Hindustan Ambassador
Encyclopedia
The Hindustan Ambassador is a car
manufactured by Hindustan Motors
of India. It has been in production since 1958 with few modifications or changes and is based on the Morris Oxford
III model, first made by the Morris Motor Company
at Cowley, Oxford
in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1959.
Despite its British origins, the Ambassador is considered as a definitive Indian car and is fondly called "The king of Indian roads". The automobile is manufactured by Hindustan Motors at its Uttarpara
plant near Kolkata
, West Bengal
.
Some prominent Indian politicians, such as Sonia Gandhi
, use the Hindustan Ambassador.
When the Birla
s wanted a new model to replace their already old Hindustan models based on Morris Oxford Series II (Hindustan Landmaster), they scouted for the then-new Morris Oxford Series III. The car initially came with a side-valve engine but was later improved to an overhead-valve engine. Also the car at that point was quite an innovation with a fully enclosed monocoque chassis, which is why it is spacious inside.
Hindustan Motors Limited (HM), India's pioneering automobile manufacturing company and flagship company of the C.K. Birla Group, was established just before Indian independence, in 1942 by B.M. Birla. They began operations in a small assembly plant in Port Okha near Gujarat.
In 1948, Hindustan Motors shifted its assembly plant from Port Okha in Gujarat to Uttarpara in West Bengal's Hooghly district and strengthened its manufacturing capacity in the automobile segment.
The 1954 Morris Oxford series II in India was licence-built at Uttarpara
, (Hooghly dist.), West Bengal
, three years after its debut in England and labelled as the 1957 Hindustan Landmaster. It had a rounded rear squab and a curvaceous sloping hood.
Engaged in the manufacture of the Ambassador, Contessa and utility vehicles like the Trekker, Porter and Pushpak, the plant also has to its credit, many innovations and improvements in the automobile industry in India. Hindustan Motors is the only manufacturing facility in the world to manufacture parts for Bedford trucks currently.
Styling changes from the Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) to Morris Oxford series III (Ambassador) included deep headlamp cowls and small rear wing "tail fins" – all the rage in 1956.
The dashboard and steering wheel were completely redesigned. The Landmaster's flat-plane two-spoke steering wheel gave way to a stylish dished steering wheel with three spokes made-up of four wires per spoke, for the Ambassador. Also a new, dimpled hood made its debut. These models had a 1,489 cc side-valve BMC
B series
petrol engine. In 1959 the side-valve engine was replaced by a 1489 cc, 55 bhp overhead-valve BMC
B series
petrol engine.
In 1963, it underwent a minor frontal facelift with a closely chequered grill and was named as the Ambassador Mark II. Like with other British designed Mark cars, while there was never really any Ambassador Mark I, the arrival of the Mark II got people calling the older model, Mark I.
In this period the Sales Manager, Helmuth Lindeman, tried to persuade Birla Senior to use an Ambassador, as that would in his view, have improved the quality.
In 1975, another minor facelift to the same grille and a much bigger frontal facelift was turned out as the Mark 3, the most popular face of the Ambassador.
In 1979, the Ambassador got another facelift with a smaller chequered grill and square park lamps and separate blinker lamps. This model was named as Mark 4. In addition to the existing petrol version, a diesel variant was launched which was powered by a 1,500 cc, 37 bhp BMC
B series
diesel engine. It was the first diesel car in India and was well received by the Indians. Mark 4 was the last of the Mark cars. Later it was renamed Ambassador Nova. The Ambassador of 1990 was virtually identical to the original, with most changes being cosmetic. This technological stagnation was mainly because of the protectionistic policies being pursued by the Indian government at the time, and there was little willingness on the part of Indian companies to innovate.
engine and a five-speed gearbox, and also had the option of bucket seats, as opposed to the earlier bench seats. Also, the entire dashboard was redesigned. Instrumentation panels were shifted from the centre of the dashboard to the right, behind the steering wheel. Seat belts became mandatory.
, and even the Porsche 356
. However, the most overpowering influence on the front and bonnet has been that of the original Landmaster series (also based on Morris Oxford). The rear of the car has been left untouched, and this leads some to feel that the car is not really different from an Ambassador. The Avigo, however, has much more classic-touch internals, like a centrally mounted console (like the Mark IV models), beige-colored seats and wood-grain interiors.
s, and the Maruti Suzuki cars at that time. The engines currently available are the 1.8 L 75 bhp MPFI petrol engine
and a 2.0 L 50 bhp Isuzu diesel engine
.
In the late 1970s a limited batch of Mark III Ambassadors were produced with 1,700 cc engines.They were fitted with Constant Velocity SU side-draft carburettors of an earlier era instead of the more common indigenous Variable Velocity Solex down-draft units. The engine blocks of these cars had "1700" etched on them instead of the usual "1500". These were probably produced to handle the extra load of the piston-driven air conditioner compressors available in those days. The trim (metal beading) of these cars were a throwback to the sixties because they were chromeplated instead of aluminium.
created a concept inspired by the Ambassador. version, the Ambierod. This car is not manufactured by Hindustan Motors nor is it based on the ambassador. Several styling cues however have been borrowed from the Ambassador.
safety
legislation, but only a tiny number were ever sold, and the importer went into liquidation.
Despite this failure, from 2002 the Ambassador has again been available new in the UK from Merlin Garages, an importer in Wales.
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
manufactured by Hindustan Motors
Hindustan Motors
Hindustan Motors is an automobile manufacturer from India. It is part of the Birla Technical Services industrial group. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog....
of India. It has been in production since 1958 with few modifications or changes and is based on the Morris Oxford
Morris Oxford
After the Second World War the Oxford MO replaced the 10. It was introduced in 1948 and was produced until 1954. The design was shared with Nuffield Organisation stable-mate Wolseley 4/50....
III model, first made by the Morris Motor Company
Morris Motor Company
The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...
at Cowley, Oxford
Cowley, Oxford
Cowley in Oxford, England, is a residential and industrial area that forms a small conurbation within greater Oxford. Cowley's neighbours are central Oxford to the northwest, Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys to the south, New Headington to the north and the villages of Horspath and Garsington across...
in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1959.
Despite its British origins, the Ambassador is considered as a definitive Indian car and is fondly called "The king of Indian roads". The automobile is manufactured by Hindustan Motors at its Uttarpara
Uttarpara
Uttarpara is a small town of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.It is a town of historical importance. Uttarpara is home to some of the biggest industrial setups in the state...
plant near Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
.
Some prominent Indian politicians, such as Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...
, use the Hindustan Ambassador.
Origins
Birla
Birla may refer to:* Birla family* Members of the Birla family:** Aditya Birla** Basant Kumar Birla** Ghanshyam Das Birla** Krishna Kumar Birla** Kumar Mangalam Birla...
s wanted a new model to replace their already old Hindustan models based on Morris Oxford Series II (Hindustan Landmaster), they scouted for the then-new Morris Oxford Series III. The car initially came with a side-valve engine but was later improved to an overhead-valve engine. Also the car at that point was quite an innovation with a fully enclosed monocoque chassis, which is why it is spacious inside.
Hindustan Motors Limited (HM), India's pioneering automobile manufacturing company and flagship company of the C.K. Birla Group, was established just before Indian independence, in 1942 by B.M. Birla. They began operations in a small assembly plant in Port Okha near Gujarat.
Evolution
The Amby, as it is affectionately called, has been in continuous production since its inception, with very few changes to its frame.In 1948, Hindustan Motors shifted its assembly plant from Port Okha in Gujarat to Uttarpara in West Bengal's Hooghly district and strengthened its manufacturing capacity in the automobile segment.
The 1954 Morris Oxford series II in India was licence-built at Uttarpara
Uttarpara
Uttarpara is a small town of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.It is a town of historical importance. Uttarpara is home to some of the biggest industrial setups in the state...
, (Hooghly dist.), West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, three years after its debut in England and labelled as the 1957 Hindustan Landmaster. It had a rounded rear squab and a curvaceous sloping hood.
Engaged in the manufacture of the Ambassador, Contessa and utility vehicles like the Trekker, Porter and Pushpak, the plant also has to its credit, many innovations and improvements in the automobile industry in India. Hindustan Motors is the only manufacturing facility in the world to manufacture parts for Bedford trucks currently.
Ambassador Mark I to Mark IV
In 1957, all the tooling of the British Morris Oxford Series III was transferred to India. The car was renamed the Ambassador and series-production started in 1957.Styling changes from the Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) to Morris Oxford series III (Ambassador) included deep headlamp cowls and small rear wing "tail fins" – all the rage in 1956.
The dashboard and steering wheel were completely redesigned. The Landmaster's flat-plane two-spoke steering wheel gave way to a stylish dished steering wheel with three spokes made-up of four wires per spoke, for the Ambassador. Also a new, dimpled hood made its debut. These models had a 1,489 cc side-valve BMC
British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...
B series
BMC B-Series engine
The BMC B-series was a straight-4 internal combustion engine family, mostly used in motor cars, created by British company Austin Motor Company. The pre-cursor of the "B" series engine was a 1200 cc OHV engine which was used in the 1947 Austin A40 Devon. This A40 Devon engine was based on a...
petrol engine. In 1959 the side-valve engine was replaced by a 1489 cc, 55 bhp overhead-valve BMC
British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...
B series
BMC B-Series engine
The BMC B-series was a straight-4 internal combustion engine family, mostly used in motor cars, created by British company Austin Motor Company. The pre-cursor of the "B" series engine was a 1200 cc OHV engine which was used in the 1947 Austin A40 Devon. This A40 Devon engine was based on a...
petrol engine.
In 1963, it underwent a minor frontal facelift with a closely chequered grill and was named as the Ambassador Mark II. Like with other British designed Mark cars, while there was never really any Ambassador Mark I, the arrival of the Mark II got people calling the older model, Mark I.
In this period the Sales Manager, Helmuth Lindeman, tried to persuade Birla Senior to use an Ambassador, as that would in his view, have improved the quality.
In 1975, another minor facelift to the same grille and a much bigger frontal facelift was turned out as the Mark 3, the most popular face of the Ambassador.
In 1979, the Ambassador got another facelift with a smaller chequered grill and square park lamps and separate blinker lamps. This model was named as Mark 4. In addition to the existing petrol version, a diesel variant was launched which was powered by a 1,500 cc, 37 bhp BMC
British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...
B series
BMC B-Series engine
The BMC B-series was a straight-4 internal combustion engine family, mostly used in motor cars, created by British company Austin Motor Company. The pre-cursor of the "B" series engine was a 1200 cc OHV engine which was used in the 1947 Austin A40 Devon. This A40 Devon engine was based on a...
diesel engine. It was the first diesel car in India and was well received by the Indians. Mark 4 was the last of the Mark cars. Later it was renamed Ambassador Nova. The Ambassador of 1990 was virtually identical to the original, with most changes being cosmetic. This technological stagnation was mainly because of the protectionistic policies being pursued by the Indian government at the time, and there was little willingness on the part of Indian companies to innovate.
Ambassador Nova
The Ambassador Nova was launched in 1989 in two variants – a 55 bhp petrol-powered Deluxe version and a 37 bhp diesel-powered Diesel DX version. Ambassador Nova had a newly designed steering wheel, new steering column, better brakes and electricals. It also had some cosmetic changes which included a new radiator grill.Ambassador 1800 ISZ
In an attempt to increase its appeal, in 1992 another version was released. Dubbed the Ambassador 1800 ISZ, this model featured a 75 bhp 1,800 cc IsuzuIsuzu
, is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures...
engine and a five-speed gearbox, and also had the option of bucket seats, as opposed to the earlier bench seats. Also, the entire dashboard was redesigned. Instrumentation panels were shifted from the centre of the dashboard to the right, behind the steering wheel. Seat belts became mandatory.
