistics. I will write Gerard again to find out what the sources for his data are. I know he donated two books on the Indian automobile industry to the New York Public Library, which must have been his primary sources. I don't know the names, though. He normally provides the data in the documents he creates, but he didn't this time. Gerard spent a few years in India while in the Peace Corps, in the 1960s, which sparked his interest in the vehicles there.

The large PDF file contains a 15-page document summarizing fiscal-year production of various British car plants. It includes the Cowley sheet I posted on your site, with the 1945/46 and 1946/47 figures for the Hindustan Ten. This 15-page document was created in January 1985 by the Manufacturing Programming Department of the Austin Rover Group, using historic British Leyland and earlier production figures in their possession. Since they are fiscal-year figures, they may differ somewhat from those published in marque-specific books. In some cases, however, these fiscal-year figures are the only figures that survive. I was sent these sheets via postal mail many years ago by the original archivist (Anders Clausager) at BMIHT in Gaydon, England. These have been a boon to my research. In some cases, "KD" figures are separated, which are the knock-down units for export. Destination isn't mentioned, though."

A few facts are clarified. The Hindustan 14 was first introduced in 1949. HM was started at Kandla, Gujarat in 1942. It shifted to Uttarpara in 1948, if I am not mistaken. The Hindustan 10 was being assembled then. HM introduced the Landmaster in 1954 with the older side valve engine (1476 cc)carried over from the Hindustan 14 , whereas the Series II had the 1489cc OHV engine in the U.K.The Ambassador came along in 1958 again with the carried over engine from the Hindustan 14 and Landmaster. Only in 1960 did the 1489 cc OHV engine come under the Ambassador's bonnet. The Baby Hindustan 1000 was also assembled in the mid- 1950's for about two or three years by HM.

The imports of cars as CBU's or SKD kits assembled were totally stopped by 1956 and not 1965 as stated. The Indian manufacturers were asked to indegenise by 1965 and hence all components became Indian made, but for a small percentage of spares like carburettors and so on that continued to be imported (e.g. SU carbs in the Ambassadors till 1970/71) . Manufacturers who had no manufacturing base fled by 1956 and included Ford, GM, BMC brands like Austin, Wolseley, Riley, Morris (present through HM however) and so on. Similarly, Chrysler too fled leaving PAL with its Italian partner Fiat. American Motors brand Kaiser also sold their cars till the 1950's but fled in the early 1950's. British brands from the Cooper Group too fled the scene which include Hillman, Humber, Commer (used to see a few Commer trucks earlier) and so on. So also many lesser known brands in India too shut shop.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

I am just privy to a database generated by Mr Gerard Wilson, who lives in Yonkers, New York. He was a part of the Peace Corps in India in the 1960's and his presence here sparked interest in the Indian automobiles. His friend Mr Bill Fillip who is my FB friend has communicated with me on behalf of Mr Gerard. We acknowledge the efforts of Mr Gerard Wilson and also acknowledge Mr Bill Fillip's help, that helped us acquire the write-up and production data from 1947 to 1967.

Thanks for sharing this priceless information. I am surprised to know that often HM outsold PAL three to one.

Just to point out an error - he mentions Premier made the Padmini till 1990, but it continued I think upto 1996 for civilian production and 1997 for taxi (subject to correction)

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Thanks for sharing this priceless information. I am surprised to know that often HM outsold PAL three to one.

Just to point out an error - he mentions Premier made the Padmini till 1990, but it continued I think upto 1996 for civilian production and 1997 for taxi (subject to correction)

Premier Padmini Petrol production stopped in 1996,but the diesel version continued till 1997 end or 1998 beginning

[sankar009]

Did SMPIL ever produce a trekker like vehicle call Atlas ?There is one undergoing restoration in a garage near my home town.The garage mechanic says only 20 numbers were produced and this is the only survivor,

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by sankar009

Did SMPIL ever produce a trekker like vehicle call Atlas ?There is one undergoing restoration in a garage near my home town.The garage mechanic says only 20 numbers were produced and this is the only survivor,

I have also heard about such a car in South Tamilnadu.Since you are from that area,please try to get a photo of it

[karlosdeville]

We've always heard of General Motors being one of the earliest large players in India, having a plant in Sewree (?) in the 1920s. Here is a chassis plate on a friend's 1939 Opel Olympia. The shadow covers the detail, but it reads -

GENERAL MOTORS INDIA LTD
MAKE OPEL
PRODUCTION 1939

and so on

[travancore]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

We've always heard of General Motors being one of the earliest large players in India, having a plant in Sewree (?) in the 1920s. Here is a chassis plate on a friend's 1939 Opel Olympia. The shadow covers the detail, but it reads -

GENERAL MOTORS INDIA LTD
MAKE OPEL
PRODUCTION 1939

and so on

Attachment 1246942

Here is something related. Do not know where I got it from - could well have been TBHP!

GM Bombay:

[anjan_c2007]

Old picture of the Royal Enfield assembly line near Madras.The bikes are perhaps for use by the defence forces, as the painted surfaces are all over, with no metal exposed.



(picture from Vintage Royal Enfield FB page)

[karlosdeville]

Here is an interesting specimen, a large advertisement from Hindustan Motors on Independence day, 1947, in the Statesman. Unfortunately most of the text is not legible.



http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post1525284

[karlosdeville]

Something as simple as am ordinary ad can tell us so much

This ad for the Buick 8 appeared in 1947



https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vinta...ml#post3511404 (The Classic Advertisement/Brochure Thread)

Besides the cost when new, we notice the term 'Ex plant Bombay' meaning it is very likely that they were assembled here. Degree of assembly of course is another matter altogether - it might even have just been tyres and battery.

At the bottom of the ad it reads "meeting (?) India's transport needs for almost 20 years from our factory in Bombay". We can safely confirm that the GM plant was operational from the late 20s. I believe the plant was in Sewri.

Another term that GM had been using in period was "Building cars in the East for the East"

[harit]

Distorted history.
Sometimes some people distort history, like in this WIAA Annual Report. See page 8. Maybe there will be a few minutes of pseudo glory, but the problem is that in future someone may refer to this and such similar publication while quoting and then history gets distorted. Normally one could rely on reputed publications, now not always as seen here.
Does the real owner of the Rolls have any take on this?
Invicta, Alfa-Romeo

Cheers for creativity
harit