[harit]

A Parsi Gent with two ladies in Pune in 1939. In the background the are two probably American cars.
The moustache is politically incorrect in todays times.

Cheers harit

[R Jagadish]

The Ambulances shown seem to be AUSTIN 10s

R Jagadish

[SuperSelect]

Originally Posted by harit

A Parsi Gent with two ladies in Pune in 1939. In the background the are two probably American cars.
The moustache is politically incorrect in todays times.

Cheers harit

He he, but it must've been a symbol of power, back in 1939.

[harit]

A couple on a beach with Austin and Fiat in the background. Where could this be?

[V-16]

Just a guess, could this be Juhu Beach in Bombay? I remember it used to have some kind of fence as shown from where the road turns (now opp Ramada Inn Palm Grove) I remember as a kid we used to go there and were allowed to park right at the beach as the cars are parked. Also there was an old water fountain or something, i guessing its that structure on the top right.

Besides, the couple look Gujratis to me and keeping the cosmopolitan population of Bombay in mind, on will notice a Sikh gent and a younger boy seated on the sand between the Austin and the Fiat. Cant say that the coconut trees depict Bombay, it could very well be Madras or Goa for that matter, but id have expected an Ambassador in Madras, and the people in the background with more distinctive Dravidian features. If it were Goa id expect the cars to be VWs or more so, hence i will safely deduce that this is Bombay.

[harit]

In a recent lot of pictures taken in the 1960's or early 1970's, this Fiat is in the background. This was at a vintage car rally in Delhi. Standing nearby was a SS 100. Can any Dilliwallah remember this car, and where is it now? I never knew that any of these landed up in India. It is important to look at the backgrounds of pictures too!! Unfortunately registration number cannot be read even when magnified.
I got a picture from the net, seems to be a 1965 Fiat roadster.

Cheers harit

[Rehaan]

V-16,

To add to what you've said - perhaps that high fence in the background is of the Juhu Aerodrome?

cya
R

[khanak]

On any given night in Mumbai, odds are relatively high that you can find people drumming, singing and dancing barefoot through the streets as they celebrate a wedding or religious festival. With its endless buzz of people, cars and street parties, this city throbs with energy. But a new exhibition at Gallery BMB (Yantra Annexe, Queen’s Mansion, Ghanshyam Talwatkar Marg, Near Cathedral School, Fort; 91-22-6171-5757; Welcome to BMB a Contemporary Art Gallery), running through Jan. 10, shows photographs from the 1930s and ’40s that portray the city in a different light: notably, calm and peaceful.

“When It Was Bombay” consists of about 20 photographs of the city, taken before its name changed to Mumbai and its population reached upwards of 16 million.

“It’s such a big difference now,” said Kanchi Mehta, the show’s curator, as she looked through the photographs. “Every time I look at these I’m like, ‘Wow, what must life have been like back then?’ ”

The images, based on negatives by unknown photographers found by a collector, show vintage cars, dated fashions and dirt roads.

The photographs feature mostly iconic Mumbai locations — the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Flora Fountain, Marine Drive — but they look startlingly different. In one, a shot of the Gateway of India, it looks as though all the camera-clad tourists and street hawkers selling postcards and snacks have suddenly disappeared.

In the photograph of Bandra Station, the commuter train station in Mumbai’s now busy suburb, seems so calm and quiet that it is barely recognizable. In place of masses of commuters rushing into the station and lines of auto-rickshaws waiting outside, there are only a half-dozen people looking far from hurried. The photograph does capture one Mumbai character that has not disappeared as the city has transformed: there’s a cow hanging out in the middle of the road.

Photo Show Recalls a Calmer Mumbai - NYTimes.com

[awini]

Originally Posted by harit

In a recent lot of pictures taken in the 1960's or early 1970's, this Fiat is in the background. This was at a vintage car rally in Delhi. Standing nearby was a SS 100. Can any Dilliwallah remember this car, and where is it now? I never knew that any of these landed up in India. It is important to look at the backgrounds of pictures too!! Unfortunately registration number cannot be read even when magnified.
I got a picture from the net, seems to be a 1965 Fiat roadster.

Cheers harit

harit bhai i have seen of two 850 bertone spyders in delhi, both run into the ground by the mid nineties, i tried hard to buy one but the owner wouldnt sell, then later sold for scrap! are you sure its an SS100 and not an SS1?

[harit]

Originally Posted by awini

harit bhai ...........are you sure its an SS100 and not an SS1?

Well I am not so sure, see the pic. He says on his placard SS Jaguar. Please check.

Cheers harit

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by harit

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.

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.

Originally Posted by harit

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.
Oh so much for Nostalgia!

Harit, I read 30 odd pages and reached your nostalgia page. What were you doing there in 1980? I'm sure I must have crossed your path then. I know there is a Jukebox in New York, but I'm not sure it has the old 45's in it still. I thought they had CD's in there now (superselect?)
More than all the other things you asked about, I vividly remember putting in a 4 anna coin. The wilson college canteen was lousy hence we'd have lunch at one of the 3 restaurants outside. Ten years later I found out Crystal at the other end of the lane to the right. I also remember getting a Rex Motoren Werke moped with had two gears. Only things was the piston was so badly seized that it broke. ThenI went into the lane of metro motors since there was a moped dealer (can't remember the name) to find out if that piston would fit. Eventually had to get rid of the moped. But it was much better than anything we got here. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

[wasif]

Originally Posted by harit

Well I am not so sure, see the pic. He says on his placard SS Jaguar. Please check.

Cheers harit

Looks pretty much like an SS100 but those side lamps and the fenders are absolutely not SS100 material.

Maybe its an SS Tourer. We could tell better if you had snaps of the sides of teh car

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by V-16

Just a guess, could this be Juhu Beach in Bombay? I remember it used to have some kind of fence as shown from where the road turns (now opp Ramada Inn Palm Grove) I remember as a kid we used to go there and were allowed to park right at the beach as the cars are parked. Also there was an old water fountain or something, i guessing its that structure on the top right.

Besides, the couple look Gujratis to me and keeping the cosmopolitan population of Bombay in mind, on will notice a Sikh gent and a younger boy seated on the sand between the Austin and the Fiat. Cant say that the coconut trees depict Bombay, it could very well be Madras or Goa for that matter, but id have expected an Ambassador in Madras, and the people in the background with more distinctive Dravidian features. If it were Goa id expect the cars to be VWs or more so, hence i will safely deduce that this is Bombay.

Gogi Bhaaji, It is indeed Juhu beach of 1959 or 60, pls see that the canopy had Gandhijee,s statue ,it was there for quite sometime later also,
we used to go there in those days even at midnight also and have paani puri, without parking problem and cops harrasing late night visitors.

[harit]

Originally Posted by harit

In a recent lot of pictures taken in the 1960's or early 1970's, this Fiat is in the background. This was at a vintage car rally in Delhi. Standing nearby was a SS 100. Can any Dilliwallah remember this car, and where is it now? I never knew that any of these landed up in India. It is important to look at the backgrounds of pictures too!! Unfortunately registration number cannot be read even when magnified.
I got a picture from the net, seems to be a 1965 Fiat roadster. Cheers harit

In another picture, this time a 1930's Lanchester, this Fiat peeks out again. Have these cars really been scrapped? Any survivors in India?

Cheers harit

[Rehaan]

Got some more pictures from my grandmum
(thanks to harit for scanning them!)


My granddad (sitting on the hood) + their guide Rambhav in the forests of MP.



My Dad & Mum (probably my Dad's Norton ES2?)



With friends in the Kumaon hills





In Rampur district







My uncle once again, this time @ Sitabani


cya
R