6 COVER STORY 7

1942 Next The Ambassador, 1946 year, HM 1954 The company When the company 1957 If there’s one car that’s etched as we know it, was launched the All the tooling of the A DRIVE DOWN MEMORY LANE started importing the wanted a new model to launched in 1957 but the Hindustan 14, based British It’s another day at the office for me. I am on the road with into the consciousness of , Morris 10 Series M kits for replace its Hindustan models, it seed was sown in 1942 on the Morris 14. The Series III was transferred a convoy of beautiful classic and vintage cars, including a it is the Ambassador. Now that local assembly. In India, it settled on the Morris Oxford Series when BM Birla founded also to India. A small tail fin was has pulled the was sold as the Hindustan III, launched in India as the Hindustan Mercedes 190SL and a 1961 Chevrolet Biscayne. But my eye Hindustan Motors (HM) and joined the line-up, added on either side of the rear 10. The 1140cc side-valve Landmaster. The car initially came with hunts out a car owned and driven by an Italian called Don- plug on the Ambassador, let’s take set up a small factory in with the name Baby fenders, along with a new, dim- engine developed 37bhp a 1489cc side-valve engine but was later a drive down memory lane. Port Okha in Gujarat to Hindustan pled hood, and the car was 1963 ald Tomassi. No, it isn’t some Italian car. It’s a 1965 Mark II at 4600rpm, with a improved to an overhead valve engine. It underwent a assemble passen- re-christened the Ambassa- Hindustan Ambassador. When the cars are parked during P.S. I grew up driving the top speed of It was quite an innovation with frontal facelift with ger cars dor Mark I. The car cost a coffee break, I sneak a peek inside. It’s exactly the way I Ambassador and dreaming of sleek, 100kmph a semi-monocoque chassis, a closely-checkered Rs17,000 powerful, modern cars. And now that I which is why it was very grille and was named remembered it. The Bakelite steering wheel. the indicator spacious inside. switch located at the center of the steering wheel, the thin drive those sleek, powerful, modern cars I am the Ambassador Mark The car cost . It would be 12 years seriously contemplating buying an old Mark II. And if II gear column attached to the steering shaft, the foot-operated Rs10,000 before another headlight dipper switch; everything was the way it was on anyone has DHB 7125, please contact the Autocar office. redesign my father’s Mark II, DHB 7125, the car I learnt to drive on. – Joy Choudhuri

cars in turn. The Landmaster Businesswoman Janhavi Topiwala Nerurkar’s VIP car didn’t have a working fuel gauge PHOTO: KALPAK PATHAK and you had to guess how much fuel was left in the tank! I remem- ber I was meeting my wife and father-in-law for lunch one day and I ran out of petrol. She had to come to the road with a jerry can of petrol! I returned to Delhi last year in November and the two cars came on a truck. Now I rotate all the three cars every two weeks – you have to drive them or they go to seed. I will never sell them, even though I guess their value will shoot up. You still see Landmasters sometimes, but I’ve never seen the Hindustan 14 on the road. Now I want to buy the 1948 Hindustan 10, though I’m “It’s better our money when there were other told it’s quite hard to find. vehicles that were better value. Whenever I take the Land- than my But the Ambassador is not just a master or Hindustan 14 out, Mercedes!” vehicle; it’s a legacy, a symbol of Now that the Uttarpara there’s plenty of curiosity. Every- majesty, elegance and a piece of one wants to know ‘kaunsa model India’s history. factory in has “Everyone asks hai?’ and ‘kitna deti hai?’ y Ambassador is not It’s truly a VIP car. For me, shut down, it looks like the It saddens me that the Am- some old relic. In the Ambassador was the only car me ‘kaunsa bassador – so closely associated fact, I bought it only that deserved a special registra- Ambassador’s journey is with the history of urban spaces in 2008. It’s one of tion number – the license plate and roads across the country – is Mthe newer models – nice bucket reads Q 1. And you really feel like finally over.