GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Thirty-seven years after it hit Indian roads, the Ed revisits the first-gen Maruti Suzuki 800, a car that put a generation of Indians on wheels
Down memory lane behind the wheel of the first-generation Maruti 800
EITHER WE HAVE ALL GROWN rather enormously or the concept of personal space did not exist 37 years ago. Riding shotgun with Zavareh — who bought this off his grandma for two bucks when he turned old enough to drive — I’m compelled to take a deep breath and suck it in before getting the doors to shut. This is like a toy car! The back seats are a joke. The suspension is so soft I squished its dampers when I jumped in, just like that worn-out sofa that you flop into for yet another Zoom call. Yet, once upon a time, we criss-crossed the country in these and felt like the Jetsons while at it — the 800 was the cutting edge of automotive technology! Back in the 80s all we had were desperately antique Ambys and Padminis, and here came the 800 with front-wheel-drive, front disc brakes, a floor shifter, synchromesh on first, bucket seats and, most tellingly, Japanese quality. It did not break down. It was quiet and smooth, quick and efficient. It stopped; in fact drivers had to be educated about the stopping power of disc brakes. And even with 12-inch cross plys it went round corners like nothing else. They call the 800 the most influential automobile of India, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. The 800 put India on wheels.
This, of course, is not the shape you associate with India’s best-selling car. The SS80 was the first iteration of the 800, based on the 1979 Suzuki Fronte. Launched at an ex-factory price of `47,500 (registration and other taxes weren’t significant enough to warrant a mention in those days) it generated such a tsunami of bookings that the allotments were done by a computerised system. By the time my grandpa’s booking matured in 1986, the 800 had undergone a full model change and we got the first of the more curvy, more roomy SB308, with a hatch that opened properly, not the glass tailgate. What didn’t change was the F8B motor, the 37bhp 3-cylinder that, honestly, isn’t as slow as you’d imagine. The SS80 only weighs 620kg, which is why that extra slice of toast at breakfast has a disproportionate impact on power to weight. And despite a few of those horses having gone to sleep over the nearly four decades, it can still pick up its skirt and run. For an afternoon drive down leafy lanes, windows rolled down to take in the crisp winter breeze, it is a beaut. A reminder of simpler, less hurried times, when you waited patiently for cars, scooters and your turn to drive. When 0-100kmph in 21 seconds was, erm, quick! When five were comfortable in this dinky car. Or maybe we didn’t grumble nearly as much back then. ⌧
THE 800 WAS ONCE THE CUTTING EDGE OF AUTOMOTIVE
TECHNOLOGY