News

How I bought back our family's Tata Indica 10 years after selling it

8th June 2023, 11:02 by Dev Shah

I was now feeling confident and was hell bent on searching for the car. I found the owner and his family members on Facebook and messaged all of them multiple times.

BHPian 300 KMPH recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Team-Bhpians! I hope everyone is doing excellent. As you might have read the title, you must have realized that I bought my Tata Indica back. At this point, you might be having multiple questions in your mind. Some of the questions could be as follows:

Why buy back an old car again?
Tata Indica? Seriously? There are so many other options available, so why this one?
You could have a bought a nice nimble sporty car, what is the point of driving a car which was never desired by any enthusiast?

Well, many such other questions might have come to your mind. Buying an old car back itself is a rare thing, buying an Indica back itself is something which cannot be digested. In the era of the internet, we shall go back to the days which could be a time travel for many old Bhpians out there. So sit back, relax, and let me take you 20 years back when cars were more than just machines and features.

Time to buy a new car:

So it was 2003 and we were looking for a new car. Our Premier Padmini Deluxe BE had really become outdated and was really not healthy anymore. So we started our search with Fazalboys (used car dealer in Prabhadevi).

There was a beaten up grey Opel Corsa inside the showroom without mirrors. I did not know what we were buying but as a 6 year old kid, I was very excited. The only way to select a car for automotive enthusiast was an automotive magazine. My brother salilpawar1 (team bhp username) who was around 13 years old that time started researching and we finally test drove a Maruti Alto.

(We = Me, my elder brother, my dad and mom).

Maruti Suzuki Alto (Vitesse Dealership) - It was a blue Alto LXI with a cracked mirror glass. It was nice and nimble but very cramped for 3 people in the back. My brother was in the middle seat and he got a cramp in his leg because of the limited legroom. We therefore could not finalize on that car.

It was clear that we needed a big car and the options were limited. We had also checked out the Hyundai Santro Xing (but again, it was too narrow)

The unexpected shortlisted car: Tata Indica Petrol:

The Tata Indica as we all know, was plagued with issues and had a terrible image to begin with. The popular fanbelt noise was stuck in everyone's mind (including mine) and I could not even imagine us buying that car. But we anyway decided to have a look. So one fine Sunday morning, we visited Wasan Motors at Prabhadevi (now known as Puneet automobiles). Just as we enquired about Indica, the sales rep took us to the car and forced us to have a seat even when we were not really keen on buying the product. But that small step she took turned an enquiry into a customer. It was a limited edition Indica (dealer specific with beige interiors and wooden inserts).

The space at the back was unbelievable for a hatchback. Me, my mom and brother sat comfortably in the back. At that very moment, she declared that we are buying this car. There was a Indica DLE which was one popular variant for those who just wanted the AC and nothing else. The car was bare bones with grey plastics literally in every part of the cabin made the interior look very dull.

After some research from automotive magazines, we came to know about some interesting facts which might not be known to many people even today:

The petrol Indica was the second fastest hatchback on sale in India with 1405cc engine producing 75 bhp and 110 nm torque just second to the Palio 1.6/S10
Tata Motors stiffened the monocoque chassis and upgraded the brake booster. Some journalists called it the best handling hatchback just second to the Palio.
Around the same time, there were articles of the Indica Rally and Indica Sport (which was getting ready for launch) which produced 85 bhp instead of 75.
Most of the major issues were ironed out with the V2 and it only had niggles to deal with.

After test driving the car (which was a very small round of a Sunshine Gold Indica LSI), we had made our choice. My dad and mom also test drove a diesel Indica but they did not like it as the Petrol was a lot more refined and our usage was going to be less.

Booking the Indica:

After finalizing our choice, I spent each and every day reading the brochure. My favourite line was 'child safety lock on rear doors'. Mind you, we were upgrading from a Padmini! So each and every feature was out of the world for a 6 yr old me. Following were the highlights:

Air conditioning.
Body coloured bumpers.
Child Safety Lock on Rear Doors.
Rear Seatbelts.
Third stop light had become mandatory by law, but the Indica had it since the Indica 2000 (First Indica MPFI Petrol from Tata) mounted on a subtle spoiler.

Choosing the colour was the biggest challenge. We had shortlisted the following colours:

Aqua Green
Stone Blue
Sunshine Gold

We were convinced to book Aqua Green. Later we realized that we were considering 'Mint Blue' as Aqua Green which we immediately rejected and were left a bit disappointed.

Tata Motors used to launch new colours on the Indica every 6 months.

Till the booking day, we had still not decided about the colour and we were confused between Stone Blue and Sushine Gold. On the day of booking, we were told that Aqua Green was also discontinued and a new shade was launched on the very same day called 'Coral Green'. The sales rep showed us a painted metal panel. My dad had a gut feeling that this colour was good enough and he booked the car! (This must be around 2nd October).

Details of the booking:

Model: Tata Indica LSI Petrol
Colour: Coral Green
Accessories: Fabric Seat Covers, Wheel Caps, Bull Bar, Floor Mats
Expected Delivery Time: 20 days
Price: 3.6 lakh on-road (Cars used to be really cheap back then)

The maximum delivery time was 2-3 days for Indica in 2003. It was a hot selling product and all the dealers had the car ready in stock. So 20 days was a really long wait.. The reason was the newly launched colour which we had chosen.

PDI was done by our entire family and I did not even realize that it was our car. I came to know about that its my car when we left the showroom.

Finally, the day of delivery arrived. 21st October 2003. We bought Ambi Pur from our local accessory shop as we did not know how an air-conditioned car would feel over a period of time. We reached the dealership at 10 am in the morning. The dealership was split in hatchbacks/sedans & MUVs/SUVs. Right in the back side of the dealership which was visible from the entrance, I could see my car standing which was full of dust and bird droppings. A sales advisor asked me to move aside and the bucket washing began! (Fancy or memorable car deliveries was not a thing back in the day).

While we were completing the formalities, the staff was searching for the car keys in a huge tray including spare key with the help of barcode stuck on it. Once all the formalities were done, we got ready for the delivery of the car. There she was, our brand new Tata Indica V2 LSI in Coral Green shade was shining and the paint finish was exemplary. The car had as good as mirror finish. But sadly, the car already had a small scratch on the bumper which we decided to ignore.

We were expecting complete wheel caps but the LSI variant had partial wheel caps which we were not aware of. The dealership drivers used to be a lot rough. The driver spun the wheels in front of us and it was very common for them. All the rituals were done, Ambi Pur was fitted in the AC went and we started our journey with the ownership of our Indica! MH-01-MA-3146.

As we approached towards the petrol pump near my residence, the attendant congratulated us (he knew all of us well). After brimming the tank, we realized that the petrol gauge was faulty and would always show 25% less fuel than actual.

Soon, this became my everyday car as my mom used to drop me to school. I still remember our first journey to Pune which was we did in 1 week/month of purchase. Mumbai-Pune Expressway was a terrific road back then with traffic levels upto bare minimum. No traffic signals, no two & three wheelers made the journey blissful. We never liked having tea or coffee brakes and used to travel non-stop. I used to wear seatbelts in the back seat when occupants wearing seatbelts in the front seat was uncommon in the first place.

Attaching the first picture of the car taken on a roll camera (2003/04):

Some pictures clicked in Pune (2004):

As Pune was like hometown of Indica, I remember seeing Indica in Pune every 15 seconds. Unlike Mumbai, many of the Indicas sold in Pune were petrol.

Identifying a Petrol Indica:

Exterior:

MPFI 16 bit Microprocessor 75 bhp Sticker on the Boot.
Factory fitted spoiler with integrated LED stop-light.
Exhaust with chrome tip.

Interior:

White Instrumentation.
Silver finished central console.
Silver Gear Knob.

The approach towards the design of Indica was very similar to the Palio as both cars were designed in Italy after all.

I got a taste of the brutal Indian 2 lane National Highways in the Indica. This was the car when we actually started doing road journeys because of essential features like AC & Power Steering. It used to be a test of the driver and the car as well. Overtaking was not a problem with this car and there was sufficient power and torque at lower revs. The petrol motor used to sound really sweet unlike the diesel motor which was very rough and coarse.

Here is a picture of the car on Mumbai - Agra Highway (NH3) which used to pass from Nashik:

26th July, 2005:

The unforgettable Mumbai rains. I was in my school classroom when the weather changed dramatically in 2 hours and within a few minutes, it felt like Mumbai was under some punishment by a natural spirit.