* Time to get model hai’ & Journalist, writer Siddharth Vardarajan with his 3 Ambys now disappearing. seats, power steering, power a VIP when you sit in it. I’m very all fuzzy and sentimental ‘kitna deti hai?” I’m conscious of what my windows and air conditioning. law friendly for someone with a PHOTO: RAJ K RAJ RAJ PHOTO: three Ambassadors represent. I love cars and I’m fortunate to VIP-type car, but I can say that about this iconic car that always really liked the so much trouble, my father-in-law, really happy with the car. But the man in Hyderabad who had an They’re a piece of history. They have several of them, a Fortuner, even the police look at you with has been a symbol of India Ambassador; I liked the look, who was getting rid of his company discontinued the model, even older model – the Hindustan represent the values and hopes a Sumo, a Verna, a Mercedes and respect – though the respect is all style, shape of the car. When 305 at the time, lent me his car. I which I believe was a big missed 14. He was a cement salesman of Nehruvian India – with all its a couple of others. But nothing for the car! On the road, people’s since Independence. Five I moved back from the US to sold the Ambassador – I remem- opportunity in the history of and he wanted to sell the car. So flaws. But those were gentler, less compares to my Ambassador. expressions say, “Who on earth IndiaI in 1995, I drove my mother’s ber, two sardarjis from my local Hindustan Motors. I flew to Hyderabad and bought aggressive and less violent times. Back when I bought mine, people is driving an Ambassador in this Amby owners and lovers Ambassador for six months before taxi stand almost came to fisticuffs When I moved to , I it for ` 2.5 lakhs. He had unfortu- And the Ambassador reflects wondered why we were wasting day and age?” Some years ago, tell us why they still love buying my own model, the DSZ. because both of them wanted to bought a petrol 1954 Landmaster nately installed a diesel Matador that, in its shape and when I’d drive my Mercedes, peo- Other colleagues were buying the buy the car! from a guy in Palghat for ` 3.5 engine and the car was very comfort, its lumber- ple would stare and say, “My God, this round, comfortable, Zen or the Matiz or the Santro Then I changed jobs in 2005 lakhs. He was a car fanatic and noisy. Anyhow, I caught hold of ing grace. Karma a Mercedes!” But luxury cars gracious (but sometimes and I did become the butt of office and the following year, I bought had upgraded the engine and fixed a local driver and the two of us So yes, I guess Konnection are now so commonplace, people jokes. a retro model of the Ambassador the body. It had a chrome grill in set off for Chennai. On the way, I’m an Ambassador London-based actually stop and say “My God, maddening!) vehicle Yes, the car did have some called the Avigo for ` 5.5 lakhs. front, and was very comfortable to at 1am, the car spluttered to a romantic. As the Karma Kars are an Ambassador!” so it feels like problems. It would overheat all the It had a minimalist dashboard, drive. I drove the car from Palghat halt. We were in the middle of car fades into his- a fleet of vintage things have come full circle. time and we once had to buy water the front was more rounded and to Chennai, a 12-hour journey. The nowhere and it simply refused to tory, it represents a Indian Ambassa- People in Mumbai still dor cars based on However an official mail from from those water thelas to cool it harked back to the Fifties and car behaved itself perfectly. By start. So we slept in the car and certain India. It says haven’t got over the notion of a Hindustan* Motors says the suspension the Morris Oxford of work is “temporray” and that the down. We would also have to keep Sixties Ambassador, but it came then, you could say I was bitten by managed to get a mechanic in the something about of the 1950s woman behind the wheel of a lux- company is looking at “viable options giving it dhakkas to make it start! with modern trappings – leather the vintage Ambassador bug! morning. the country we were ury car or an Ambassador. There to restructure” the brand. Since the car was giving me seats, CD player, floor gear. I was Meanwhile, there was a gentle- In Chennai, I used these two once upon a time. is always a double take: “Does she

JUNE 15, 2014 JUNE 15, 2014 8 COVER STORY 9

know how to drive it? I don’t trust 2003 2004 1979 HM launched the HM launched the her. I’d better stay away!” That The Mark IV was the 1999 HM simply introduced Ambassador Grand. As cosmetically revised works out wonderfully for me; I get 1975 last of the Mark cars. In Another minor new Ambassador variants. per the manufacturer, Ambassador under the Avigo lots of space to drive. addition to the existing pet- facelift to the same 1990s It dieselised the old 1489cc the new version had 137 name. Designed by Manvendra rol version, a diesel variant was At home, we call her the Amby grille and a much Economic liberalisa- engine, which went into the Am- differences from its Singh, the retro-look Avigo launched which was powered by or the Ek Number, because of her bigger frontal facelift tion swept the industry. bassador. The Ambassador Nova predecessor. There had classic-touch inter- a 1,489 cc, 37 bhp BMC B-series The 2013 turned out as the Numerous foreign vehicle was launched in 1999, followed by was