[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by harit

........And the Buicks in Metro Motors?......And the Austin Harley in the adjacent compound?

If I'm right there are 2 Buick's from Metro Motors still around, which were with the family for the longest time. One black 49 sedan BMZ 3854 (?) was with Zaheer Vakil in Pune, and then went to Diljeet Titus in Delhi, now painted in white with a champagne/gold top. Another similar car, also black, BMZ 4911 (?) is part of Hormusjee Cama's enviable collection.

The Austin Harley (the only one I know of) is probably BYF 1514, came from Poona in the 60s from one Mr. Setna to SS Dhabholkar, who has immaculately maintained it ever since. Truly remarkable. I believe this Mr. Setna also had a Plymouth/Dodge, regd. BYF 1515, which went to Paranjpe, current whereabouts unknown to me.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

A real treat this time

It appears to be a (rather stylish) Škoda bus plying the streets of Bombay (Gowalia tank route) in the 60s/70s. What's more interesting is it appeared to sport roof mounted cabling like a tram. A little googling tells us this is a 'trolley bus' that ran on electricity. Does anyone remember these, and whether there were more of them?

Bombay was such an advanced city at the time - wonder where we lost the plot.

Yes it is a trolley bus indeed. I couldn't agree more on Bombay having been an advanced city with world class public transit facilities et al. Trolley buses are still operational in San Francisco and I had the pleasure on being on board a modern one. They are quiet, non polluting and efficient. You can read more about them here - Trolley Buses .

Its about time congestion charges are levied and parking becomes a premium .

Sorry for going off topic.

EDIT: Source:BEST Undertaking

TROLLEY BUSES
A trolley bus service for the city was thought up for the first time by Mr. Remington in 1913. Once again, in 1937 one Shri S.R. Prasanna proposed to the Mayor that the trams and motor-buses should be replaced by trolley buses. The Mayor forwarded the proposal to the B.E.S.T. Company for its opinion. Scrapping of all the trams and motor-buses and acquiring a whole fleet of trolley-buses to take their place would have landed the Company in very heavy expenditure. Apart from it, it would have been impossible for a trolley-bus service to cope with the heavy traffic in a city like Mumbai. There was also a practical difficulty : Unlike a tram car, a trolley bus cannot change its direction without actually turning round. A trolley bus service would have been financially feasible only when new rails had to be laid to replace the worn-out ones on all the routes. But with the efficient way in which the tram tracks were maintained, this was not likely to happen in the near future. As for their capacity, three trolley buses would have been required to carry the load of two tram cars. The much appreciated convenience of ‘Transfer Tickets’ would have to be withdrawn. The fares would have to be increased A trolley-bus is more prone to breakdowns than is a tram car, as its electrical mechanism is more complicated than that of a tram car. If a road was under repairs the trolley bus service using it would have to be suspended. These and other objections of the kind were raised by the Company. They worked, and the trolley bus project once again came to nothing. And it all confirmed that the motor bus had come to stay and would stay for a long, long time in Mumbai.
The B.E.S.T. Company launched its motor-bus service on 15th July 1926 with a modest fleet of twenty-four vehicles. On 7th August 1947, the Municipal Corporation took over the Company. During the twenty-one years in between, the fleet had swollen to 242 vehicles.

[SuperSelect]

Originally Posted by harit

Come and meet me, and you can see some pics. Do you remember the 170 convertible in Brooklands? Well she is now in Bangalore. And the Buicks in Metro Motors? The two Fiats in Noble Motors? Pandit and the workshop behind? All stupid cars joints.
You remember Yak's, tailoring and Cecil, long shut down. But what about the beer joint next to Yaks that still exists? Was that New York? And the Austin Harley in the adjacent compound? I used to hang out in that area around 1980. My MG came from there.

Wow so nostalgic ! New York still exists, but in a swank new avatar. However, they have still maintained their old look, and the jukebox. We still go there quite often !
Brooklands garage was like a pilgrimage ! The 170 convertible had been there for what seemed like an eternity, and as a boy I would go there and gaze at her for hours !!
On the other end of Hughes road ws the other pilgrimage site - the STC motor showroom - Fords, Peugeots, Mercs, wow, you name them.
I also remember fondly gazing at the classic mercs at the United Motors showroom in what is now westside.
Would love to meet up with you to see these pics .

[wasif]

Karl is the Healey you speak of the ice blue 100. I saw this car one when it came to Hyderabad for an event, abosute delight.

BTW there is a 3000 with Rashid Bhai in Hyderabad but in a poor state.

How many other such cars are around in any idea.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by wasif

Karl is the Healey you speak of the ice blue 100. I saw this car one when it came to Hyderabad for an event, abosute delight.

I don't speak of a Healey, but an Austin Harley. I don't know much about it, but I believe it is pretty rare. Late 20's, early 30's I guess.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1248412-post76.html

[harit]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Yes it is a trolley bus indeed. I couldn't agree more on Bombay having been an advanced city with world class public transit facilities et al. Trolley buses are still operational in San Francisco and I had the pleasure on being on board a modern one. They are quiet, non polluting and efficient. You can read more about them here - Trolley Buses .

Its about time congestion charges are levied and parking becomes a premium .

Sorry for going off topic.

