Some classic commercial vehicle memories: The Swadeshi Mills Kurla Vehicles:
When I was in school in Dadar in Mumbai from 1960 to 1973, we used to stay at the Swadeshi Mills quarters at Chunabhatti Kurla as my father worked there. There was this lovely Chevrolet bus belonging to the company. It was BMZ9863. It was light blue in colour, had a normal bonnet in front and had a brass handle which the driver operated to open the foldable door. It was very silent in running, it must have been petrol operated. It used to drop me to school, pick me up from school and then at 7.30 in the evening, it used to stand opposite Sakaria Chemists in Sion (below the convent school next to Sion station - leisurely parking was possible in those days) so that any employees and their families could use it to go home to Kurla after some shopping in Sion (after Sion, everything was jungle). The names of the drivers were - Keki Mama, Narayan and Paankhau (nobody knew his real name, he used to eat paan so he was paankhau). There was a garage inside Swadeshi Mills where all company and officer's cars were maintained. Mr.Charlie was the incharge there. Charlie himself was a classic - I remember. I used to be "Dhabhar saab ka ladka" so I had some access to the garage. The last I saw BMZ9863 was maybe around 30 years back, lying unused inside the garage in corroded condition. Maybe I shold visit the place sometime. Swadeshi Mills also had a Jeep Station Wagon with the 6 cylinder tornado petrol engine, a black Dodge Kingsway with high tailfins which my father used for some time and a cream coloured Hanseat Tempo 3 wheeler besides numerous white Ambassadors. All memories now. Sigh ! School Buses in Parsee Colony Dadar:
When I was in school, I used to see this old parsee gentleman who owned and operated a beautifully maintained fleet of dark and light brown coloured petrol driven school buses for the Auxilium Convent School. These buses used to me parked in the compound of the Dadar Athornan Boarding Madressa. The gentleman used to be immaculately dressed in a white shirt and light browm shorts with brown shoes and a brown hat. I remember that he would drive one of the buses personally and never allow anyone else to operate it. All only memories now. If any team BHPian can search for old photographs, it would be welcome. Classic Commercial Vehicles that I have spotted in Nasik:
I see a TMB school bus with the original front end and the original 3 pointed star in a circle monogram on my way to work almost everyday (Karl - will you be angry at me if I try and buy some monograms off it ?). I will post a photograph soon. I also see some kind of a Bedford truck with a BYJ or some such registration number going around Satpur.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar |