HM Ambassador... The evolution of a car that has been in production since 1957

The Ambassador, has been in production since its inception in 1957, with very few changes to its frame to the current date.


This famed car which was once a default for any car buyer in India has managed to stay alive even today. Known once as the Indian government man’s official car, it is now a practical, relatively easy to run and maintain classic car - a vintage that you can buy new from a showroom and drive anywhere. Lets take a look at the evolution of this iconic model and its history in India.

Hindustan Motors was formed in 1942 by Mr B M Birla but production of the first car, the Hindustan 10 which was based on the British Morris 10, did not start until 1949.

This was followed in 1950 by the “Baby Hindustan”, a car based on the Morris Minor, and the Hindustan 14 which was based on the Morris 14. These were popular and sturdy cars, we can still find a number of immaculately restored 'Hindustan 14's' and 'Baby Hindustan's' on Indian roads.

An immaculately maintained Hindustan 14 - based on the Morris 14

The 1954 Morris Oxford series II in India was licence-built at Uttarpara, West Bengal, three years after its debut in England and labelled as the 1957 Hindustan Landmaster. It had a rounded rear squab and a curvaceous sloping hood.




Morris Oxford Series I  - The Hindustan Landmaster (below) was of the clone of the Oxford









In 1957 a tool line of the Series 3 Morris Oxford was transferred to India and production of the Ambassador car started in 1958. Styling changes from the Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) to Morris Oxford series III (Ambassador) included deep headlamp cowls and small rear wing "tail fins" – all the rage in 1956. The dashboard and steering wheel were completely redesigned. The Landmaster's flat-plane two-spoke steering wheel gave way to a stylish dished steering wheel with three spokes made-up of four wires per spoke, for the Ambassador. Also a new, dimpled hood made its debut. These models had a 1,489 cc side-valve BMC B series petrol engine. In 1959 the side-valve engine was replaced by a 1489 cc, 55 bhp overhead-valve BMC B series petrol engine.

The Morris Oxford Series III 1957 - The present day Ambassador's parent.

From 1958 to 1993 the Ambassador was fitted with a 1,489 cc engine. In 1993, as a result of emission regulations, a 1,800 cc Isuzu engine was fitted to the 1800 1SZ model.


By 2004 nearly four million Ambassador cars had been sold. In 2006 HM introduced the Ambassador Avigo. The Avigo is a slightly modernised version with a retro touch to the old Ambassador. The Avigo features modern comfort features and some additional safety features, making it more practical to a classic car enthusiast.

The refreshed Ambassador Avigo introduced in 2006

HM has also recently added a pick up version to its current line up of the Ambassador series called the ‘Veer’ aimed at the rural consumers. A product that is a little late for its time by about 25 years.

 The ‘Amby’ lives on and production of this iconic car continues to the current day in India, and by the looks of it has another decade of production ahead of it.

The Ambassador pick up 'Veer' recently indroduced - A good concept 25 years late 

An original 1956 Morris Oxford Series II pick up

India's Auto Expo 2012 - A sneak peak

The New Year bash would actually begin with the Auto Expo on 5th January 2012 at Pragati Maidan,New Delhi where new launches will be the show stoppers. One of Asia’s biggest auto shows, will be participated by 30 countries with new launches and variants with over 2100 exhibitors.

Hyundai Motors the country’s second largest auto maker and Maruti Suzuki are on their way to debut the concept of a compact SUV at the expo. Maruti will also remove wraps from its all new ‘Ertiga’. The luxurious car makers Audi will flaunt their new line up of SUV Q3 as a concept car and S6 sedan.

The Maruti Ertiga - made its debut as the RIII concept in the 2010 Auto Expo

BMW will remove wraps from its Mini Cooper and launch it during the expo. Mercedes Benz will showcase its B-Class premium hatchback. Peugeot Citreona and Ferrari who are the new entrants will also exhibit their products and announce expansion plans for India.



The Mercedes Benz B-Class will be the most affordable in the mighty Merc range



Force Motors that have entered the passenger car segment ofIndiawith their ‘Force One’ will showcase two variants of the new model at the Auto Expo 2012. “We will show a four-wheel drive and a concept luxury weekend getaway versions at the Auto Expo, with the latter having luxurious interiors. We will also show a new 26-seater monocoque bus which will go into regular production by April 2011,” said Prasan Firodia, Managing Director, Force Motors.

Ford Eco Sport a premium SUV under the flagship of FordIndiawill also be one of the SUVs that will be unwrapped at the Auto Expo 2012 inNew Delhi. Renault will Another launch to watch out for will be the Renault Duster, Making its Indian debut at the Expo, this mini-SUV is expected to be launched by July 2012.



