samishka

This is the only old car brochure I have.(my father bought a brand new Lancer C12 in October 1984) All my other car brochures are from 2004 onwards, which I got from a friend in the office.

Unique Dashboard design, but with poor ergonomics.

1983-84 Lancer Fiore (Export Model) Brochure - 24pages excluding gate-folds.

This was shown in Swarnavahini recently. Villagers in Horana area were doing a protest march, demanding the authorities to repair this road. This road was 'carpeted' right upto Horana 20 yrs ago (Not 30 yrs ago as claimed by a villager shown in TV), but several low lying stretches are prone to flooding. And now those areas of the road are in such a dilapidated condition, that the villagers seem to be not tolerating anymore.

A friend of mine had a similar experince (Early 2004, at around 11PM near Bishops College) when his auto 'box failed. As far as I remember he first callled 505 Motors. They refused to come, citing non-availability of staff. And later when he called another B/Down Svc they asked some 'huge' amount. What surprised me was, the towing truck of that same B/Down Svc which refused to come, could be seen busy towing vehicles from 'No Parking Zones' to the police station, during the daytime.(Were they exhausted after serving the Police for the whole day?)

It is said that the SL govt. lifted the ban on car imports only on 1977. Since this is a pre-1979 model, it is obvious that majority of them which were brought here were "Re-conditioned". In addition to UMLL, old-timers such as Ishara Traders, Indra Traders, Ramanayaka Automobiles et al. existed those days. There were also (now defunct?) Kosala Agencies and Lakshmans, both of whom specialised in Japanese vans. AL members of 35+ age might know exactly whether UMLL imported any brand new Delica T120s

FYI http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2311/121az.jpg

I have a 2003/04 Export Model brochure with me.

This model is unmistakable with that 'characteristic' noise. I remember, this Delica model was a favourite among those who were starting a school van service. Petrol was also cheaper those days. [Even in April 1989 it was Rs. 13.50 per liter. In September the same year it went upto Rs. 20. I guess, this huge increase in petrol price meant the end of Morris Minor Taxis. ] In the early '90s some owners fitted these Delicas with Diesel engines.

Could see the original truck version within those photos. Sadly what we see on our roads are 'van into truck' conversions. Glad to note that THRUKI's van has been saved from such a disastrous conversion. (Thanks to advise from The Don, Twin Turbo and terrabytetango.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is another van (Not a Delica, however) spotted recently, kept in its original 'shape'. It bears a 35 sri number (registered as a 9-seater, petrol-engined bus) http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/9144/p10006282.jpg

Brochure or owner's-manual ?

GREAT RESTORATION JOB ! Good for studying the evolution of Japanese vehicles. Hope you have not changed the interior. (Dashboard, meters, steering wheel). The dual-tone colour brings back memories of my early childhood (before 1983, when DelicaT120s, Mazda E2200s, Corolla KE20s, Sunny B210s, Ford Cortinas 'ruled' our roads.) Nowadays a good example of this model is rarely seen. Majority being abused by using for transportation of goods.There was another (older?) model with large single headlights.

Many Happy Returns of the Day !

Many Happy Returns of the Day !

It's gone forever. I threw it after scanning the whole magazine. The paper was very fragile, especially in the printed areas (areas covered with ink). The center pull-out, with a group photo of the whole staff and students, still remains. Could not scan it owing to its large format. By the way, I totally forgot about the RC archives.

Old (Maruti) Suzuki Zen did not make into 2007 model year. Production stopped in March 2006. This model is well known for its driving pleasure and reliability, but loses out on interor space, build quality, ride etc. It was the Zen Estilo that came in 2007, which is essentially an Old generation Suzuki MR Wagon with a noisy engine and notchy gearshift shared with Maruti Wagon-R. One of Maruti's least succesful models. However as a second-hand buy, I feel both these Zens are outclassed by the other three shown above.

Not a vintage ad, but Fiat Fans might find it interesting. Taken from the inaugural issue of "MOTOR Trading Post" (4-17 May 1995) and it was in the same year the agency for Fiat changed from Colonial Motors to Premier Automobiles (now defunct?) - Nawala. http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6784/1995fiat.jpg

Sorry, could not see a single Fiat ad in those papers. (Has the popularity of Fiat cars in those days affected, after one was used in the famous Wilpattu murder in 1958 ? )

I found those ads in some old deteriorating newspapers. I threw them away, after scanning some interesting ads and news items. c.1955 and c.1958 VW Beetle ads were taken from the "Gateway" Magazine of Royal Primary School (Royal Primary School was later merged with Royal College, Colombo) 1959 ads were taken from a "Sunday Times" (by Times of Ceylon) issue. 1960 ads were taken from a "Ceylon Daily News" issue. Tuckers Autodrome is said to be the same 'Autodrome' we see today, and yes, Clarence Amerasinghe was the founder of Car Mart and it is still run by the same Amerasinghe family.(Sad to see they no longer hold the VW agency.) I too have never seen a Hansa in our roads. It was produced by a subsidiary of "Borgward". For more details refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_1100

1959 http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8932/1959027.jpg The following models are from 1960, just before the SL govt. banned importing cars. http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8311/austinmini1960.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5812/borg...sabella1960.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8445/hansa1960.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2927/rena...auphine1960.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4045/morriscars.jpg

c. 1955 http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4961/c1955.jpg c. 1958 http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3451/c1958.jpg 1959 http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9158/1959004.jpg 1959 http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4761/1959022.jpg

Thank you very much for your comment. I just tested an image upload. There are more ads with me, but I wonder whether all of them can be hosted in imageshack. I'll try putting some more. Is there a way to upload images directly onto AL forum? Regarding Globe Motors, it was situated where now there is a bare land adjoining NDB bank near the Colombo Public Library.

Test. http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2388/hillman1960.jpg