Team-BHP > Vintage Cars & Classics in India
Register New Topics New Posts Top Thanked Team-BHP FAQ


Reply
  Search this Thread
4,315,348 views
Old 10th January 2011, 12:07   #1486
Senior - BHPian
 
harit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,033
Thanked: 3,281 Times
Re: First Ever Across The Himalayas By Motor Transport

Quote:
Originally Posted by Basharatu View Post
Yes I am on pakwheels, there are very few restored UNIMOGs in Pakistan, mine is green 421 U600 series and black is owned by my friend in Lahore Team UNIMOG Punga 2010 @Elevation 14200ft–Via Babusar-Sheosar–Burzil–Minimerg–Butogah - PakWheels Forums
Just glanced through the site and saw some lovely pictures. Worth going through, all our off-road fans in India.
There was a Karachi - Islamabad Classic Car Rally in November last year, pictures were put up in the vintage section of Pakwheels. There was this Unimog, which is different from yours. putting up that pic for reference.

Cheers harit
Attached Thumbnails
Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars-unimog.jpg  


Last edited by bblost : 10th January 2011 at 14:49.
harit is offline  
Old 10th January 2011, 13:52   #1487
DKG
Senior - BHPian
 
DKG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,711
Thanked: 1,389 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Absolutely amazing pictures Baharatu. Thank you so much for sharing these. Truly amazing !!
DKG is offline  
Old 11th January 2011, 10:11   #1488
BHPian
 
Basharatu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Islamabad
Posts: 48
Thanked: 20 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

@DKG, my pleasure Sir. This thread is truly amazing!

@Harit, this mog is owned by NUIC a friend and this VCCCP show was held just 0.5 KM away from my home in Isloo & I took my green Moggie on the show. Coming back to UNIMOG, hardtop has round windscreen and its flat in open cab, also the cab is wider then soft top however the chassis, engine, diffs and transmission are same, to be specific this is beige Mog is 421.129 U600L, Ambulance variant. Mine is 421.128 U600L Troops carrier. The Black Unimog on pakwheels (owned by Adeel aka DD) was also ambulance variant and he installed a troops carrier bed in the rear to make it more stable off the road.

I am planning to a trip to my village near DG Khan by the end of this Month, my grandma's photo album had pretty impressive collection of WWII era and some old pictures of Delhi as well, let's see if I can find any with the rides
Basharatu is offline  
Old 11th January 2011, 15:50   #1489
BHPian
 
Basharatu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Islamabad
Posts: 48
Thanked: 20 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

100 Pages, 150,000+ hits, 950 days with bags of history inside, that’s some serious achievement and & all BHPian deserves a round of applause for their efforts on consolidating this for the outside world. It was pleasure going through the pages on this thread. Winters, my mug of coffee & Nostalgic pictures of our family’s cars is perfect combo !
Basharatu is offline  
Old 14th January 2011, 13:19   #1490
Senior - BHPian
 
harit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,033
Thanked: 3,281 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Earlier I had put up pictures of Telco folks going to Germany and seeing off the first lot of engines for the Tata-Mercedes trucks. At that time they had a tour of the factory, seeing various production steps of the 220 Ponton, and they were demonstrated the Unimog. Here is a picture of the lady of this team being helped onto a Unimog. The number plate is of Germany, under the occuping zone of that time. And the Unimog is brand new. If only they had decided to bring this to India. It would have been an ideal workhorse for India.

Cheers harit

I can feel some of the off-roaders salivating!!
Attached Thumbnails
Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars-op-mercedes-02.jpg  


Last edited by harit : 14th January 2011 at 13:22.
harit is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 15th January 2011, 17:43   #1491
Senior - BHPian
 
harit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,033
Thanked: 3,281 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

This Parsi gent with his Norton with side car on Marine Drive? Is that the governors estate at the end of the piece of land which can be seen in the background? And no high rise buildings?
This photo must have been taken in 1938/39 and the bike may have been brand new. K series of numbers was the last before the new system was introduced. And why did they photograph so much of sky?
This person could have been named Norton Sodabottleopnerwalla!

Cheers harit
Attached Thumbnails
Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars-op-bike-02.jpg  

harit is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 15th January 2011, 22:19   #1492
BHPian
 
sabinesnubbing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Dubai
Posts: 343
Thanked: 293 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Gents,
Appologies for Continuing the Unimog theme but I am a mog nut - I used to buy and sell old ones when I lived in the wilds of Scotland and was fit enough to wield a 1" socket set (mothing smaller required for a mog). My own personal farm hack was a 406 agricultural spec - 48 forward gears with the slowest at 2KPH and yes I wrote that right!

I was sure I remembered something about mogs in India and Googled for Indian Army Unimog - didn't get very far but what little of my memory remains, it was something like they tested a couple but bought something less rugged but cheaper from Tata. I guess if I am right, Merc took their mogs back to Germany.

I did however find this link about a mog bought from Tata Locomotives and there is a picture of a very early mog - 50s to early 60s from the shape I would say.

Picture from unimog/guestpics

My farm hack was this:
Cheers
Cedric
Attached Thumbnails
Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars-unimog1.jpg  

sabinesnubbing is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 15th January 2011, 23:42   #1493
Senior - BHPian
 
predatorwheelz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Delhi/Kolkata
Posts: 1,720
Thanked: 1,968 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by harit View Post
And the Unimog is brand new. If only they had decided to bring this to India. It would have been an ideal workhorse for India.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
I was sure I remembered something about mogs in India and Googled for Indian Army Unimog - didn't get very far but what little of my memory remains, it was something like they tested a couple but bought something less rugged but cheaper from Tata. I guess if I am right, Merc took their mogs back to Germany.

