[123.rishabh]

As enthusiasts, we all have had some poster cars on the walls of our room.
These poster cars are just like a dream for many, and remain that way for their lifetime. Cars like Ferrari F40 & Porsche 911 slantnose were those poster cars during my childhood. Then come the other cars, which you see on the road and just fall for. Being an early 90's kid, the Tata Sierra was one such car for me and many others at that time.
We used to have a Maruti 800 back in the day and whenever I used to see a Sierra on the road, my eyes were just glued to the big brawny looks complimented with the big rear glass window, chunky metal bumpers and the beautiful rear mounted spare wheel with Sierra written over the PVC cover in a cursive font.




Seeing my love towards the vehicle, my parents got me a Funtoys plastic pushback model of a red Sierra which I loved.

Fast forward to 2005: The Sierra had been discontinued in 2003 and my love for Sierra had transformed to the love for the Tata Safari which we bought in 2008 and enjoyed till 2019.


Further Fast forward to June 2024: On one of the Diecast Toys group on Facebook, I see a white Shinsei Sierra model on sale, immediately i ordered one and simultaneously opened OLX just to see if any cars are still left in India (I have not seen one in Delhi NCR since the last 10-12 years).
To my surprise i saw a few ads outside NCR region and out of those (most were modified to a state from which restoration to original shape was not possible) there was one 1st generation 1997 pre facelift model in a pretty original condition (would have been one of the last sold ones before the Turbo was launched in the same year) in the German red shade.
Spoke to a friend who was equally excited on accompanying me to see the vehicle. It was a 2nd owner car which had stayed in the same family and same village since its purchase. The car was in Punjab, we spoke to the owner who was an old gentleman, did a quick video call inspection, without much negotiation fixed the price over the phone and booked our tatkal train tickets and went to see the car.
The car was in Dosanjh Kalan, a village near Phagwara city of Punjab. Reached the location, met the owner (a 70 year old gentleman) and came to know that he had two of these back in the day. This car was standing since the last 12 years wrapped in a closed garage since the owner's children stayed abroad. The owner had pushed the car out & washed / cleaned the car inside out for us using a high pressure tubewell in his adjoining farm.


This is how she looked at the first glance
All the original monograms (TATA on the rear door, TATA SIERRA on both fenders) were in place including the TELCO bonnet ornament, the grill logo and chrome slats. It had period correct high beam stickers on the headlamps, number plates, aftermarket velvet seat covers and roof liner from that era. It was like a time capsule





The car had done 136160 kms, we inspected it and surprisingly found no rust spot on it even in the wheel well areas, to our surprise, none of the body panel had been repaired or repainted in the last 27 years of ownership.
Despite being stationary for such a long time, we pumped in 20L of fresh diesel, put in a charged battery, topped up the radiator with water and the car fired up after such a long slumber with almost no drama .
Got the PUC done (It passed at the first attempt), tires pumped with air and we were ready to drive 60 kms to Ludhiana in it. Drove all the way to Ludhiana slowly, the brake pedal was a bit hard, the engagement of gears was a bit hesitant at first but it all became fine gradually. The exhaust was smoking a little black smoke (permissible for a Pre BS pollution norm car). It was turning heads of almost everyone on the highway including folks in a LC300.


To our surprise, all the instrument cluster meters, central digital clock and even the cabin lamp was working. The blower and A/C was non functional which was acceptable for such a car, and we were literally baked in the June heat.


Enroute Ludhiana at NH44. The shiny bonnet still reflecting well after 27 years of usage (Afterall Tata & Mercedes Benz used the same paint shop at that time)

Reached Aggarwal Packers warehouse in Ludhiana and dropped the car to be shipped to Gurgaon in a shared 6 car carrier.


On opening the hood for a general inspection, we noticed that everything was fine except some oil leaking from the engine oil fill cap due to a worn out rubber seal. Even the work lamp under the bonnet worked fine

Boarded the train back to Delhi and got back to work for the next 7 days till the car was supposed to reach. I Started searching for the owners manual & brochure of the vehicle. Was lucky enough to find a digital copy of the Turbo model owners manual on TeamBHP itself : [ATTACH=sierra-owner-service-manual-part-1_compress (2).pdf]2662575[/ATTACH]

Found a seller/collector on Ebay USA who had a original hardcopy brochure of the 1991 - 1997 model, immediately called my cousin in the states and ordered it right away






As per the promised time, the car reached Gurgaon, went to the transporters warehouse, almost 35 kms away with a flatbed and lifted the vehicle from there and transported it to the workshop where the restoration work will be done.










Since the car will be in Gurgaon, It will not be drivable due to the NGT rules apart from some occasional fun rides early in the mornings.
I plan to do a proper mechanical & paint restoration of the vehicle and try to restore it closest to how it rolled off the assembly line back in 1997.
I have already begun the mechanical restoration and will keep this thread updated with all the work done in the coming days.

[Omkar]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Dippy]

What a find Rishabh.

You most certainly hit the jackpot finding a Sierra in such condition. I went into flashback mode seeing the early part of your post. I lusted for the Sierra in the same way you did. No other car had a character like that back in the day.

We finally bought a used Sierra in 1998. It was a 1994 NA with 30k kms on the clock. Used it till 2007 before we sold it off. Have some amazing memories with that car. That driving position, the ride quality, space and that large rear window. Everything was epic about it.

Wish you all the best with your restoration. Will be following this thread.

And oh here is a pic of me with my Sierra

[FlankerFury]

This brought back joyful memories from my childhood. Getting in the backseat by folding the front passenger seat, looking out the HUGE rear windows, SUV's were a rare sight back then.
It was later sold because mother found it difficult to enter the rear seats and if she sat in the front, then she had to step out of the vehicle every time someone wanted to get out of the 2nd row.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it.

Wishing you success with the restoration.

[Roy.S]

I think this is one of the rare occasions the phrase Barn Find can be used for a classic car found in India. The Sierra is in great shape!

This sounds like the beginning of an automotive fairy tale. Keep updating the thread.

Back in the late 90s I once rode in a Sierra through rural roads in Bihar. We were comfortable through our bumpy 8 hour journey. The car attracted a fair amount of attention which made us a bit uneasy given the fact that it was a rather dangerous place back then.

[Viju]

That's a fantastic find! You were lucky to find one in Punjab rather than one of the more humid coastal areas where the Sierra would definitely have rusted a lot more.

I am looking forward to the restoration. Please post every picture and detail. Hope you will be restoring it to its original glory!

[GTO]

You have bought one of the best-looking Indian cars from the 90s, Ratan Tata's then greatest love and a style icon of the car industry. A close buddy had the later-introduced Sierra Turbo edition with 90 BHP (I guess yours has 68?) and boy, did that Sierra Turbo fly! By 1990s standards, of course. We gave a lot of modified Esteems, Zens, Citys etc lessons in how the mid-range punch of a turbo-diesel can murder small 1.0 - 1.5L naturally-aspirated petrols .

It was very spacious, steering wasn't too heavy and the suspension was comfortable. Air-con cooling was a mixed bad. Niggles were plenty in the small things, but mechanically, it was robust. When driving fast, it was the butt you had to watch out for = the rear end was loose and could slide!

I really enjoyed those 2-3 years in the Sierra Turbo (before I flew off to USA for my MBA). Thanks for bringing back all those memories, and a big congrats on possessing your childhood dream . Rebuild her to top shape.

[Sreejith V]

Originally Posted by 123.rishabh

As enthusiasts, we all have had some poster cars on the walls of our room.
These poster cars are just like a dream for many, and remain that way for their lifetime.

I couldn't agree with you more. A few of the TATA SUVs are child hood dream for many. For me it is SIERRA always .

Entry of the beast at 0:35 of the below video gives me goosebumps whenever I watch it .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxDmzgq0NMk

[Passatman]

Truly a blast from the past and a rare sight in these times and yours qualifies for a Barnyard Find!

I had lots of fun times with my Sierra Turbo, double rear wipers n all! The TCIC belting out 90 horses seems puny by today's standards but was pretty quick in the late 90s and early 2000s. Coming from the 68 BHP NA Sierra which was okayish but not a patch on the turbo model. The Sierra turbo had synchromesh on all gears, reverse included!!!

Here's a pic of my Sierra Turbo KA04N132 while on a jungle safari with the family and my MTB cycle on the spare wheel. No, it's not a wonder dog driving a car, but my lovable lab retriever hogging my seat �� ; always rode shotgun with me and exhibited overwhelming doses of affection with liberal wet licks particularly when traffic was oncoming in those pre 4 lane highways.

Agree with GTO that this was the best looker ( and GTO's is similar as I had also fitted the Hella 550 in the same posish)

Sold it when I moved on to the Innova, but never fails to bring a smile when I spot one on the roads.

[crdi]

How does one get to drive around this in the NCR? Had the same doubt about another post about a Mahindra Classic purchased from Goa to Delhi! Wouldn't the NCR enforcers be impounding older vehicles?

[ringoism]

Just a wonderful vehicle, congratulations. I'll confess it would be something of a dream car for me, too - way ahead of its time in India, being a comfortable, stylish true 4X4 SUV. The ads said it right.

The style/ proportions are not too unlike Chevrolet's 1980's S10 Blazer - but I'd say the Tata is the better looker, especially version 2.



In college in Texas, a dorm-mate had one of these in which we spent a fair number of hours "cruising the strip" looking for - well - friends of the fairer sex. Those (the cars) were available with the 2.5L I4 "Iron Duke" or a 2.8L V-6, both petrol and ubiquitous GM powerplants. The girls were of many more varieties, often came along for a ride (those were safer and more innocent times I suppose) and it was all good clean fun, mind you.

I really hope the gov doesn't do anything draconian that would prevent these older cars being legally driven, even if on occasion.

I used to drive an old Sumo of about the same vintage and find the power output of the non-turbo to be a bit too tame for me (Turbo moved along pretty well, but in the Victa at least really had no low-end power at all), but that said the N/A version can move down the highway with modern traffic alright, done that in a friend's old non-turbo Victa more recently. The A/C on that was about the coldest I've ever witnessed, btw.

Originally Posted by 123.rishabh

Despite being stationary for such a long time, we pumped in 20L of fresh diesel, put in a charged battery, topped up the radiator with water and the car fired up after such a long slumber with almost no drama .
Got the PUC done (It passed at the first attempt), tires pumped with air and we were ready to drive 60 kms to Ludhiana in it.

One of the lovely things about old pre-electronic diesels (N/A versions most of all): there is nothing very precision about them and very little that would prevent their running.

I hope I don't ultimately regret selling one such vehicle of our own recently. Their reliability / simpicity/ dependability is a huge benefit .

There is a 4x4 update model laying abandoned here in Manali the past several years on the highway side - formerly running and GJ registered iirc. Was left at a denting/painting shop long back and work started but presumably the owner (as so many other outsiders with failed businesses and Himalayan dreams do) left town for good before it could get completed.



This actually appears to have a Xenon front clip, which not being a purist, I'd personaly say looks awesome.

Paperwork is so often the issue with these older cars, if not I'd probably try and pick it up. Yours was such a lucky find, as one with a longtime owner, in all original condition. Just amazing.

-Eric

[BABABOT]

hi Rishab
Congratulations. It looks like the Seirra was kept frozen in time, just for you. By the Pics its looks in pristine condition. Eagerly looking forward to step by step restoration process with picture of your Project

[123.rishabh]

I was pretty sure that this thread would evoke nostalgia of many BHPians. It feels soo good to see the old pictures of your priced possessions.

Originally Posted by Dippy

What a find Rishabh.

You most certainly hit the jackpot finding a Sierra in such condition. I went into flashback mode seeing the early part of your post. I lusted for the Sierra in the same way you did. No other car had a character like that back in the day.

We finally bought a used Sierra in 1998. It was a 1994 NA with 30k kms on the clock. Used it till 2007 before we sold it off. Have some amazing memories with that car. That driving position, the ride quality, space and that large rear window. Everything was epic about it.

Wish you all the best with your restoration. Will be following this thread.

And oh here is a pic of me with my Sierra

Attachment 2662649

Thanks a lot Dippy. The driving position & ride is just spot on, also the front seat is one of the most comfortable ones I have ever sat in any car. The under thigh support is more than adequate and overall the seat feels like a big sofa.
In my car the passenger seat is modified to tip & tumble for easy access to the rear seat, it belongs to some other car and is a bit smaller compared to the driver seat.
As far as i know the original seat used to just slide in front and the seat back used to recline instead of a tip & tumble setup.

Originally Posted by FlankerFury

This brought back joyful memories from my childhood. Getting in the backseat by folding the front passenger seat, looking out the HUGE rear windows, SUV's were a rare sight back then.
It was later sold because mother found it difficult to enter the rear seats and if she sat in the front, then she had to step out of the vehicle every time someone wanted to get out of the 2nd row.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it.

Wishing you success with the restoration.

Thanks FlankerFury, As u mentioned the difficulty in entry exit to & from the rear seat could be the reason for my cars Tip & Tumble type front passenger seat modification, because the owner and here wife were in their 70's and this would have given them some added comfort in ingress & egress.

Originally Posted by Roy.S

I think this is one of the rare occasions the phrase Barn Find can be used for a classic car found in India. The Sierra is in great shape!

This sounds like the beginning of an automotive fairy tale. Keep updating the thread.

Back in the late 90s I once rode in a Sierra through rural roads in Bihar. We were comfortable through our bumpy 8 hour journey. The car attracted a fair amount of attention which made us a bit uneasy given the fact that it was a rather dangerous place back then.

Thanks Roy.S, As you mentioned, this car is no less than a Barn find Indian Youngtimer category vehicle.

Originally Posted by Viju

That's a fantastic find! You were lucky to find one in Punjab rather than one of the more humid coastal areas where the Sierra would definitely have rusted a lot more.

I am looking forward to the restoration. Please post every picture and detail. Hope you will be restoring it to its original glory!

Thanks Viju. Yes, I spoke to a few friends down south who had worked on or owned the Sierra and everyone warned me about the rust found in and around the wheel well etc. but thankfully we got a clean one. I will post all detailed updates in the thread as the work progresses.

Originally Posted by GTO

You have bought one of the best-looking Indian cars from the 90s, Ratan Tata's then greatest love and a style icon of the car industry. A close buddy had the later-introduced Sierra Turbo edition with 90 BHP (I guess yours has 68?) and boy, did that Sierra Turbo fly! By 1990s standards, of course. We gave a lot of modified Esteems, Zens, Citys etc lessons in how the mid-range punch of a turbo-diesel can murder small 1.0 - 1.5L naturally-aspirated petrols .

It was very spacious, steering wasn't too heavy and the suspension was comfortable. Air-con cooling was a mixed bad. Niggles were plenty in the small things, but mechanically, it was robust. When driving fast, it was the butt you had to watch out for = the rear end was loose and could slide!

I really enjoyed those 2-3 years in the Sierra Turbo (before I flew off to USA for my MBA). Thanks for bringing back all those memories, and a big congrats on possessing your childhood dream . Rebuild her to top shape.

Attachment 2662990

Attachment 2662986

Attachment 2662988

Attachment 2662987

Attachment 2662989

Attachment 2662991

Thanks a lot GTO. Seeing soo many pics of yours with the Sierra shows how much you liked and enjoyed the car in the yesteryears. Indeed it was and still is a looker and getting one in red for me was like magically converting my plastic Red toy Sierra to a full scale working model . I have started procuring parts from a few dealers in Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh and am targeting to do the best stock period correct restoration for the same.
I will be dividing this thread into 4 parts
1. Buying Journey (Already written)
2. Mechanical Restoration
3. Body & Paint Restoration &
4. Interior Restoration.

Originally Posted by Sreejith V

I couldn't agree with you more. A few of the TATA SUVs are child hood dream for many. For me it is SIERRA always .

Entry of the beast at 0:35 of the below video gives me goosebumps whenever I watch it .

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=XxDmzgq0NMk

Thanks Sreejith, timestamp 0:35 actually gave me goosebumps !

Originally Posted by Passatman

Truly a blast from the past and a rare sight in these times and yours qualifies for a Barnyard Find!

I had lots of fun times with my Sierra Turbo, double rear wipers n all! The TCIC belting out 90 horses seems puny by today's standards but was pretty quick in the late 90s and early 2000s. Coming from the 68 BHP NA Sierra which was okayish but not a patch on the turbo model. The Sierra turbo had synchromesh on all gears, reverse included!!!

Here's a pic of my Sierra Turbo KA04N132 while on a jungle safari with the family and my MTB cycle on the spare wheel. No, it's not a wonder dog driving a car, but my lovable lab retriever hogging my seat �� ; always rode shotgun with me and exhibited overwhelming doses of affection with liberal wet licks particularly when traffic was oncoming in those pre 4 lane highways.

Agree with GTO that this was the best looker ( and GTO's is similar as I had also fitted the Hella 550 in the same posish)

Sold it when I moved on to the Innova, but never fails to bring a smile when I spot one on the roads.

