[EARTHed]

Originally Posted by dhrishikesh

Is this grill on a Premier Padmini is original one or the aftermarket one ??

This grille came in PP Economy.

[adheesh]

Originally Posted by dhrishikesh

Is this grill on a Premier Padmini is original one or the aftermarket one ??
See this today after seeing one on 137D taxi few days ago.
(BTW, started preparing the list of Premier Padmini taxis having Chromodora Italiano grill in last week & now the count is 8, will post the registration numbers of taxis once the count is 10)

This was the honeycomb grill that used to come on Premier Padmini Economy variant. Till date I had always thought they came in black, however this grill has some traces of chrome on it. Funny !!

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[EARTHed]

Originally Posted by adheesh

Till date I had always thought they came in black, however this grill has some traces of chrome on it. Funny !!

Its not chromed. During pressure wash, the black coating wears off. Hence the traces of original white color of the grill is seen.

[Cyrus43]

This Grille without the Centre Partition would look nice. Almost Mesh like. And Adheesh, we have a Quick Fix for Chrome now dont we.

[adheesh]

Originally Posted by Cyrus43

This Grille without the Centre Partition would look nice. Almost Mesh like. And Adheesh, we have a Quick Fix for Chrome now dont we.

Shhh !! Let that be a secret. And thats what I actually meant when I said "traces of chrome"

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by adheesh

Shhh !! Let that be a secret. And thats what I actually meant when I said "traces of chrome"

He he, I also have that quick fix .

[allana13]

some how i really like the ol 137ds but didnt see them much on the road in bombay.....

[Cyrus43]

Thank God For that. The rear resembles a Chain Smoker... I believe Dad would have something to add here. I believe I remember an anecdote from my childhood. He used to say it when he saw one of those smoking away in front of us... Maybe he will remember.

[dhrishikesh]

@ allana13,
These are quite a few PP 137D's running on Mumbai roads, but some of them are really in a very good shape & has been maintained very well but we can see plenty of 137D taxis still having those steel plate monograms on their dicky.
BTW, here is the list of PP taxis in Mumbai that are having Cromodora Italliano grill on them:
1. MH 01 G 4619 -
-Seen in Shivaji Park area, opposite to Crosswords.
-Has Cromodora grill without logo.
2. MH 03 F 5619 -
- Seen in Dadar (West) area, near Kabutar Khana.
- Has Cromodora grill with Fiat logo.
3. MH 01 X 5195 -
- Seen in Worli area, near B.D.D. chawl.
- Has Cromodora grill with Fiat logo.
4. MH 01 X 5630 -
- Seen in Dadar (West) area, near Portuguese Church.
- Has Cromodora grill with Fiat logo (but grill is in damaged condition).
5. MH 01 J 6179 -
- Seen in Dadar (East) area, near Kailaas Lassi Centre.
- Has Cromodora grill without Fiat logo.
6. MH 01 JA 801 -
- Seen in Tardeo area, near Tardeo Bus Depot.
- Has Cromodora grill without Fiat logo.
7. MH 01 J 3718 -
- Seen in Mahim area, near Kesari Travels Office.
- Has Cromodora grill, with Fiat logo.
8. MMO 1629 (Probably scrapped (?)) -
- Used to see this taxi parked in the lane opposite to my building.
- Has Cromodora grill with Fiat logo.
9. MH 02 R 3368 -
- Seen in Chembur area, near RCF Colony Entrance.
- Has Cromodora grill with Fiat logo.
10. MH 03 F 2654 -
- Seen in Bandra area, opposite to Government Polytechnic.
- Has Cromodora grill without Fiat logo.

[adheesh]

Originally Posted by allana13

some how i really like the ol 137ds but didnt see them much on the road in bombay.....

Originally Posted by Cyrus43

Thank God For that. The rear resembles a Chain Smoker... I believe Dad would have something to add here. I believe I remember an anecdote from my childhood. He used to say it when he saw one of those smoking away in front of us... Maybe he will remember.

I doubt if there are any 137D taxis left because as per the current norms all Taxis in Bombay jurisdiction have to be mandatorily CNG.

[harit]

Originally Posted by adheesh

I doubt if there are any 137D taxis left because as per the current norms all Taxis in Bombay jurisdiction have to be mandatorily CNG.

Correct. Remember, the cabs when sold were diesel AND petrol engined. The Premier diesel engine was not the best. Then almost all cabs plonked in 3 cylinder Japanee engines which were completely used up. A PIL was required to get them off the road. Then they were ordered to be converted back to regular engines with CNG. During these transformations some name plates may have remained on the body all throughout.

Cheers harit

[samsag12]

Sorry to bump into the conversation but couldn't resist asking were 137D's not that fun to drive. I think they had the Nissan engines which did duty on the NE's.

[harit]

Originally Posted by samsag12

Sorry to bump into the conversation but couldn't resist asking were 137D's not that fun to drive. I think they had the Nissan engines which did duty on the NE's.

Its a thread and meant to be bumped into.
I am a bit confused as Premiers are not my forte.
Premier did have their own Diesel engine, I do not know what it was called, and that was not the best effort, tended to become smoky very fast. I knew a senior technical person from Premier who told me this. There was also a possible modification, maybe Premier were not interested as maybe they planned to use the Nissan engine. When the 118 NE was introduced, they had the Nissan diesel engine. Was that the 137 engine? I remember that Premier and Nissan had some issues about producing this engine in India, details I do not remember.

Cheers harit

[adheesh]

Originally Posted by samsag12

Sorry to bump into the conversation but couldn't resist asking were 137D's not that fun to drive. I think they had the Nissan engines which did duty on the NE's.

Premier never had any diesel engines from Nissan. The diesel sedans too were known as Premier 137D (Padmini) and Premier 1.38D (118NE). These engines were procured from some Italian company called FNM.

[samsag12]

Thanks for clearing out the doubt folks. Adheesh you are right about the badging of diesel engine cars from Premiers. IIRC the last batch of diesel version was called Premier Diesel Deluxe. They stated the engine to be designed by FNM, Italy which zoomed from 0-60 in less than 12 sec.