I did however find this link about a mog bought from Tata Locomotives and there is a picture of a very early mog - 50s to early 60s from the shape I would say.

Picture from unimog/guestpics
Just to add my 2 cents, Tata Motors did bring a Unimog from Germany to test out the suspension design and copy some of the elements in the Tata 407 4X4 (meant for army usage). The (completely taken apart) vehicle was bought from scrap auction by Uday Bhan Singh and now rests in his garage in Howrah. I have written about it earlier in the forum, with a pic as well, here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intern...ml#post1510238

Last edited by predatorwheelz : 15th January 2011 at 23:45.
predatorwheelz is offline  
Old 16th January 2011, 00:23   #1494
BHPian
 
sabinesnubbing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Dubai
Posts: 343
Thanked: 293 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

predatorwheelz,
That's the same mog as it's the same owner.
Cheers
Cedric
sabinesnubbing is offline  
Old 16th January 2011, 00:49   #1495
Senior - BHPian
 
predatorwheelz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Delhi/Kolkata
Posts: 1,720
Thanked: 1,968 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
predatorwheelz,
That's the same mog as it's the same owner.
Cheers
Cedric
Oh! I'm extremely sorry, completely overlooked the link you had posted.

Mods, you may delete the above post if you wish!
predatorwheelz is offline  
Old 16th January 2011, 12:25   #1496
Senior - BHPian
 
wasif's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 414 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
Gents,
Picture from unimog/guestpics

My farm hack was this:
Cheers
Cedric
Cedric..two Unimogs were out doing recoveries on Friday on the Gulf News Fun Drive.
wasif is offline  
Old 16th January 2011, 13:07   #1497
Senior - BHPian
 
fazalaliadil's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 2,022
Thanked: 672 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

This Sunbeam S7 belonged to my late uncle (who owned the 59 Impala).
Back in 1960, he had fitted a self starter on it and at that time it possibly was the only bike in India with a self starter, apart from this were indicator lamps (borrowed from a car with indicator lamp sticking out from the B pillar) which would stick out when switched on and retract back into the flat box which also was the rear number plate. It had a Phillips radio on the tank and speakers embedded on either side of it, which went on to be featured in the Phillips magazine (Germany).

His eldest son,now aged 57 is on it, in this photograph.
Regards,
Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars-img_8846.jpg

Last edited by fazalaliadil : 16th January 2011 at 13:14.
fazalaliadil is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 16th January 2011, 17:14   #1498
Senior - BHPian
 
wasif's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 414 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Nice pic Fazal.

I am curious to know where the self starter was mounted. Any idea?
wasif is offline  
Old 16th January 2011, 18:02   #1499
Senior - BHPian
 
fazalaliadil's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 2,022
Thanked: 672 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by wasif View Post
Nice pic Fazal.

I am curious to know where the self starter was mounted. Any idea?
Wasif,
An Austin self starter was mounted on the right near the front foot rest and the bendex would rotate a hand fabricated ring gear which was fitted on the flywheel, where the engine connects to the gear box.

The starter button was encased in an ivory housing on the handle.

This bike also had an increased compression ratio due to manipulation in valves and pistons and increased RPM by making the flywheel lighter.

The Sunbeam monograms were removed to make way for the front indicators on the tank and the rear indicators were integrated in the rear number plate (in pic).

Source: His youngest brother, my maternal uncle.

Regards,
fazalaliadil is offline  
Old 17th January 2011, 00:47   #1500
BHPian
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: N Delhi/Pune/Kolkata/Schwarzenfeld
Posts: 886
Thanked: 293 Times
re: Nostalgic automotive pictures including our family's cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by harit View Post
Earlier I had put up pictures of Telco folks going to Germany and seeing off the first lot of engines for the Tata-Mercedes trucks. At that time they ... were demonstrated the Unimog. If only they had decided to bring this to India. It would have been an ideal workhorse for India.
Absolutely right, the Unimog was offered to India in the early/mid 50s, around 1954-55 (Daimler Benz had just acquired them at that time, a couple of years before).

Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
I was sure I remembered something about mogs in India and Googled for Indian Army Unimog - didn't get very far but what little of my memory remains, it was something like they tested a couple but bought something less rugged but cheaper from Tata. I guess if I am right, Merc took their mogs back to Germany.
Like I said above, the Unimog was offered to India around 1954-55.

But what a pity Cedric, we're talking about this today. The person who had first-hand, hands-on experience of the Mog that was brought to India (for the Indian Army) and tested for suitability for it's use is no longer with me. I wish I had paid more attention to him and remembered all the details now. But what I can yet recollect is that he was really impressed by its go-anywhere ability - apparently, he went off-road while stuck in a huge jam - in the 50s imagine!! - somewhere near Tughlakabad, in Delhi, driving through fields and varying undulating terrain, and rejoined traffic on road, ahead of the stuck lot behind in order to reach Palam airfield on time!

The reason for rejecting such a capable vehicle was, as announced by the bosses (KN Katju, the Defence Minister then, and later once again, during a fresh attempt to gain favour, by his successor VK Krishna Menon) was it's rather high-cost. It seemed that the Unimog was also not suitable for carrying heavy loads (compared to the other trucks on duty/in the fray) due to its unique suspension set-up (massive articulation, long-travel springs, and all).
Prabal is offline   (1) Thanks
Reply

Most Viewed


Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks