[nukkad] Fiat 1100 Delight - the passing of an icon

[Ram Rao <>]

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The ubiquitous Fiat 1100 Delight(aka Premier President; aka Premier
Padmini) graced the Bombay taxi world from 1960 thru 1999. She is not
produced anymore. Her diesel engine has been outlawed.
The surviving black and yellow Padmini taxis we see in the City today,
retrofitted to injest compressed natural gas, are all between two and
fifteen years old.

The Fiat Delight was a single model that survived over four decades.
During her four-decade life span, she bore and sustained a small-ticket
cottage industry from pavement garages: Koliwada and Saki-Naka to parts
fabricators from Patiala to Coimbatore.
Her frugal costs of acquisition, running and maintenance afforded taxi
travel to a middle-class Bombay.
Never again will we see such longevity in a model and more importantly
such frugality.

Buyers of new taxicabs are experimenting with the dimunitive Daewoo
Matiz, Maruti Alto and Fiat Uno.
Does a London, NewYork, Tokyo or Singapore  have ugly one-box
squarebackers as taxicabs dotting the landscape?

And all of these three happen to be priced higher than the Padmini ever
was. The availability of spares is sparse and the prices hefty in
comparison with the humble Padmini. Not to mention the Padmini’s rugged
longevity. She was so much more car than these micro-hatchbacks will
ever be.

She joins the Trams, Czech trolley buses, Victorias, Daimler
double-deckers that once graced Bombay — an icon is passing!!

Ram [ramrao@bajirao.com]


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