EDIT: Source:BEST Undertaking

I have actually seen these trolly busses in Gwalor Tank. And they disappeared around 1971. No wonder, maybe BEST could not get spares.
Generally old trolly bus systems and trams were removed all over the world, ofcourse there were exceptions. Later on many cities realised at least that removing trams was a mistake. But I think that the technology of these trolly busses was a bit dated. Maybe today they are smoother, in the old days they may have had their problems.

About congestion charges and premium parking, well we do not have any real parking houses in Bombay. They were to build one at Nariman Point, it suddenly became CR2. Which international city in the world does not have such a parking house? Mumbai as the powers commercialised available spaces, now we suffer. Less said the better.

Originally Posted by SuperSelect

Wow so nostalgic ! New York still exists, but in a swank new avatar. However, they have still maintained their old look, and the jukebox. We still go there quite often !
Brooklands garage was like a pilgrimage ! The 170 convertible had been there for what seemed like an eternity, and as a boy I would go there and gaze at her for hours !!
On the other end of Hughes road ws the other pilgrimage site - the STC motor showroom - Fords, Peugeots, Mercs, wow, you name them.
I also remember fondly gazing at the classic mercs at the United Motors showroom in what is now westside.
Would love to meet up with you to see these pics .

During which period did you live in that area? Did you visit United Motors when the London Sydney Merc came in there? Or when that place caught fire damaging a Merc 300?
Did you ever eat at Wilson Restaurant in Bhavans College lane and admire the cars lying in Apte compound? Did you exchange stories with the car brokers who hung around just before Ruby Battery? Or did you watch Anna and his boy sprucing up imported cars for sale to new customers? Did you ever watch how the electrician opened up cars and "clocked" them? Actually STC had the used consulates and foreigners cars, but the car dealer had a much better selection. Bagla operated from Noble Motors, he got cars from Delhi ever so often.
Brooklands also had a black Austin 7 saloon, still in Bombay. And Metro had Standard Vanguard's and a Buick Electra and a Buick Wildcat. Then did you see that aeroplane behing BCMA? With the VW van? And both were crushed when the building collapsed?
Oh so much for Nostalgia!

[harit]

Attached is a photo recently aquired.
The car could be a Fiat, but cannot be 100% sure. And the family seems to be Parsi, that impression I got when I enlarged the picture. Nothing else is known.

Cheers harit

[khanak]

I found this interesting picture on the Campion school website.

[SuperSelect]

Originally Posted by harit

During which period did you live in that area? Did you visit United Motors when the London Sydney Merc came in there? Or when that place caught fire damaging a Merc 300?
Did you ever eat at Wilson Restaurant in Bhavans College lane and admire the cars lying in Apte compound? Did you exchange stories with the car brokers who hung around just before Ruby Battery? Or did you watch Anna and his boy sprucing up imported cars for sale to new customers? Did you ever watch how the electrician opened up cars and "clocked" them? Actually STC had the used consulates and foreigners cars, but the car dealer had a much better selection. Bagla operated from Noble Motors, he got cars from Delhi ever so often.
Brooklands also had a black Austin 7 saloon, still in Bombay. And Metro had Standard Vanguard's and a Buick Electra and a Buick Wildcat. Then did you see that aeroplane behing BCMA? With the VW van? And both were crushed when the building collapsed?
Oh so much for Nostalgia!

Sir you are a storehouse of information. . We moved to Pedder road when I was a boy, in 1977 and I lived there till 2006. But I haven't seen or done any of the things you mentioned in this post . I do remember the Vanguard always parked at the Metro motors gate. In fact I've been promising Stanher I'll try to locate the car and take pics for him. I believe it's stored in their workshop at Kalachowkie near Lalbaug. I intend to go there and snoop some time ! I also remember a mention of the fire at United motors.. and remember the collapse of Akashdeep which took several lives...
BTW, in the tiny lane under French bridge, behind the Theosophical society's building there is a lovely Traction Avant garaged for an eternity. I intend snooping there too, soon.
Let's meet sometime !!

[wasif]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

I don't speak of a Healey, but an Austin Harley. I don't know much about it, but I believe it is pretty rare. Late 20's, early 30's I guess.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1248412-post76.html

Karl that car is an Austin 12/6 Harley Sedan also called an Austin light six not an Austin Harley. Its the name given to that style of bodywork. Similarly it was available with Ascot sedan body as well as Newberry and Kempton sports sedan bodywork. These were current between 31 to 37

There were two of these cars with Limo bodywork for sale long ago in Hyderabad apart from a couple of toureres also on sale.

[harit]

Originally Posted by wasif

There were two of these cars with Limo bodywork for sale long ago in Hyderabad apart from a couple of toureres also on sale.

Any idea about their whereabouts? When was this

[wasif]

Originally Posted by harit

Any idea about their whereabouts? When was this

Let me guess they are with you now ???? Both green / black looked like twins back then. I was in collage those day and would stop to admire them whenever I passed

[harit]

Recently I had put up a pic of a Wolseley at the Gateway of India, nearer to the statue on the left side. Now here is a pic with the car in front of the Gateway. You will see that the paving is the same.
Sharing this picture with all as I am declared as a
"not a genuine enthusiast".

Cheers to all enthusiasts harit

[harit]

Recently I purchased three very old postcards. They showed "Laurie's Hotel, Agra. Each pic had an ancient car in the picture. Here is one such picture. The car is probably a large Renault. This should be around 1920. Does Laurie's Hotel still exist in Agra?

[harit]

This Landmaster seems to have been relatively new when some festivities were on. No clue about it, probably a family occasion around 1958.