Its me, Vishnu from Trivandrum!


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Hello Guyz n Girls(If any),

My name is Vishnu Nair, from Trivandrum, Kerala, The Gods Own Country as they say.

I am 34 yrs and work in an IT firm. As each one of you, I am also an automobile
enthusiast, and that makes me land here, in this site.

I am a true follower of other big auto blog sites, but never got a chance to write
anything about myself there. I chose to introduce myself here.

Mods, thanks for approving my request and giving an oportunity to mingle with
like minded people here.

My passion for automobiles started from a very young age and I learned to drive when I was 12 yrs in
our MM540 DP, an 87 model which we had till 2003. We discontinued using this jeep from 1994 till 1997
and it was kept under a covered parking area with all tires jacked up.

In 1997, I decided to restore this MM540 to its previous glory. I was 17 yrs then. Knew nothing about
restoring. The body disintegrated due to rust and engine was not cranked for the past 3 yrs. So decided to
give the engine work to Authorized SS. I decided to upgrade the tires and bought Gypsy Discs for the Jeep.
Then me and my uncle went to CEAT showroom and then started avery funny conversation with the Manager there.

Me: "I want tires, 5 nos for Gypsy"
Manager: "Ok, what size do you prefer?"
Me: Blink Blink. Looked at my unlce. Same expression there.
We: "Does tires have a particular size?"
Manager: "Yes. It does. Which one do you want?"
Me: "Big one."
Manager: "Yes, but what size?" (This guy started losing his patience)
Me: "What is the biggest possible tire size for a Gypsy?"
Manager: Blink Blink
Manager: "Ok,you want 5 tires right. Take these." (Frustrated)

We bought 5 tires. Later own after gaining much experience, I noticed that this fellow gave us 195/70 R15 which
rather looked skinny for my MM540. I should have gone for 235 size. But little did we knew that time.

But that MM540 soon became the talk of the town and the automobile workshop where I did the rest of the body work and
electricals started getting huge enquiries about my jeep and he got several referral job works based on my 540.
He made a fortune out of this. We were even offerred a whoping 2.5 lakhs during that time. But dint sell it.

We used the jeep till 2003 and my uncle sold it when I was out of town. I was using a 1995 Tata Sierra which I purchased in 1998.
This sierra alsowent under massive restoration in Tata Authirized SS. Everything was brand new.
I painted it Green, and was looking like a brand new car. I purposely did not fix number plates for a few days.

I did not take pictures then, because little did I knew that these kinds of forums will be active and like minded people would love to
see the creativity and enthusiasm of petrol heads.

Now I look at the pictures of other restorations and feel pity that I did not take pictures of all those what I have done.
Man this is indeed a passion and this is where we all belong.

Then later on I got married and needless to say, my enthusiasm and passion towards autmobiles subsided and gave way to
needs and necessities. But deep inside my heart, I was still the same, old petrol head, waiting to jump outside of all
these hindrances of marriage, fatherhood, and break free to freedom of off roading, rallies and the likes.

Recently I happened to attend the Mahindra Great Escape organized in Kuttikkanam, Kottayam. I managed to get a Mahindra Thar CRDe
from one of my friends. That was the first time in my life driving with a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
I enquired several experienced drivers how to engage 4X4 and in what terrain should 4H and 4L to be used and got valuable inputs.
Man that was hell unleashed. We came to know the real power of these vehicles. I will share my experience and pictures of Great Escape,
Kuttikkanam.

I was so happy after the Great Escape and feel pity for leting my jeep go in 2003. Its never late.
We are planning to take a Thar CRDe, mainly for off roading activities.

So enough of about myself.. We will see later.

Many Thanks for reading.

