The great old man of India

Well the previous blog was about the Enfield bullet, i couldn`t stop myself from writing about another "long time hero" of India: The Hindustan Motors Ambassador. It shares a lot of similarities with the bullet. Both had very little changes in the past 50 years but are still selling in decent numbers. Both the models have no competitors i.e they always remain in special segment. Both had a British origin but have now become an Indian product. And so on...

The Amby is based on the Morris Oxford III model and has been in production since 1958. It is made by the Hindustan Motors, a flagship company of C K Birla group. The earlier models were named as Mark I to IV, then the Nova followed by 1800ISZ. The last model was powered by an ISUZU engine making it the fastest car of that time!(It is nice to here that our Amby was once the fastest car of India but remember only the FIATs and Maruti 800 were sold at that time). Recently major changes in exterior design were made and the model was christened as Ambassador Avigo. Now a new model with modified engine has been introduced which has lower emission and better fuel economy(The company claims the new model gives a millage of 16kmpl compared to 11kmpl for previous models!). Recently there were attempts to bring back the Amby "home" i.e to England. It is imported by a Welsh based Merlin Garages from the year 2002.

Currently the Ambassadors are mainly used as Taxis or to serve the Indian politicians. But still there are takers for Amby which is considered to be the car best suited for Indian condition. The Amby`s back seat is still considered to be one of the most comfortable one. Though the market is flooded with cars, none can match the space and comfort of the Amby.

I have been around with Amby since the time i can remember. First my uncle has a Amby (i can still remember the Reg no:TNL 7273; and it is the only Reg no i remember other than our XL Super!). It was one of the first car i have traveled. Later they sold it car and now they have got another Amby, a 1974 Mark IV model which is still going great. One of my other uncles too had an Amby. Amby has always been around me. Be it the trip to Anamalai hills(the highest point in India if the Himalayas were not there!!), or to roam around the pink city of Jaipur, or the trip to Nasik from Bombay; it has always been in an Amby. Amby, i love u!