An Ambassador Retires

Many years ago, I had a very close friend in university whose mother lived in a beautiful dormi-bungalow in Cheltenham.  I went there many times to stay.  For all the times that I visited there, the family car was a 1957 Morris Oxford.  The Morris Oxford had been the mainstay of the mid-size family car made by Morris before they became part of Austin-Morris and BMC and finally British Leyland.  The car was hardly revolutionary in design but it was always a reliable workhorse.  The distinctive feature of the 1958 model was the sculpted bonnet. It had leather upholstery, a bench front seat and a column gear changer.  Like all such gear changes, the linkages had lots of slack and finding gears was sometimes a hit and miss affair.  But you got used to it and all-in-all for its time it was a good car

Then they started to build the Morris Oxford in India, called it the Ambassador and the car carried on being made virtually unchanged for more than 50 years.  The total production must have run into millions.  The Ambassadors were extensively used as taxis but also for carrying families and all their possessions the length and breadth of India.  Even today there are still 30,000 Ambassador taxis in Calcutta alone.  It had its idiosyncrasies but the Indians got over these with a smile and a few oily or damp rags.  But now it has been announced that production of the Ambassador will cease in the next few months.  It is, after all, an ancient design but it fundamental reliability and robust strength have endeared in to many an Indian family.  Over the years they have carried prime ministers and presidents and carried on when many a lesser vehicle failed completely in the Indian heat and monsoon weather.  It will be a long time before the last one retires but what a glorious history for any motor car. .

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