[anjan_c2007]

Two old Ambassadors sighted in Kolkata during my very recent trip.One is a 1980 model (WME) and belongs to the Govt of WB, while the other one is a bit modded and done up. Its a 1979 model (WMD) and both cars are in daily use as is evident from their looks.
It may be noted that the WME car is in its original paint (parrot green). This shade appeared around 1978 in Mark 3's and continued with the first lot of Mark 4's and even later till around 1981.

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

One is a 1980 model (WME) and belongs to the Govt of WB, It may be noted that the WME car is in its original paint (parrot green). This shade appeared around 1978 in Mark 3's and continued with the first lot of Mark 4's and even later till around 1981.
Attachment 483904

Attachment 483905

Any guess why green color on govt. car (shyam also spotted in hyderabad once a similar olor govt. car). Apart from white, in Madhya Prades I have seem Blue and Grey also in Govt. cars like in the Housing board, Electricity dept but seena green.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

@Sanat thanks again.Do feel free to ask me about your car and I will try to answer your queries to the best of my knowledge. The registrations in Mumbai in the MR series roughly were:
MRB(for temporary registrations -yellow plates to Jeeps and Fiats made in Mumbai)
MRC (1964 to 1966)
MRD (1966-1968)
MRE (two wheelers)
MRF(1968-1970)
MRG (1970-1972)
So your car is a 1970 registration and model.The dash of 1970-1975 (just before the advent of Mark 3) with the brown sunmica and ribbed aluminium and Yenkay meters has become very, very rare. I do not have any picture as most of these have been swapped for the black ones.
For the car body black is an universal colour and will look appealing.So again all the best.

Dear sir ,MRC in 1966 ? is doughtful as we know that those days we had just one RTO at Tardeo. we purchased brand new Ambassador in March 1965 and we were given MRZ series after this MRZ came MRA for some time then came MRC .it seems that MRC came sometimes in 1967 /68

[calrock]

heres my dads car.. 1959 mark1

[h14]

wOw calrock! that is an amazing amby you have. Congrats!

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by calrock

heres my dads car.. 1959 mark1

Nicely restored Mark 1.With a few more fittings like Trafficators, mongrams etc this could be made a Concourse car

[Prabal]

Originally Posted by calrock

heres my dads car.. 1959 mark1

Beautiful Amby you've got, congratulations calrock! You've made my day, thanks for the pic.

Originally Posted by ajay99

Nicely restored Mark 1.With a few more fittings like Trafficators, mongrams etc this could be made a Concourse car

To the best of my knowledge, this model of the MkI didn't feature trafficators, although the older (Morris Oxford) ones did, and I'm also not certain if they were included in any of the Hindustan Motors productions at all. But I'm sure that not all pre-'60 MkIs had them.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by Prabal

Beautiful Amby you've got, congratulations calrock! You've made my day, thanks for the pic.



To the best of my knowledge, this model of the MkI didn't feature trafficators, although the older (Morris Oxford) ones did, and I'm also not certain if they were included in any of the Hindustan Motors productions at all. But I'm sure that not all pre-'60 MkIs had them.

Prabhalji , as far as my info goes The trafficators were there in the following Hindustan productions.
1.1947 to 1948 Hindustan10
2.1949 to 1954 Hindustan14
3.1955 to 1957 Landmaster saloon and Traveller
4.1952 to 1958 BabyHindustan
5.1958 to 1959 side valve MK1 ambassador
6.1960 OHV MK1 ambassador
Blinkers came on 1961 Mk1 ambassadors onwards replacing trafficators
I have personally been convinced of these facts because have had the good fortune of seeing single owner specimens of many of these models

[karlosdeville]

That is a fantastic looking car, well done. I can see you have possibly taken inspiration from the Bombay car. You MUST get a set of period number plates though.



Prabal, certain Ambys did have semaphores. Probably 58, 59 models. The early Amby leaflets illustrate them too. The previous owner of my Amby bought his car in the 1960s. He was offered two cars, a 59 and a 62, and he distinctly recalls the 59 having been fitted with semaphores. How I wish he had bought the 59 instead, as then it would have been mine today

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

That is a fantastic looking car, well done. I can see you have possibly taken inspiration from the Bombay car. You MUST get a set of period number plates though.



Prabal, certain Ambys did have semaphores. Probably 58, 59 models. The early Amby leaflets illustrate them too. The previous owner of my Amby bought his car in the 1960s. He was offered two cars, a 59 and a 62, and he distinctly recalls the 59 having been fitted with semaphores. How I wish he had bought the 59 instead, as then it would have been mine today

True Karl. There was one neighbour who had an old Amby BYJ 2917, a 1959 model with the trafficators and a beautiful sunshade.The car was sold out long back.