Thanks Passatman, That is a picture perfect shot which you have posted with your wonder dog on the driver seat .
This non turbo model came with a Dogleg gearbox with synchromesh only on the front 5 gears. it was called the GBS 16 type gearbox.

Originally Posted by crdi

How does one get to drive around this in the NCR? Had the same doubt about another post about a Mahindra Classic purchased from Goa to Delhi! Wouldn't the NCR enforcers be impounding older vehicles?

Hi CRDI, As per NGT we cannot drive these old cars and I also dont plan to drive it much. Occasionally early morning or late drives in and around the neighborhood are possible. Or if I plan to take it on a highway someday, we can use a flatbed to drive it out of Delhi border and then continue the trip

Originally Posted by ringoism

Just a wonderful vehicle, congratulations. I'll confess it would be something of a dream car for me, too - way ahead of its time in India, being a comfortable, stylish true 4X4 SUV. The ads said it right.

The style/ proportions are not too unlike Chevrolet's 1980's S10 Blazer - but I'd say the Tata is the better looker, especially version 2.

Attachment 2663168

In college in Texas, a dorm-mate had one of these in which we spent a fair number of hours "cruising the strip" looking for - well - friends of the fairer sex. Those (the cars) were available with the 2.5L I4 "Iron Duke" or a 2.8L V-6, both petrol and ubiquitous GM powerplants. The girls were of many more varieties, often came along for a ride (those were safer and more innocent times I suppose) and it was all good clean fun, mind you.

I really hope the gov doesn't do anything draconian that would prevent these older cars being legally driven, even if on occasion.

I used to drive an old Sumo of about the same vintage and find the power output of the non-turbo to be a bit too tame for me (Turbo moved along pretty well, but in the Victa at least really had no low-end power at all), but that said the N/A version can move down the highway with modern traffic alright, done that in a friend's old non-turbo Victa more recently. The A/C on that was about the coldest I've ever witnessed, btw.



One of the lovely things about old pre-electronic diesels (N/A versions most of all): there is nothing very precision about them and very little that would prevent their running.

I hope I don't ultimately regret selling one such vehicle of our own recently. Their reliability / simpicity/ dependability is a huge benefit .

There is a 4x4 update model laying abandoned here in Manali the past several years on the highway side - formerly running and GJ registered iirc. Was left at a denting/painting shop long back and work started but presumably the owner (as so many other outsiders with failed businesses and Himalayan dreams do) left town for good before it could get completed.

Attachment 2663159

This actually appears to have a Xenon front clip, which not being a purist, I'd personaly say looks awesome.

Paperwork is so often the issue with these older cars, if not I'd probably try and pick it up. Yours was such a lucky find, as one with a longtime owner, in all original condition. Just amazing.

-Eric

Thanks Ringoism, Tata would definitely have taken some inspiration from the Chevy blazer back in the day and it would have been a big move considering the basic & practical locally produced cars which used to sell back in the Indian market at that point of time.
As you mentioned, the paperwork is a big issue with such vehicles, In my car the green tax is due since the last 3 years and the fitness will be expiring in November 2024.
Have already ordered the HSRP as it is a requirement to pay the green tax in Punjab. Once I get those I will pay the green tax and the 3 year penalty, followed by the ownership transfer and fitness renewal.

[avira_tk]

Great find and wish you all the best restoring it, the car brings back great memories of going to school in comfort. My uncle owned one and boy, it was wonderful, comfortable and reliable. The open glass made the climb up to Coonoor a really memorable experience.

The original softroader, decades ahead of the pack, too bad Tata gave up on it. The night drives were less stressful with the (then) unique high set driving position.

[sanyog26]

Many congratulations to you Rishabh on this rare find.

Although my family has never owned a Sierra, but I used to admire the car a lot in my childhood days here in Delhi. One of our neighbours, a police officer, used to own one in white shade. Unable to recollect whether it was NA or turbo.

Always had this dream of owning a Tata SUV one day. In 2004 when we were upgrading from a Ford Ikon to a SUV, we briefly considered a Tata Safari, but somehow my father chose the Mahindra Scorpio, which served us for almost 3.5 years and we had to sell it off as it developed a lot of niggles post 2 years of ownership.

Would love to see a Sierra in flesh one day, to relive the childhood dream once.