Sam Glover
Sam considers shopping options on the subcontinent
Sam ponders shopping for a new classic on the subcontinent.
Ikeep meaning to fly to India, buy an exotic classic car, drive it to a distant port and ship it to the UK. Annoyingly, I’ve never quite got round to doing it. The Indian car scene has proven difficult to penetrate and easier plans have always muscled their way onto my calendar. This year, though, I’m determined to make a fist of it.
India’s classic shopping options are fascinating. After independence from the British Empire in 1947, India’s ‘Licence Raj’ took firm steps to indigenise the motor industry. Importing cars – or even bits of cars – became prohibitively expensive, causing most foreign marques to shut up shop. Partnership with an Indian company was the only viable solution. India’s ‘big three’ thus became Hindustan (partnered with Morris), Standard (partnered with Standard, obviously) and Premier (Chrysler, then Fiat). Until liberalisation in the Eighties brought an fresh influx of foreign manufacturers, this threesome produced an intriguing array of increasingly antiquated models. Here’s a whistle-stop tour…
Hindustan Motors
Hindustan kicked off post-independence production in Calcutta with a growing range of Morris models. The Ten became the Hindustan Ten, the Oxford MO the Hindustan Fourteen, the Minor the Baby Hindustan and the Oxford Series 2 the Landmaster. The Oxford Series 3-based Ambassador made its debut in 1959 and remained in production in increasingly adulterated form until 2014. The Vauxhall FE Victor-based Contessa joined it between 1983 and 2002. The Ambassador and Contessa both sported B-series engines, but later gained Isuzu power. Both suffered a gradual slump in build quality and a blossoming of tacky plastics. The nappy-like bumpers sprouted by the Contessa were gruesome enough to be almost charming.
Standard Motor Products
Standard started assembling Vanguards in Madrid in 1949. The Standard 8 and 10 arrived 1955 and the Pennant in 1959. The Standard Herald arrived in 1961 and gradually mutated until 1978 as it acquired an increasing proportion of domesticallyproduced parts. In 1968 it got four doors and boss-eyes. In 1971 it was rebranded the Gazel and got an angry face, a cubist rear-end and a live axle. Standard focused on commercial vehicles – notably the Atlas-based but unrecognisably facelifted Standard 20 – until 1985, when it spawned the Standard 2000. This was a recycled Rover SD1 with a Standard 20 gearbox and a four-cylinder engine developed from the Vanguard’s. Overpriced and under-loved, it disappeared three years later.
Premier Automobiles
Premier struck the big-time in 1964 when it started building the Fiat 1100 under licence in Bombay. The 'Premier Padmini' became India’s taxi of choice and soldiered on without substantial revision until 1998, retaining its aesthetic dignity rather better than its Hindustan competitors. It was outlived by a few years by the Premier 118NE launched in 1995. This, exotically, was a clone of the Seat-facelifted version of the Fiat 124 with an old-but-sprightly 1.1-litre Nissan engine. ‘NE’ stood for ‘Nissan Engine’.
Sipani Automobiles
Plucky newcomer Sipani aimed to plug the hole at the bottom of the market – and missed. The 1975 Badal – a Reliant-regal-cum-fairground-ride with three wheels and a rear-mounted two-stroke engine – was weird and unconvincing. The Dolphin – basically a Reliant Kitten – showed promise, but was blown from the water in 1983 when newcomer Maruti introduced the 800, a Suzuki Alto spin-off that India bought hungrily. Sipani’s retaliation, the Montana, was a Kitten clad in a Maruti-like body. It impressed nobody – and nor did the 300-or-so Rover Montegos it assembled in the mid-nineties.
So what's on my shopping list?
The Ambassador and Padmini are too obvious, the Badal too hopeless and the Dolphin and Standard 2000 too similar to their British doppelgängers. This leaves three specimens of Indian kitsch: Gazel, Contessa and Premier 118NE. A search on olx.in suggests that the Gazel is borderline mythical, but a few of the others remain. Watch this space…