AMBY-Perfect Illustration of Class & Power..!!!

One of the earliest passions, or rather celebrated fantasy, of my childhood was the white Ambassador Car at my grandmas’ place. I used to visit her during holidays, and as a child I was into the habit of drawing up a list of all the things I intended to do during my stay there, and invariably, on top of my ‘to-do’ list would feature "A Ride in the Amby" (What a cute name for a ‘colossal’ machine-Ambassador!!).

Now, I can come up with numerous reasons as to why I fell in love with the car, the simplest being, I like things to be big and strong and Amby fits that description perfectly. My appreciative fervour for this automobile piece of art refuses to bog down. It was such a stupendous and awe-inspiring car, that I used to feel that it was car fit for the rich and the powerful. (Wonder which genius came up with the brilliant idea of turning Amby into the official car of Indian political and bureaucratic leadership.!!! ) Now for a little background information on my favourite car.

Ambassador is based on the Morris Oxford model and was designed and manufactured by a British Automobiles Co. Morris Motors (started by William Morris, a bicycle manufacturer). Production started in 1957, by Hindustan Motors and was initially (& rightfully too) called Landmaster. A year later it was christened Ambassador, and in the subsequent years, improved models of Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, Mark IV were launched. The final upgrade was launched in 2003 and was called Avigo. Ambassador ruled the Indian roads for a period of almost 40 years before being taken over by the sleeker and compact models (With ‘Being Thin’ becoming the latest fad, even for cars ). With its characteristic musclepower and class, Amby was soon adopted by the corridors of power and is still the most preferred car for official use, so much so that car itself is a pseudo password for access to enter restricted government establishments. That factor was completely exploited by the terrorists who attacked Indian Parliament in 2001 in a Ambassador car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels .

Even to this day, when I see a Amby on the road, Im filled with nostalgia and am sure a lot of people would have fond memories with this particular car, which immediately reminds us of the time when our roads were less clogged and traversed only by the relatively safer Amby along with few of its other contemporaries chiefly-Maruti 800 and Fiat.