EJJI'S CARS
Cars and Ejji
STANDARD HERALD MARK II- my first car. (Person in picture is my friend Lakshman, a car lover too.)
I bought my first car in 1970. This car was completely dismantled by me at a workshop in Coimbatore and re-modeled. The dashboard was a cluster of dials, like an aircraft cockpit. The steering was a racing steering. The gearshift was a chromium "T" shift with teak wood inlay. Foam cushioned and contoured bucket seats in black. A monogram "E" on the front radiator grille made of solid brass and gold plated! And, here's the best! The body color was aluminum metallic paint mixed with a dash of violet that was virtually unknown those days. The body color was an absolute hit. And the top was black, matt finished wrinkle paint! Again, something no one had tried earlier. The exhaust pipe and silencer were modified to give a howl and a boom with perfect beats when accelerating or decelerating. The sound of the car when it came down a hill road was an eye stopper, or shall I say "ear stopper"! The car was recognized wherever it went. When parked in a public place, you had a crowd of admirers around it. A great boost for my ego, of course. And all this at a time when cars were a novelty. And this “novel car” was a rarity! The person in the picture is my friend Lakshman, another car lover.
VOLVO 164 E- A blood red car, but I do not have a picture in color! The car was a top selling model around the world for many years and is now a collector's item. It is one of the sturdiest cars ever built. And Volvo cars had features that were far ahead of their times. For example, it had individual air conditioning ducts for each passenger. And the ducts were at various levels in the car, so that any single person could adjust the airflow to their requirement. It had a system by which an indicator would tell you that one of the many bulbs in the car's electrical circuit was defective. It came with an electronic fuel injector, which today is a standard in most cars.
HM CONTESSA : According to me the safest car for highways. A very long nose keeps you safe in case of an impact. But lacks ground clearance, side impact bars and other safety features that were yet to come.
WILLYS CJ 3A- Remodelled by me!
It took a long time to do all this, but it was a marvelous vehicle. It is now with Sarika and her husband Rishi in Bangalore, and still makes waves on the roads when they use it over weekends.
Toyota Corolla H1 1.8J
FORD MUSTANG- my most favorite car
This car was not just an eye stopper. It was a traffic stopper. People have stopped me on the road just to see the car properly. And some of them became good friends. Like GV. He stopped me on the road to have a look at this car, and subsequently became a good friend. When I owned this car there were just 4 Ford Mustangs in India, and the 4 owners knew each other!
CAR IN WHICH I LEARNT DRIVING FROM PK- MSY 3151
Maruti Omni- Rasika & Sarika's first car
STANDARD HERALD 1964 model
AUSTIN 1931
THE DASH BOARD OF THE AUSTIN