[Captain Haddock]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Ajay,

All the KSEB Biscayne came as part of the Idukki Hydroelectric Power Project - which was Canadian funded - and hence the RHD Biscayne which were made in Canada.

We know of at least 2 still in TVM don't we ? Is your pictured one from Kowdiar area ?

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

You are absolutely correct about the Canadian orgins of RHD Chevys of that era. RHD impalas were also present here. My great uncle an expert in these old cars says that Biscayne was just a stripped down Impala and since most people who bought these cars could afford an Impala it was immensely popular than the Biscayne.
These cars were almost the same and from that photo alone it's very hard to distinguish them, even for him. We guessed it was an impala based on the greater numbers in which it was imported.

[travancore]

courtesy: LIFE



Chief Minister's residence (Cliff House ?)

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by travancore

courtesy: LIFE

Attachment 1428460

Chief Minister's residence (Cliff House ?)

Of course being the CM's official car, it definitely looks like taken in the portico of Cliff house .Is it a Plymouth or a Desoto?

[Bulldogji]

Originally Posted by ajay99

Of course being the CM's official car, it definitely looks like taken in the portico of Cliff house .Is it a Plymouth or a Desoto?

Clearly a Dodge Kingsway, 1956/57

[travancore]

Originally Posted by ajay99

Of course being the CM's official car, it definitely looks like taken in the portico of Cliff house .Is it a Plymouth or a Desoto?

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Clearly a Dodge Kingsway, 1956/57

Why were these "Commie" government Ministers driving around in Dodges and Pontiacs......when an appropriate Hindusthan or even "Volga" would suffice ?

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by travancore

Attachment 1428742

Why were these "Commie" government Ministers driving around in Dodges and Pontiacs......when an appropriate Hindusthan or even "Volga" would suffice ?

First of all these cars were alloted by the officials from the concerned department and hence probably they were not much concerned about the marques.
Also I doubt Volga cars were available in INDIA then.These cars were assembled in India so they must not have had any objection to their usage perse.
On another note it would be better to avoid terms like ""Commie'' which may hurt the sentiments of leftist supporters

[Bulldogji]

Originally Posted by ajay99

First of all these cars were alloted by the officials from the concerned department and hence probably they were not much concerned about the marques.
Also I doubt Volga cars were available in INDIA then.These cars were assembled in India so they must not have had any objection to their usage perse.
On another note it would be better to avoid terms like ""Commie'' which may hurt the sentiments of leftist supporters

Ajay,

I think Travancore's post was made in a lighter vein keeping in mind india's lean towards Russia post independence

Nothing more should be read into it, he certainly did not mean to offend.

[travancore]

Originally Posted by ajay99

First of all these cars were alloted by the officials from the concerned department and hence probably they were not much concerned about the marques.
Also I doubt Volga cars were available in INDIA then.These cars were assembled in India so they must not have had any objection to their usage perse.
On another note it would be better to avoid terms like ""Commie'' which may hurt the sentiments of leftist supporters

Agree with your comments.......which is precisely why both those words are in "double quotes". No offense taken, Ajay.

As an aside, my father was Director of Tourism - the department responsible for both ministerial cars (and houses) - at least until the 1990's. Earlier, he was Administrator at the Kerala House, New Delhi. So I have seen very closely the Impalas, Malibus, Mercedes, Toyotas etc that came in succession! Kerala House even had an Austin Cambridge / Morris Oxford in the mid 60's.

Just saw Bulldogji's post - it captures the spirit very well!

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by travancore

Agree with your comments.......which is precisely why both those words are in "double quotes". No offense taken, Ajay.

As an aside, my father was Director of Tourism - the department responsible for both ministerial cars (and houses) - at least until the 1990's. Earlier, he was Administrator at the Kerala House, New Delhi. So I have seen very closely the Impalas, Malibus, Mercedes, Toyotas etc that came in succession! Kerala House even had an Austin Cambridge / Morris Oxford in the mid 60's.

Just saw Bulldogji's post - it captures the spirit very well!

The Tourism Directorate still is responsible for the allotment and maintenance of these state cars. You forgot to mention one marque DATSUN.it was used in the early seventies by a minister whose son(also a politician) used to nostalgically mention about it.Kerala house also had a Ford whose picture has come in this thread.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by ajay99

You forgot to mention one marque DATSUN.it was used in the early seventies by a minister whose son(also a politician) used to nostalgically mention about it.

The light blue Datsun which was the official car of Late Mr. Moh'd Koya, whilst he was a Minister in the Kerala Assembly.

It used to come to Model School Trivandrum every day to drop his son to school, who is now a Minister himself in the current Kerala Government.

Best Regards & Thanks

Ram

[sunishsamuel]

Wow, this is a lovely thread and most of you know the history of cars during the yester years.

There used to be quite a lot of W123's and a pristine LHD black Mercedes 280SE at TVM. Where are those ? I am trying to trace and not able to find any. All of them sold/scrapped ? I pray that at least one of them still maintained in mint condition.. most of the merc's had numbers like 555, 1234, 8888, in the series KER, KEV, KCT, KBR, KBT, KEK,

In addition, i also read and heard a lot of stories about the financier mentioned in the link http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/c.../1/337114.html

Supposed to have financed many movies during the 80's. He had an enviable collection of cars. Supposedly during a movie shoot one of his merc was damaged by an elephant and he promptly replaced it with another ! What eventually happened to those cars ?

[Captain Haddock]

I remember an episode of Fast track in manorama channel(not 100% sure which show it was) ,which showed the garage of
Mr Vellapalli Nateshan, he had dozens of old mercedes cars. He never sells a car he has bought simply puts it in his ever growing garage once that car has to be replaced. I think he owns one of the largest car collections in kerala.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by sunishsamuel

Wow, this is a lovely thread and most of you know the history of cars during the yester years.

There used to be quite a lot of W123's and a pristine LHD black Mercedes 280SE at TVM. Where are those ? I am trying to trace and not able to find any. All of them sold/scrapped ? I pray that at least one of them still maintained in mint condition.. most of the merc's had numbers like 555, 1234, 8888, in the series KER, KEV, KCT, KBR, KBT, KEK,

In addition, i also read and heard a lot of stories about the financier mentioned in the link http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/c.../1/337114.html

Supposed to have financed many movies during the 80's. He had an enviable collection of cars. Supposedly during a movie shoot one of his merc was damaged by an elephant and he promptly replaced it with another ! What eventually happened to those cars ?

Many of the KBT,KEV,KET mercedes cars have not been scrapped and are still there.
The financiers TOYOTA COROLLA is still lying in a workshop in trivandrum
Dont know about his mercedes cars.

[sankar009]

Got this picture of a Meredez benz Bus of some educational institute in Kerala, from the net. IIRC there were buses running a school vans in rural Tamilnadu Especially Thanjavur

[sunishsamuel]

I was fortunate to go to school in those models of buses, I think the registration was KLT5311 and another KLT but not sure of the number. Eventually the buses were sold to a driving school at Parottukonam (i think so). One of the buses were short body with door in the middle, another long bodied with door at the rear. Even St. Thomas school had one of those buses till the early 90's but not sure what happened to that. I really wanted to buy that short bodied bus

The short bodied bus was a sprinter, looks its the original merc, was silent as well. I used to love travel on this bus. Was comfortable ride too. It was more reliable than than the long bodied one which was more noisy, had regular brake failures. Looks it was the Tata with the similar looking front. We loved those breakdown's because that was the time when Varma travels "Video coach" would come as replacement Ah I am nostalgic