When it is about cars or bikes, people enlarge their ears. Cars earned their piece of glare and beauty in the 20th century. But when it is the most popular Indian car, the first one that comes to our mind is simply the mighty Ambassador, isn’t it? Well! there are many more cars that ruled Indian markets, alongside Ambassador.
However, roads nowadays are quite occupied with BMWs and Audis, let us switch ourselves back to few decades and recollect our amazing vintage cars.
Some gave little mileage, some looked bit little, meanwhile, some of them were too much lengthy but every car has its peculiar feature that won vintage lovers’ hearts.
Let us list out the 10 most popular cars here:
1. Hindustan Motors Ambassador:
The King of old times, one simply doesn’t need any words to describe this Hulk car. The car that could fit any number of people, go through absolutely anything and could run for years. The Hindustan Motors Ambassador was a true legend based on the British Morris Oxford which was also the first car that was “Made in India”.
2. Tata Sierra:
This car is powered by a 1.9 l engine, the Sierra had many firsts for cars in India such as adjustable steering, power windows, power steering the distinctive glass window for rear passengers. One can quote this car as the ‘beginning of changes‘ some automobile enthusiasts have restored many Sierra’s in the recent past but the car is known to produce nagging issues.
3. Standard 2000:
This car is well applauded for its extraordinary speed statistics, features include 2000 cc, 4-speed manual car that could hit a top speed of 145 km/hr. Even though the specs do not seem like much now, back in the day, this was a formidable machine on Indian roads.
4. Maruti Gypsy:
Despite all the above cars, this is one is still available for purchase. Gypsy is extensively used by military personnel, and loved by off-roaders and would go almost anywhere. However, many people did complain about the poor fuel efficient and rear seating comfort.
5. Premier Padmini:
Now, this slightly looks like Mr Bean’s car, old-time car lovers will always remember this little car that once zipped through the Indian roads. Padmini is manufactured in India from 1973 to 1998, once many celebrities owned this car that includes Rajnikanth. Padmini lost its appeal from themid-1980s as Maruti began to dominate the Indian market.
6. Hindustan Motors Contessa:
Coming to luxurious cars, Contessa undoubtedly occupies the first place for its unmatched space, power, comfort and AC. This car is lovingly called as ‘Conty’. The fact that there are still buyers for the Contessa even after being discontinued for over so many years prove how much this automobile was loved. Maybe Hindustan Motors should bring back the Contessa, with a more powerful engine and modern features, so that it might attract buyers.
7. Maruti 800:
The car of the middle-class family, people lovingly call it. Maruti 800 is one of the most successful cars to ever hit the automobile market, it literally killed many older model cars that were popular at the time. Fondly called as the “car that put India on wheels”one can still find this little car zipping through the streets. On the other side, most mechanics in India learnt their trade with this car, which claims the flexibility of the car.
8. Maruti Esteem:
As far as the size and strength are concerned, this car absolutely ranks next to Ambassador, Esteem is a car that runs without any reliability issues, it was a legend. Loved by amateur rally racers, the initial version of the car had 65 hp which was soon replaced with a more powerful 85 hp motor. Esteem lost its popularity with the entry of more modernised cars.
9. Fiat 118 NE:
This car looks like Padmini, although not as popular as it is, the 118 NE still was bought by a large number of people in India. The car was very similar to the 1966 version, except for a few cosmetic changes. This car lost its charm in the market after the entry of Japanese car manufacturers.
10. Opel Astra:
This car is manufactured by German automobile manufacturer ‘Opel’ and is considered as a small family car. Unlike other cars available in India at the time, the car had many features and had gotten few International awards too. Multiple variations of the car were sold throughout the world, however, most cars even in India have been scrapped.