even an optional nals like a centrally- license plate. She’s been with us to . It was the first Ambassador It was only last Mark III manufacturers came to India, the Ambassador 1800 ISZ three sunroof mounted console, Goa twice and all around Bombay. diesel car in India and 1800 ISZ had under year that HM launched bringing increased competition years later. The Nova was beige-coloured My son, Ruhaan, is about two-and- was well received its hood the 75bhp its latest version of the for local manufacturers. The the last Ambassador 1800cc engine seats and Ambassador, with the suf- a-half years old, so I like to say Ambassador found its sales powered by the and the option of bucket wood-finish fix,Encore . It was the first that six-year-old Amby is the older slipping and HM soon 1489cc petrol interiors began looking for a seats. The dashboard BSIV-compliant diesel baby, the one who came first and engine new model was redesigned. Ambassador and built got all the attention! Seatbelts became for the taxi seg- But really, she’s just a big baby. mandatory Joy Choudhuri is the ment creative editor of Autocar India We take care of it as we would a baby. It’s not our primary car and it’s not at all practical. It’s heavy WAIT, THERE on the steering and a bit slow on IS HOPE... the pickup and God, it’s broken Journalist Mark Tully once drove 1,500km in an Amby The good old Amby as down so many times! My uncle Journalist Joanna Sugden we know it today may be says we’ve repaired everything riding into the sunset but except the engine and gearbox. wants to drive home “It is a part of India’s history” the oldest surviving car But then again, it’s so sturdy. The n 2002, the year of the body could fix it in India those to the UK in her Amby in India may yet make a Ambassador is one car that can Gujarat riots, I was asked days: It was the only car of note! comeback in a leaner, fitter, handle the potholes in Bombay. by the BBC to make a radio I love the Ambassador. I am more appealing avatar. There’s headroom, great shock “Our daughter programme about driv- sentimental and a traditionalist. Hindustan Motors absorbers and it’s not low slung. ingI from to Delhi in an I like old things such as steam loves the car” (HM) has already devel- Plus it’s easier to find repairers for Ambassador. So I hired an Amby trains. I don’t like change. More oped a smaller version an Ambassador than a Mercedes e have been living in In- in Kolkata. The driver was a Sikh than anything else, the Ambas- that measures less than because there are no specialised dia for a little over three gentleman. sador also reminds me of a four metres in length, and high-tech repairs. years. We bought our If you’ve travelled by the car, time when there was not much W it had planned to launch Would I give her up? I was ac- Ambassador in January this year. you must be familiar with the traffic in the city. We were very it later this year. Due to tually keen to sell this car, but now The expat community loves fact that the Amby can PHOTO: RAJ K RAJ the smaller size, it would that they’ve stopped production the car because it’s a classic and is be very noisy at times. attract significantly lower I get more emotionally attached sort of vintage at the moment. It is Each time we drove excise duties – 8 per cent as every day. I wish they’d have also symbolic of India’s past and is over a pothole, I would against 20 per cent for the figured out a way to modernise the something that we don’t often get tell Mr Singh, who existing version – which car instead of just giving up. I’m to see on the roads in the West. My was a lovely man, that would enable the company the only one among my friends family in England actually has a something was wrong. to price it much lower. who owns one, and every time I smaller version of an Ambassador He would respond by The new version takes sit inside it, I feel proud. She’s a – the Morris Minor. So it’s a kind saying, “No problem,” a leaf out of recent suc- grand old lady who ages gracefully. of family tradition to own such every time. But as we cesses like Maruti Swift cute cars, which don’t go very far were about to cross an Dzire, Honda Amaze and Businessman Ashok Shah painted his car green but are nice to look at. enormous bridge on

PHOTO: VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN VIDYA PHOTO: Hyundai Xcent and even In the past five months of the river Son in Bihar, though it may go against has also been stolen. After filing Well, I am mad, I’m mad about owning it, we have had quite a few there was a big clatter. “My 1961 Amby is not my baby; the basic design of the a police complaint, I went to a my car! mishaps and regular breakdowns. It sounded as if the original Oxford Morris, temple – full movie style – and You could say that my green But the car is built like a tank, so innards of the Ambas- it’s the first love of my life!” perhaps it is a necessary pleaded with God to help find it. car makes people green. A ran- we came off better than we would sador had dropped out change to extend its life. t’s a family heirloom. In 1961, narrowed it down to metallic Soon, my neighbour spotted the dom person once walked up to me have in any other car. We had a and were being dragged “All the work on my father bought a sky-blue green, the same shade you’d see car, abandoned, near Panvel. The at a petrol pump and offered me dream of driving back to the UK along the road. I told research and design has second-hand Ambassador. on a Mercedes. No other Ambas- thief had tried to sneak it out of `2 lakhs if I sold my car to him in the Amby. Our two-month-old him that this time, there been done and that car It became the first car my sador in India has been painted in the city, but met with an accident. on the spot. I told him, “Offer me daughter loves it too, it puts her to is trouble. Mr Singh is ready,” said an HM familyI ever owned, but more this colour. To break the monoto- It was in very bad shape and I was 2 crores, I still won’t sell it”. My sleep. It will, however, be a costly said: “No trouble.” He official. “We just want to importantly, it became the first ny, I added a green border along told that it couldn’t be repaired. brother once sold it; I bought it affair to take it home and keep got off the car and came sort the financial situa- love of my life. I was five and its edges. I offered my repairman any sum back in 1996. It has been officially fixing it every time it breaks down. back within three minutes and privileged to drive the Ambas- tion of the company and I would excitedly fit my body I can’t tolerate a scratch on he wanted to fix it. It took time, mine since. Now, no one can touch So our dream may remain just said, “I told you no trouble: only sador in those times. We would rope in an investor for under the lower board of the car my car. But my car has but eventually my car it as long as I am alive. that, after all. number plate fallen off !” That never have trusted a or a fresh capital. We cannot to understand its workings. It is tolerated much more. was back on its feet... or My Ambassador car has was the only thing which went Triumph for a long drive, the way keep running a plant that what made me want to become a In 1979, on a trip to Top Cab wheels! dropped my kids and nephews wrong with the Ambassador in we could trust the Amby. It was makes losses.” mechanical engineer. Jamnagar, my car de- In 2013, the HM My Ambassador is to school. My son, Jay, would ini- the 1,500-km-long journey. That sturdy, reliable and comfortable. Launching a new car I grew up repairing the car. cided to break down. Ambassador was an ambassador of com- tially be embarrassed and would speaks volumes for its sturdiness. No wonder top bureaucrats and is expensive and the odds Soon, I could handle it on my Its body fell apart. We crowned the best fort. I have added pow- ask me to send another car, but I In those days, whenever I politicians preferred to be driven are stacked against HM. own. I had already driven it in my somehow kept it mov- taxi in the world by er steering, new gear, wouldn’t. Slowly he grew fond of went out for a story, I found my- in an Ambassador. Top Gear, where it But given the legacy that mind a hundred times but I drove ing at 30km per hour, power brakes, bucket it. As time passed, all his friends self ending up in an Ambassador. The phasing out of the Am- outclassed rivals the brand enjoys, an angel it for the first time when I was 16. and drove it back to seats, mag wheels and wanted to hop in. I have done thousands of such bassador is the end of an era. I like Volkswagen investor may just give I haven’t stopped since. Mumbai. Another a brand new engine. I I still drive it. I don’t think journeys and we would often stop still think it is a very good-looking Beetle, Russian a new lease of life to the I have painted it with my own time, a truck hit the spent around `2 lakhs anyone close to me or my family at a roadside mechanic since any- car and is part of India’s history. Limousine, Black grand old lady of Indian hands. I decided to quirk up its back of the car, which London Cab and to change the body has not sat in this magnificent roads. sky-blue days. So I mixed colours was worse. several others and the engine. People car. I wouldn’t have it otherwise, Interviews by Poonam Saxena, Rachel Lopez, Apekshita Varshney, Aasheesh Sharma and Satarupa Paul – Sumant Banerji till I found the perfect shade. I My Ambassador thought I was mad. anyway. PHOTO: RAJ K RAJ

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