Ambassador Classic
After the millennium renovation project at the Uttarpara Plant, the Ambassador was re-engineered and renamed the Ambassador Classic. The new model featured a redesigned dashboard, polyurethane seats, pull type door handles and the steering column gear lever was replaced by floor shift gears and had a tweaked up suspension. The higher end models featured servo assisted disc brakes and power assisted TRW steering.Avigo
The Avigo is the most radical revision of the venerated Ambassador, a part of a brand revitalisation kicked off in the middle of 2003. The change of name, a break from the Ambassador marque, indicated a different marketing strategy. The Avigo was launched in the summer of 2004. The revitalized lineup consisted of the Ambassador Classic of mid-2003, the Ambassador Grand of late-2003, and the aforementioned Avigo, designed by Manvindra Singh. Car enthusiasts, however, see this merely as a desperate attempt to claw back ever-dwindling market share. Notable influences on the new design include the new MiniMINI (BMW)
Mini is a British automotive marque owned by BMW which specialises in small cars.Mini originated as a specific vehicle, a small car originally known as the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and developed into a brand encompassing a range of...
, and even the Porsche 356
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 was the company's first production automobile. It was a lightweight and nimble handling rear-engine rear-wheel-drive 2 door sports car available in hardtop coupe and open configurations. Design innovations continued during the years of manufacture, contributing to its motorsports...
. However, the most overpowering influence on the front and bonnet has been that of the original Landmaster series (also based on Morris Oxford). The rear of the car has been left untouched, and this leads some to feel that the car is not really different from an Ambassador. The Avigo, however, has much more classic-touch internals, like a centrally mounted console (like the Mark IV models), beige-colored seats and wood-grain interiors.
Engines
In the early 1990s, the old Austin-designed B-Series OHV straight-4 BMC 1.5L petrol engine was replaced in favour of an Isuzu 1.8 litre engine and became the fastest production car in India, beating FiatFiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
s, and the Maruti Suzuki cars at that time. The engines currently available are the 1.8 L 75 bhp MPFI petrol engine
Petrol engine
A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
and a 2.0 L 50 bhp Isuzu diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
.
In the late 1970s a limited batch of Mark III Ambassadors were produced with 1,700 cc engines.They were fitted with Constant Velocity SU side-draft carburettors of an earlier era instead of the more common indigenous Variable Velocity Solex down-draft units. The engine blocks of these cars had "1700" etched on them instead of the usual "1500". These were probably produced to handle the extra load of the piston-driven air conditioner compressors available in those days. The trim (metal beading) of these cars were a throwback to the sixties because they were chromeplated instead of aluminium.
Extended version
Many local customisers offer stretched versions, though they are not very popular. One such manufacturer is Parikh, whose effort is called the Ambylimo.Customised version
Car designer Dilip ChhabriaDilip Chhabria
Dilip Chhabria is an Indian automobile designer. He is the founder of DC Design.-Biography:He is qualified in Transportation Design from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, U.S. and worked with General Motors USA in their Design Centre...
created a concept inspired by the Ambassador. version, the Ambierod. This car is not manufactured by Hindustan Motors nor is it based on the ambassador. Several styling cues however have been borrowed from the Ambassador.
UK imports
The car was briefly imported to the United Kingdom in 1993 (as the Fullbore Mark 10). The cars were retrofitted with a heater and seat belts in order to comply with EuropeanEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
safety
Car safety
Automobile safety is the study and practice of vehicle design, construction, and equipment to minimize the occurrence and consequences of automobile accidents. Automobile safety is the study and practice of vehicle design, construction, and equipment to minimize the occurrence and consequences of...
legislation, but only a tiny number were ever sold, and the importer went into liquidation.
Despite this failure, from 2002 the Ambassador has again been available new in the UK from Merlin Garages, an importer in Wales.