Hunting tigers out in Indiah!

[garethj]

As the song goes.

 

I'm in Coimbatore for a week doing some vitally important supplier work, but of course my prime motivation is to share with you some of the top quality shite on the roads here. I don't know if they have MoTs here, if they do I'd like to import the tester....

 

"Hello, Autoshite fleet sales"

A row of Tata Inidcars

 

Morris Oxford / Hindustan Ambassador. The white ones are official government transport

 

Jeep-ish transport. They have SUVs in India too

 

And what looks like the same thing but with different rear end options. Look at this handy aerodynamic aid

 

Tuk-Tuks are everywhere. Being a tourist you can't walk 10 yards without a driver calling out "Taxi sir?" They all seem to have stick on tat everywhere for added good taste

[garethj]

They have things that look more like a jeep too. Dunno if this is a Mahindra, all the ones I've tried to get close to are police vehicles and I don't have my Autoshite membership card to explain myself

 

The standard of driving here is everything you've heard, and worse. Here's the next crash scene

 

Locally made Suzuki, with blacked out windows, natch

 

Not a Fiat, ChinaTom did say what these were but I couldn't get a close look because the only 2 I've seen were speeding past. It's a honey though

 

Cruzin wid da possee and ma ho's

 

Unlike Britain, they make lots of things in India so there's lots of products going lickety split for domestic use and export. I wish we still had industry Heavy goods transport.

 

Medium goods transport

 

Light goods transport

[barrett]

the 'not a fiat' is a Premier Padmini, based on a fiat 1100. there were also locally made rover SD1s and vauxhall victors, spot any of those about?

[Richard]

Is that an unguarded radiator fan?

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ace work GarethJ! Looks class. What do you do for a living? I implore you to hunt down one of those FE victors with an isuzu engine, and bring it home with you.

[nigel bickle]

Agree. Padmini- Fiat 1100r under licence. Looks identical too the Fiat as well (I've 2 1100 r's tucked away,and an earlier 1100d)

[garethj]

Ace work GarethJ! Looks class. What do you do for a living?

Design Engineer and occasionaly globetrotter when I visit suppliers.

I implore you to hunt down one of those FE victors with an isuzu engine, and bring it home with you.

I've seen 2 of those Victor jobs, one that looked exactly the same as a Vauxhall and another with a front and rear facelift that looked as a film company would disguise a car in an advert. More photos to follow later, I can't access photobucket at work here so it'll have to wait until I get back to my hotel.If I could bring one vehicle home I really like the Jeeps. From what I remember of Mahindra Jeeps when they were imported into Britain they were out of proportion on the front, but the ones here look really good in a modern Land Rover Defender kinda way

[ChinaTom]

I've only ever managed to snap one Victor - and it's a lousy Nokia shot.

 

 

I also loved the buses that tear through the countryside and cause mayhem in the towns as 1) brakes don't serve any function other than footrest for driver, and 2) clutches (see 1)

 

 

I think that 4x4 and truck may be a Tata Sumo. (edit, no it's not - you're correct with Mahindra. The Sumo is a kind of Landcruiser Lite now)

 

Actually feeling quite jealous as I sit here staring at the rain - bet the weather is fantastic there.

[garethj]

I also loved the buses that tear through the countryside and cause mayhem in the towns as 1) brakes don't serve any function other than footrest for driver, and 2) clutches (see 1)

You think the buses in town are bad, when they die they go to airports ferrying people from the terminal to the plane. At Chennai (or Madras as it used to be known) after waiting at Heathrow for 3 hours, travelling for 9ish hours and waiting again at Chennai for 4 hours they finally call my flight so we all pile onto the bus.

 

One of the indicators is on, so at least some of the electrics are working, but the interior light is flickering dim and bright in time with the indicator so perhaps this bus isn't in mint condition. We're all on board so the driver revs it up and off we go, as soon as we're clear of the terminal the driver hoofs it, really hoofs it because I've never been on a bus where the valves bounce before. He snicks it into neutral and synchro's obviously knackered because he's furiously revving the engine, unfortunately second gear is also knackered and so is third. All this time we're losing valuable speed as he's hunting for gears but he slots it into fourth at about 400rpm.