[Prabal]

Originally Posted by Prabal

I'm also not certain if they were included in any of the Hindustan Motors productions at all. But I'm sure that not all pre-'60 MkIs had them.

Originally Posted by ajay99

Prabhalji , as far as my info goes The trafficators were there in the following Hindustan productions...

Blinkers came on 1961 Mk1 ambassadors onwards replacing trafficators

Guess, I didn't word my post correctly, sorry. Actually, I meant to say only Ambassadors made by Hindustan Motors - and not the other models; presence, or absence, of trafficators on those I'm aware of, more or less.

Ajay, I'm not contesting your iteration of the HM models that came with trafficators, and those with blinkers. In fact, I'm envious of you having seen single-owner original-condition examples of all the models, and of each model year as well. But for some reason I still think that Ambys got blinkers before 1960. In fact, I have doubts regarding trafficators being standard fitment across all models of the Baby Hindustan and Hindustan 14 also. Or am I behaving as if I've got blinkers on myself?!!

I could be mistaken as these are all faint recollections. Guess it would be best if calrock could confirm whether his father's Amby had trafficators originally; we'll have a first-hand info about this car at least.

EDIT: Just saw Karl's post, and Anjan's too. Yes, I know '58 Ambys came with trafficators, and now the case is getting stronger for the '59 model also!! But did they feature in all the '59 cars, till the year's last production? I just want to know, not being obstinate!!

[karlosdeville]

For some viewing pleasure, here are a couple of brochure scans dating to 1958 (red) and 1960 (blue).





Semaphores are visible in both, though that isn't a surefire way to tell, as often these were international images touched up for local consumption.

[susan3004]

A couple of well maintained pieces. The black is a 2006 and the white one is a 2009 model.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by Prabal

Guess, I didn't word my post correctly, sorry. Actually, I meant to say only Ambassadors made by Hindustan Motors - and not the other models; presence, or absence, of trafficators on those I'm aware of, more or less.

Ajay, I'm not contesting your iteration of the HM models that came with trafficators, and those with blinkers. In fact, I'm envious of you having seen single-owner original-condition examples of all the models, and of each model year as well. But for some reason I still think that Ambys got blinkers before 1960. In fact, I have doubts regarding trafficators being standard fitment across all models of the Baby Hindustan and Hindustan 14 also. Or am I behaving as if I've got blinkers on myself?!!

I could be mistaken as these are all faint recollections. Guess it would be best if calrock could confirm whether his father's Amby had trafficators originally; we'll have a first-hand info about this car at least.

EDIT: Just saw Karl's post, and Anjan's too. Yes, I know '58 Ambys came with trafficators, and now the case is getting stronger for the '59 model also!! But did they feature in all the '59 cars, till the year's last production? I just want to know, not being obstinate!!

Prabhalji ,a small correction I have seen single owner examples of each of these models (not every year model). Regarding Hindustan 14 I am pretty much confident about the trafficators wheras in the case of BABY HINDUSTAN there is a single owner driven 1958 model owned by the owner of the first HM dealer in Kerala and it has still a working trafficator.

[susan3004]

Sir Nuffield has been mentioned in this thread earlier in accordance to his property. Beautiful house! No wonder it is one of the best houses in UK.
Anyways, coming to the information which I wanted to share.
In 1954 a downmarket version of the Oxford(Morris's mid sized saloon) saw it's revival, named as Cowley.This was the all new model to be built since Morris and Austin merged in 1952 to form the British Motor Corporation(BMC). This was, in all but name, a takeover by Sir Leonard Lord who was in charge of Austin, and problems were compounded by Lord Nuffield's declining interest in the company. Despite this unificationof the two main British manufacturers, both companies continued intially with a policy of building distinctly different models, albeit with some standardization.
The Oxford/Cowley was designed by Alec Issigonis, with unitary construction. The more luxurious Oxford had more ornamentation than the Cowley and was powered by the new B-series 1489cc(91 cu in) engine. The more basic Cowley had a smaller 1200cc(73 cu in) engine. Despite the extra trim on the outside, little could be done to disguise the very conservative and boring{Amby lovers please excuse} design of the Oxford. The cheaper Cowley had even less to recommend it. Nevertheless, both models sold well.
The 1489cc 4-cylinder engine could peak a 40.5bhp at 4200rpm and would attain 60mph in 29 secs. the top speed was a cool 76mph, that is 122km/h.
Both received a facelift for 1956, with the Cowley getting the 1489cc engine as well. Confusingly, in 1957, there was another restyle for the Cowley, to turn it into a Traveller estate. After the new Farina saloons were introduced in 1959, only this estate model remained in production, to fulfil the need for a load-carrying Morris model. When the Farina estate appeared in 1960, it superseded the Cowley Traveller which was then dropped.
The production total was a huge 167,494 units.