India's Tireless Icon

Do you fancy a new car with leaf-spring rear suspension, drum brakes and styling that genuinely belongs to another era? Well, retro fiends, your wish is granted. Say hello to the Hindustan Ambassador, which is to India what Chevrolet is to America and Holden is to Australia.

Keen Anglophiles may notice the Ambassador bears more than a passing resemblance to the Morris Oxford - and this is no coincidence as it is in fact a badge-engineered version of the bull-nosed Brit. How did this seemingly unlikely alliance come about? Glad you asked.

In 1946, a year before India finally cast off the shackles of the British Raj, Hindustan Motors began importing the Morris 10 in kit form and assembling it in Calcutta. In 1949, the company began importing and assembling the Morris Oxford as the Hindustan Landmaster. They did the same, on a smaller scale, with the Morris Minor, dubbing it the Baby Hindustan.

In 1957, Hindustan Motors updated their operation to import and assemble the latest Series Three Morris Oxford. They called it the Ambassador. The rugged character of the vehicle met the demands of local roads and the Hindustan Ambassador became the Indian people's car. Hindustan Motors has built nearly four million of them since and the car is still a ubiquitous sight on Indian roads.

In fact, its popularity has only recently started to dwindle in the face of an onslaught of newer, peppier small cars. But there is still a market for the bulbous sedan. Hindustan Motors flogged off 14,200 examples last year - mainly to the government, corporate sector and taxi fleets.

Changes to the car over the past 45 years have been few. Visually, there have been tweaks to the headlights, taillights, grille, bumpers, front guards and bonnet - but these have been relatively minor. The car still looks much the same as it did in 1957. The interior has also been tarted-up, scoring a revised dash and new steering wheel - hardly earth-shattering stuff.

But the biggest changes have been under the skin, where the venerable BMC 1.5-litre engine, which cranked out (hold on to your hats) 38kW, has been ditched in favour of a 1.8-litre OHC Isuzu powerplant. Ditto the four-on-the-tree manual, which has been replaced by a five-speed transmission (with the lever now sprouting from the floor).

But HM has opted to leave the chassis virtually untouched (hardly a wise move), so the car still rides and handles like the 1957 original. Stopping power also remains the same, courtesy of drum brakes on all four corners.

The Ambassador has little to recommend it dynamically but I must admit I've got a soft spot for the car, and there's a reason for this. You see, I learned how to drive in one of these things. Learning to drive is a tough enough ordeal for any spotty youth - but throw an Ambassador and Indian traffic conditions into the mix and it becomes a challenge of epic proportions.

Getting a comfortable position behind the wheel is the first challenge, the bench seat offering nil in the way of adjustability. Ditto the large, hard-rimmed steering wheel. Consequently, shorter drivers have little option other than propping a pillow on the seat in order to reach the wheel and pedals.

Having wedged yourself behind the tiller, the next tricky bit is to actually get underway. The current model's five-speed manual is no doubt a better proposition than the four-on-the-tree setup I had to contend with. Finding a gear was akin to poking a stick into a bucket of paint and trying to find a hole in the bottom. A few graunching attempts usually yielded the desired results.

First gear ran out at about 15 km/h in the 1.5-litre Ambassador, which meant another wrestle with the gearlever was required moments after taking off. If you really built up a good head of steam in fourth gear it was possible to see 100 km/h on the dial on a decent length straight. But this was not recommended, for various reasons - local traffic conditions being the main one.

For those who haven't driven in Delhi, there is only one rule you need to remember - there are no rules.

So much for the go, what about stopping power? Well, actually, stopping power is not really what the brakes provide. It's more a feeling of gentle deceleration. Tramping on the middle pedal results in a none-too-encouraging squealing, accompanied by a gradual reduction in velocity. The inordinately large stopping distances means anticipation is a key ingredient for Ambassador pilots.