Though it was in the afternoon, it felt like 7 pm in night and we could hear the water flowing out of our classroom from the staircase. My mom and brother came to pick me up in Indica. My school was just around 2 kms from my house but it took almost 2 to 3 hours to get home. This time, the Indica earned my respect. There were multiple smaller hatchbacks, and luxury sedans stalled and awaiting help, but our Indica sailed through the floods. In some portions, the water level was upto the fender indicator but the car did not stall through the floods.

The car did stall near my house after driving it through floods for a long time. But within 5-10 minutes, the car started and reached home.

Just within a couple of days, the car's clutch was completely burnt and was barely moving. We knew that this was the aftermath of the floods. The bull bar was removed as the car had to be towed to Wasan Motors workshop and the car was back to normal after clutch change.

Rusty exhaust:

Petrol Indicas had a chronic problem of exhaust rusting within 2 years. Water dripping from the exhaust during cold starts would eat up the exhaust. We replaced the exhaust twice in 2005 (under warranty) & 2007. In 2007, we installed an aftermarket exhaust which was a lot better in quality than the OE.

My brother started driving!

Salilpawar1 happens to be my elder brother who is also a Team BHPian. He turned 18 in 2007 and started to drive this car. As die-hard car enthusiasts, we started to explore this car mechanically. Salil learnt his driving basics from this car and we often used to go for a spin at Worli Seaface mostly in the afternoon as there used to be no traffic and no traffic signals as well. Doing silly speeds was really possible on this short stretch of road. Apart from the ghastly unpainted speed-breaker which every new driver used to miss, there were no other surprises. The car had jumped the speedbreaker at 80-90 kph but the Indica did not lose its composure at all. Indica was known to be a rock steady car and I got my first experience that time.

Also, the car was restored cosmetically in 2007 when all the dents were repaired and installed new taillights along with new badges.

A few pictures clicked in Nashik in 2007:

Some pictures clicked in 2007-2008 at Worli Seaface:

Time for a Free-Flow Exhaust:

The Indica was now entering its 5th year. Good quality modifications were now accessible to the enthusiasts, Team Bhp was relatively new which meant more exposure towards the community. With the help of Viper Performance (run by Jignesh Goradia), the Indica finally had a full custom exhaust right from the headers to the tip (execution by BAR Exhaust - Afzal). It was a perfect mixture of bass and treble. The Indica was now a head turner. We even upgraded to twin horn (130 db) from our neighboring accessories shop.

Petrol Indicas were rare. Speeding ones were rarer. Free flow'd ones were non-existent

Pictures of the new exhaust clicked in 2008:

Some miscellaneous details:

The car was always serviced at Tata Service Centre during our ownership.

Tata Motors could never fix the fuel gauge.

The broken AC panel was awaiting replacement in warranty but the part never arrived.

The car never failed to start in our ownership which used to be a concern with Indicas.

No fanbelt noise ever apart from rainy season occasionally.

The first battery survived for 7 years. Alternator once developed a issue which was not charging the battery which was then repaired.

In our period of ownership, we only used Speed Petrol from day 1.

Our Indica was the 7th or 8th car to run on the Bandra-Worli Sealink. Salil had lined up the car in the morning in the queue to experience it. There were a lot of media photographers towards the end. My car might have been in multiple newspapers as well.

Picture of broken AC Panel which went on becoming worse:

The reason behind the AC panel breaking was because of the AC moisture getting trapped in the panel which weakened the brittle plastic over time.

Images of the first sea-link run early morning:

A few more pictures of the car in 2010 with young me in the frame as well! Co-incidentally, this was the last year when the car was driven out of Mumbai (to Nasik):

Exterior battle scars:

From 2012, my brother started daily driving this car to his college in the suburbs and that is when our Indica did not remain the cleanest anymore. The car now had battle scars at multiple places, rear Tata Monogram got stolen in Bandra, and the headlamps were also replaced as one of the headlights broke because of a scooter rider who hit the car from the wrong side at a traffic signal. Now, the original non-clear lens lamps were not available anymore and we had to settle for clear lens once which were sold locally costing Rs. 2,500/- .