The Renault Duster -  if priced right can be Renault's super hero in India

Mahindra and Mahindra plans few surprises for the customers as Pawan Goenka president of the automotive sector M&M said, “We will be displaying some relevant products and some surprises from Mahindra two wheelers, the Navistar JV, Mahindra and Mahindra and Ssangyong.” Also another launch to watch out from the Mahindra stable will be India's only pure electric cars - The new Reva NXR



The REVA NXR - Can this be the Indian alternatie to the Nissan Leaf ?



Bike manufacturers will surely get themselves noticed. NK Rattan, vice president of marketing and sales at Honda and scooter India said, “We will display our first 100cc category motorcycle which is really good. We will also showcase scooters and motorcycles for mass production and some other interesting things.”

Harley Davidson and Triumph, the cult bike brands will also exhibit their new model line for next year.

Cant wait to be there for this mega event.



The mouth watering Triump RIII Rocket



Ralph Lauren's Incredible Car Collection

American fashion designer Ralph Lauren owns one of the most distinctive car collections in the world. Seventeen of his striking models, selected from the 1930s until present day, were on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from April 28 to August 28 2011. Each magnificent vehicle was handpicked by curator Rodolphe Rapetti.

Visitors were rewarded with a far-ranging collection that includes some of the most singular and iconic examples ever produced by top marques: Ferrari, Bentley, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and a host of others. The exhibition marked the first time Lauren's collection had been shown in this fashion in Europe.

“Strangely enough, I really don't like to drive the cars when people are around,” Lauren says. “As it turns out, I don't really want to be seen in the cars. There's a part of me that likes the privacy, so the more garish the car, the less I want to drive it. On weekends, depending on the weather, I love the Jaguars, the XK120 or XK140. I love the Mercedes Gullwing and roadster and the Porsches.” Modest?... actually a perfect blend of flamboyance and class.  Some of my favourites from the display.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, 1958

Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, 1931

Bentley Blower, 1929

Bugatti 57 S(C) Atlantic, 1938

Bugatti 59 Grand Prix, 1933

Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, 1960

Jaguar XK120 Roadster, 1950

Mercedes Benz SSK Comte Trossi, 1930

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Papillon, 1955

The Zenvo ST1, a Danish Super Car?.... Yep not a Cup Cake, not Beer a Super Car

Normally when someone says Denmark the images that come to your mind are things like Vikings, Lego, Bang and Olufsen, Carlsberg, and open sandwhiches. But looks like people back there have decided to have a sudden change of image and have decided to do so with a supercar. Yes I know... a Danish super car. Super cars are supposed to be Japanese, American, Italian, German, maybe even French and English – but Danish? Things change, the Zenvo ST1 is a real Danish supercar with mountain moving power; a V8 1,250 horsepower engine to be exact. The turbocharged 7.0 liter engine coupled with 6 speed manual gearbox pushes the Zenvo ST1 from 0-96 Km/Hr in just 2.9 seconds. For safety and legal reasons, the car is electronically limited to 518 Km/Hr. Of course I forgot to mention one small fact - it will cost INR 5.70 Crores ($1.8 million) and this is for the base version. Upgrades like ceramic brakes, paddle-shifting transmission, carbon wheels, a roll-cage, a car cover and customised leather interior cost much, much more.

 

A car that fast needs major brakes to stop it and this baby uses a set of ventilates 380 mm disc brakes and 6 piston calipers up front, 355 mm discs gripped by 6 piston calipers at the rear. Made entirely of a steel frame wrapped in a carbon fiber body, the styling is striking and contemporary. A head turner for sure and pretty much unlike any other recognizable super car on the road.

The interior continue the excitement. It’s pure luxury – strange for a super car. The alcantara leather trimmed interior hosts a bevy of high-tech niceties like dual zone climate control, full set of airbags, cruise control (who would need cruise control at 500 Km/Hr), keyless entry, racing seats and a G-force meter for all you gear heads.

 

Only 15 of the ST1 will be made. Those specimens have already generated plenty of interest from high profile figures, as you can well imagine, but the bulk of the buyers will be anonymous. All I can say is Zenvo, Du er sexet.

An exhibition of James Bond cars opens in the U.K. next month

James Bond films complete 50 years and a unique celebration is being planned to mark this great occasion - a new display of James Bond vehicles which is opening Jan. 17, 2012 at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire, U.K.

The exhibit includes 50 vehicles which have been driven by Bond and his baddies on  screen. Several of the vehicles, such as the Ford Mustang Mach 1 from "Diamonds Are Forever," villain Zukovsky's Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II from "The World Is Not Enough," and the vintage 1962 Rolls Royce, pushed into a lake by May Day and Zorin with Bond still inside, in "A View to a Kill," have never been on public display.




The Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II from "The World Is Not Enough" will be on public display for the first time.

(Credit: National Motor Museum)



In addition to the cars, the museum will have other Bond movie props, including a Union Jack parachute, a surfboard loaded with concealed weapons, and the Casino Royale Skyfleet S570 model, based on a Boeing 747.