And as for handling...ever heard of the QE2? Well, the Ambassador is more manoeuvrable, but only just. Fans of body roll will be delighted with the lean angles that can be achieved in the Ambassador. In fact, it's necessary to brace oneself against the steering wheel when pushing hard through right-handers. It's either that or facing the prospect of sliding across the shiny bench seat into the passenger's lap.

Okay, so we've established that the Ambassador is not a dynamic masterpiece - but that's not what it's about. It was intended to be a robust, simple device that wouldn't fall apart on Indian roads - and it achieves this in spades. Its simple mechanicals make it a backyard tinkerer's delight, while its durable construction means the inevitable low-speed shunts and scrapes that are part of Indian driving are swallowed in its stride.

Build quality is abysmal by western standards, but this is more to the detriment of aesthetics than anything else.

Interestingly enough, I can't remember riding in too many cars that have a more comfortable back seat than the Ambassador. Perhaps this is why Indian politicians are still being carted around in them.

In recent times Hindustan Motors has tried to broaden the appeal of the Ambassador by offering different variants, powered by a choice of petrol, diesel or CNG bi-fuel engines. Local taxi fleets use the latter powerplant in order to meet legislation introduced by the government whereby all public transport vehicles are required to run on the cleaner-burning fuel. The measure seems to be paying dividends, as the thick smog that used to envelop Delhi is a thing of the past.

So how much does the Ambassador cost? Well, the base model lobs in for the equivalent of about AUS$15,000 - equipped with either a 1.5-litre diesel or the 1.8-litre CNG bi-fuel taxi pack. The 2.0-litre diesel tops the range at around AUS$18,000.

Hindustan Motors recognizes the fact that Ambassador sales are dwindling so in a bid to rekindle interest in the warhorse, it showed off a tarted-up design study at the recent Auto Expo staged in Delhi. By all accounts, the facelifted version created quite a stir and it is likely to go into production later this year. If you hadn't guessed, the red car in this story is that brand new model...

Could this mean the Ambassador will soldier on for another 50 years?

Anything is possible in India!

Ambassador Specifications

ENGINE
Type	4 Cylinder OHC
Capacity	1817 CC
Bore / Stroke	84..0 / 82.0 mm
Compression Ratio	8.5 : 1
Max. Power	82bhp at 5000 rpm
Max. Torque	13.8 Kgm at 3000 rpm
Cooling	Water cooled
TRANSMISSION
Clutch	Dry Disc (Diaphragm) 215 mm dia.
Gear Box	All Synchromesh 5 speed gearbox including overdrive
Gear Ratio	1 - 3.736 2 - 1.963 3 - 1.364 4 - 1.000 5 - 0.775 Reverse - 3.402
Final Drive Ratio	3.90
Drive	Rear
SUSPENSION
Front	Independent suspension with torsion bar, springs and anti roll bar with hydraulic telescopic double acting shock absorbers.
Rear	Semi - elliptical leaf springs with hydraulic telescopic double acting shock absorbers.
STEERING
Type	Helical Rack and pinion
Overall Ratio	22.2 : 1
Turning Circle Dia.	10.8 mtrs
BRAKES
Service	Servo assisted dual circuit hydraulic with 9 1/8 " dia. drum brakes on all four wheels, dual leading trailer on rear.
Parking	Cross pull type through cables on rear wheels only.
WHEELS
Disc	4j X 15
Tyre size	5.90 * 15 - 6 PR (Cross-ply) 165 R 15 (Radial)
BODY
Type	Unitized
No. of Doors	4
ELECTRICALS
Battery	12 Volt. 55 Amp. Hour
Alternator	12 V, 45 A
FUEL CAPACITY	42 litres
DIMENSIONS
Length (Overall)	4325 mm
Width (Overall)	1662 mm
Height (Overall) (Cross ply/Radial tyres)	1600 mm/1593mm
Wheel base	2464 mm
Kerb Weight	1104 Kg
GVW	1554 Kg