Regards
Vishnu
 

350Z

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My name is Vishnu Nair, from Trivandrum, Kerala, The Gods Own Country as they say.
Great introduction, Vishnu. Heartiest welcome to The Automotive India. Your nickname (MadMax) instantly reminds me of another petrolhead who was a biking enthusiast (http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...biker-complete-bun-burner.html?highlight=vinu).
In 1997, I decided to restore this MM540 to its previous glory. I was 17 yrs then. Knew nothing about restoring. The body disintegrated due to rust and engine was not cranked for the past 3 yrs. So decided to give the engine work to Authorized SS. I decided to upgrade the tires and bought Gypsy Discs for the Jeep.
You would have a good experience of owning and maintaining two of the legendary UVs in India. Here are a couple of links that you might want to check out:

> http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...res/2459-tata-sierra-restoration-project.html

> http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...ect-restoration-1986-maruti-suzuki-gypsy.html

Recently I happened to attend the Mahindra Great Escape organized in Kuttikkanam, Kottayam. I managed to get a Mahindra Thar CRDe from one of my friends. That was the first time in my life driving with a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
We look forward to read those experiences in a separate topic. Have a wonderful stay in the forum and feel free to contact our team if you need a hand around. :smile:

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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My post disappeared, and Vipul's post doubled!! Not fair [:)]
Welcome to TAI madmax. Here's the place to share your madness at its max.
 
Thread Starter #5
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Thank you all for your warm welcome.

As I have mentioned in the introduction, I will share my experience at Kottayam Great Escape organized by Mahindra Adventure. (With Pictures)

Now this will be first time I am going to upload pictures here. Trial and Error method would be fine I believe..

Thank you,
Max
 

350Z

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Now this will be first time I am going to upload pictures here. Trial and Error method would be fine I believe.
Not required. Just refer to the Announcements Section or this link in particular for a guide.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Welcome aboard Vishnu, Great to see someone like you and loved your introduction.

OT maybe: I think we both started off the same way and even at the same age back in time. My dad had a CJ500D and I started off on it. We too had a time where my father passed away and the Jeep was jacked up and pretty much let to rust. Sometime after that my inclination turned towards bikes.

Eagerly waiting to hear more from you and have a Great time here[:)]
 
Thread Starter #13
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Welcome to TAI madmax.. Also share the details about your current rides.
Hi Varun,

As you all know I started off with MM540. Then I got an Omni, Contessa, Sierra, M800 s (3nos), Tata Estate, Cielo. Then as an average Keralite's dream, I went to Dubai, spend 4 yrs there and owned a Mazda 323 and a 2008 model Honda Accord. Came back to India in 2009 and again bought a Sierra. Finally now settled down on a Ford Figo. All other vehicles have sold.

Welcome to TAI MadMax !
I do belong to Thiruvanathapuram. !
Waiting for those pics and a narration of the experience you had in Mahindra Great Escape !
Hi Vishnu, I have already started the thread.

Great introduction, Vishnu. Heartiest welcome to The Automotive India. Your nickname (MadMax) instantly reminds me of another petrolhead who was a biking enthusiast (http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...biker-complete-bun-burner.html?highlight=vinu).

You would have a good experience of owning and maintaining two of the legendary UVs in India. Here are a couple of links that you might want to check out:

> http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...res/2459-tata-sierra-restoration-project.html

> http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...ect-restoration-1986-maruti-suzuki-gypsy.html


We look forward to read those experiences in a separate topic. Have a wonderful stay in the forum and feel free to contact our team if you need a hand around. :smile:

Drive Safe,
350Z
Thanks for sharing the links. As I told you, I feel bad seeing those restoration pictures, because I did lot of RnD those days and could not share with you in form of pictures.

Welcome aboard Vishnu, Great to see someone like you and loved your introduction.

OT maybe: I think we both started off the same way and even at the same age back in time. My dad had a CJ500D and I started off on it. We too had a time where my father passed away and the Jeep was jacked up and pretty much let to rust. Sometime after that my inclination turned towards bikes.

Eagerly waiting to hear more from you and have a Great time here[:)]
Hi, that touched my heart Alex. We too jacked up the jeep on similar circumstances and a year after my father passed away, we brought the jeep back to glory. But I am not a bike guy. [:)]
 
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welcome aboard madmax, hope you have a great time with all the autofreaks here, by the way i am also from 'gods own country' [:)]
 
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Hi Vishnu,

Great intro.. Was very pleasant to read.
I'm from TVM too. Lot of other tvm pals are here too. Hope to see you around soon..

Anoop
 
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