The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu hosts a permanent collection of more 250 vehicles. The Bond vehicle collection will be on display through December 2012.



This Ford Mustang, featured in the 1971 film "Diamonds Are Forever," is part of a year-long museum display.

(Credit: National Motor Museum)



£ 7 million for a gold covered Mercedes SLR.. now thats a gold rush

I thought India was fascinated by gold, turns out the Swiss have a golden eye too. Ueli Anliker a Swiss businessman with more money than he knows what to do with, has transformed his Mercedes and covered it with more than 5 kgs of gold dust. He now wants to sell this shining gold vehicle for INR 57.9 Crores (£ 7 million).

Ueli employed over 35 workers, who have spent over 30 thousand hours and INR 28.95 Crores (£3.5 million) on gold plating the Mercedes with over 5 kgs of gold dust, and 25 layers of red paint not to mention gold covered wheels and headlights. He has named this vehicle Anliker McLaren SLR 999 Red Gold Dream. The vehicle has a top speed of 338 Km/Hr and possesses a 5.4 liter engine with power increased from 640 bhp to 999 bhp.

The interiors of this car redifine bling and have the ability to make Bappi Lahri blush. It has jewel encrusted indicators with ruby covered switchgear. There are in all over 600 rubies studded in its interiors which would cost around INR 2.48 Crores (£300,000).

Self-driving cars, a concept that could save lives. An interesting TED talk by Sebastian Thrun

I have always been a little skeptical about computers and machines taking over our everyday taks. Trusting a machine to make a judgement about handling my precious car scale model collection itself is unthinkable to me so far, let alone trusting it to drive my family through the crowded streets of India. At the same time this is something a number of us are curious about — who wouldn’t want to have the convenience of their own car without the hassle of driving — and a technology that could have a serious impact on our lives within a relatively short time period.


TED speaker, Sebastian Thrun, mentioned some interesting facts about the driverless cars that you might not know, such as the fact that they’ve driven over 3,20,000 kilometers since testing began and that the cars navigate not only during the day in optimum conditions, but also at night, and down difficult roads.

In this video we can see that the car clearly senses obstacles and the lines in the road. Some of the technology packed into these cars includes radar, LIDAR, GPS, and an array of cameras, technologies that we come across in our daily lives now.


The speaker raises an interesting point towards the end of his talk, one that you might not have considered while pondering driverless cars. That is the case of efficiency. This comes down to the fact that the average person just is not as good a driver as a computer. This relates not only crashes — which are almost always due to human, as opposed to mechanical, error — but also inefficacy, as humans weave around the road, lacking the precision of a driverless car. Within a matter of years we might be relaxing in the back seat playing around on our internet-connected tablets while a computer drives us home in a both a safer and more efficient manner than we would ever be able to. This may finally be a solution to most traffic indiscipline related problems. Hmmm now how do we get the auto-rickshaws in Mumbai to adopt this?

Fastest Police car.. Please Mr. Commissioner can we have one too?

Lamborghini and Audi are part of the Volkswagen AG automotive group, and share identical components, both are still fiercely competitive against one another. Sibling rivalry - I tell you. After Lamborghini donated its newest Gallardo edition to the Lazio Highway Police Department in Italy. Audi is looking to challenge the title of “world’s fastest police car” with its own R8. Tuned by specialists at Abt, the Abt Audi R8 GTR Polizei made a debut few weeks back at the Essen Motor Show. Based on the Abt R8 V10 GTR, the special edition eliminated additional weights with the usages of carbon fiber parts. The additions of Recaro racing seats, stainless steel rollover bar, police light bar, reflective paint, and a healthy dose of 612-horsepower (up from the standard 518 hp) by its 5.2 liter V10 engine gives it a 0-100 Km/Hr acceleration time of only 3.2 seconds. Ahem Mumbai police.. are we listening?

A car that can run on Wine... Drunk driving gets a complete new meaning

Imagine pulling up to a petrol station, and rather than being offered the usual choice between 'regular petrol',  'Power' or 'Speed', the attendant asks "which wine will it be, a Sula Chenin Blanc or a Chateau Indage ?" - and your choice will be dispensed from the fuel dispenser right into your cars fuel tank. Seems like a weird dream ?

Well, if one new experimental car, called the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel, ever catches on, this scenario may not be so far-fetched. The specialised Exige is capable of running on an ethanol fuel made from wine that isn't up to drinking grade, or whey, which is also a byproduct of the cheese or chocolate-making process.

The car can also run on regular petrol (just in case you're out of fuel and still kilometers away from the nearest wine shop), as well as methanol, a fuel that can be made by extracting CO2 directly from the atmosphere — potentially the ultimate carbon neutral fuel. The car is also capable of reaching 100 Km/Hr in less than four seconds, making it among the fastest road-legal cars in the world.