 

While the rest of this bus is clearly past its prime, the engine is great, it's basically getting an Italian tune-up every trip so it's pulling like a train now in fourth. And we're now going much much faster than I've ever been in an airport with the possible exception of some planes.

 

The brakes don't seem to do much so we do 2 laps of the plane to scrub off some speed and it's as simple as that

 

Actually feeling quite jealous as I sit here staring at the rain - bet the weather is fantastic there.

It's very pleasant most of the time, yesterday it was raining so hard I thought a bloke was putting a hosepipe against the windows

[ChinaTom]

Ha Ha for the airport buses!! Remember them very well. A few years ago, I landed at Chandigarh airport and the driver only had 1st and 4th to choose from. Having bounced the engine in 1st, he stalled it in 4th. Terminally. A tractor had to tow us back to the terminal. It was a shared military / civil jobbie so we weren't allowed to walk across the apron.We usually drove from Chennai to Coimbatore and back as we were stopping at sites along the way, but we once took a flight out of Coimbatore to Mumbai. It was a truly rogered unloved and abused ATR turbo-prop. Do they still advertise the airport around town with the big posters of a Air Slovakia A320? I know it is occasionally international, but I'm sure there has never been a flight from Bratislava to Coimbatore!!!Looking forward to more pics.

[garethj]

The flight from Chennai to Coimbatore was on a twin propeller engined machine, dunno if it's something to do with the propeller design or the engine design but when it was taxiing towards the runway it sounded exactly like a WW2 bomber

 

A few odd pictures for you today, I was taken to a local museum which was founded by the owner of the company I visited, it seems like that company owns about half the town. The museum was interesting but as I said I was interested in cars I was taken to the underground workshop where they restore some of the cars. Bear in mind it was very gloomy down there and the cars were all packed in tight. Excuses are done so on with the tour...

 

We went past a 1926 Morris Oxford (Bullnose Morris) which had been nicely restored, then an very early '30s Dodge which was in good nick too. Then this:

The Goggomobile was a little honey, as far as I remember (and my host was far from a fluent Engish speaker) they were made in Germany in the late 1950s, basically a development of the bubble cars and stuff that was pretty much made obsolete by the arrival of the Mini in 1959. The 3 wheeler was electric and I think made in Denmark? I'm sure I've seen one in the Stondon Transport Museum!

 

Hispano Suiza

Just right for lording it up over the locals, equal to a Rolls Royce in its day, now mostly complete but looking a bit sorry for itself.

 

When I said this is a Reliant Kitten I got a selection of blank looks

I know that Reliant sold some of their stuff in Turkey, did the Kitten go on to internation acclaim in India too? Behind it you can just about see a Plymouth

 

I'm no expert but it looks like a '57ish and what Americans called mid-size. Absolutely massive of course, but right hand drive.

 

Subaru and Lloyd

To the left is a Morris Minor and to the right is a 1970s VW Beetle. The Lloyd is pretty unusual anywhere let alone in India, this one had led a hard life

 

Cheverolet

Just lovely, and they were rebuilding the straight 6 engine on the bench

 

Oldsmobile

There were actually two of these, both right hand drive! Behind it is a Peugeot 203 and I think a Morris 8. A really cool car, I just wish I could have got a side-on photo because it was massive, the 4 doors were enormous and the back ones didn't have to curve to clear the rear arches.

 

Not a Vauxhall

This one was made in the late '80s, the one in ChinaTom's photo above is a later facelifted one.

 

Peugeot 504, pretty complete but needing work.

Once again, they had 2

 

See?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Brilliant! I would LOVE one of those Victors.

[Gompo]

Great pics and info!That Danish 3 seater thing is probably a Mini El City? Something like that anyway..

[michiel]

Great spots and stories, cheers.

[dollywobbler]

Oooh, an Indian Dyane behind the white Pug 504!

[IanF]

When I said this is a Reliant Kitten I got a selection of blank looks

I know that Reliant sold some of their stuff in Turkey, did the Kitten go on to internation acclaim in India too? Behind it you can just about see a Plymouth

Its called a Sipani Dolphin. Apparently its quite rated by those in the know over there.

 

And the Victor thing is known as the Hindustan Contessa.

 

Keep an eye out for Montego's as well. There are a still floating around.