Vehicles that use fuels other than petrol or diesel are no longer just a concept of the future, but a definite possibility. As the global recession continues, more and more people are looking at greener and cheaper transportation options.

Although wine and cheese may seem like alternative fuels better suited for those with a prince's salary, the concept cars nevertheless represent a growing diversity of choice available to car buyers of the future.

LOTUS EXIGE: An alternative fuel vehicle that is equipped to run on wine, cheese or chocolate.

(Photo: Wiki Commons/GNU)

The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel is still in the research and development phase, so it isn't available for purchase yet. However when it is ready you know what to show up in, at your next wine and cheese event :).

A hand made working miniature V12 engine

Came across this fascinating video, an actaul hand made miniature V12 working engine!! . The video is 9:00 minutes, but very cool. You can directly skip to 8:30 to see it completed and running :)

World's most expensive car scale model - EVER !!

We've seen or atleast heard of the most expensive Lamborghini, bejeweled Lambo car models and also the most expensive car scale model. But when you blend all of these together and stir in some carbon, platinum, gold and gemstones, you get the world's most expensive car model of a Lamborghini Aventador. Designed by Robert Gülpen, the 1:8 scale replica of Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 can be your for INR 31.05 Crores  (€4.5 million). Sporting a carbon body, this stunning piece of auto-art flaunts gold and platinum rims while diamonds add oomph to the seats, steering wheel and headlights. In all about INR 13.8 Crores (€2 million) worth of precious metals and stones and 500 precious hours have gone into making of this wonder.

Sotheby’s will auction it off this month in Dubai or New York with a starting price of INR 20.36 Crores (€3.5 million).

The Curse Of James Dean’s “Little Bastard”, his Porsche Spyder ....



James Deans "Little Bastard" Silver Porsche 550 Spyder. This shot was taken just hours before Jimmy's tragic death.



When we think of the Porsche 550 Spyder, the first thing that comes to mind is James Dean. We suggest you stop thinking about it if you enjoy your health. Since James Dean’s death in 1955, the Porsche 550 Spyder has become infamous as the car that killed him.

While filming Rebel Without A Cause, James Dean had upgraded from the 356 to the 550 Spyder and decided that he wanted to make it uniquely his. Dean called upon George Barris, of movie car fame, to customize the Porsche. He gave it tartan seats, two red stripes over the rear wheels and plastered the number ‘130’ on its doors, hood and engine cover. The name “Little Bastard” was given by Dean language coach, Bill Hickman, and was later painted on the car by master pin striper, Dean Jeffries. On September 23 of 1955, Dean met actor Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kebobi) outside of a restaurant and had him take a look at the Spyder. Guinness told Dean that the car had a “sinister” appearance and then told Dean: “If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week.” Seven days later, Dean would be killed in his beloved “Little Bastard.”

That “Little Bastard” not only killed James Dean, but killed and maimed others who came in contact with it causing many to say that the damn thing was cursed. George Barris, who customized the 550 originally, bought the wrecked carcass of “Little Bastard” for $2500 and soon after it slipped off its trailer and broke a mechanics leg. Not long after Barris sold the engine and drivetrain to Troy McHenry and William Eschrid. While the two were both racing against one another in cars that had parts from the “Little Bastard,” McHenry lost control and hit a tree, killing him instantly and Eschrid was seriously injured when his car suddenly locked up and rolled over while going into a turn. Barris still had two tires from the 550 which were untouched in Dean’s accident. He sold them and not long after, both blew out simultaneously causing the new owner’s car to run off the road. Barris had kept the car in his possession sans the sold parts and it caught the attention of two would-be thieves. One of the thieves arms was torn open trying to steal the steering wheel while the other was injured trying to remove the bloodstained tartan seat.

Due to all the incidents involving “Little Bastard,” Barris decided to hide the car but was convinced by the California Highway Patrol to lend the cursed heap to a highway safety exhibit. The first exhibit was unsuccessful as the garage that housed the car caught fire and burned to the ground. Mysteriously the car suffered virtually no damage from the fire. The next exhibition at a local high school ended abruptly when the car fell off its display and broke a nearby student’s hip.



James Dean and his mechanic and friend, Rolf, in the Porsche shortly before Jimmy's tragic death.



The curse continued when the “Little Bastard” was being transported when the truck carrying the car lost control which caused the driver to fall out and somehow get crushed by the car after it fell off the back. The car fell off of two more transport trucks while travelling on the freeway fortunately not injuring anyone. The CHP decided that it had had enough of the “Little Bastard” and while transporting the car to Barris, the car mysteriously vanished and has not been seen since.



The wreck of James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder



There are stories of a single piece of “Little Bastard” residing at the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Illinois, but we’re not brave enough to find out.