Mahindra MaxiCab.
That's the name all we knew till we grew up. It was Mahindra FJ460/FJ470 (Previously Jeep FC160/170). It came in pickup and van versions, including ambulance, delivery van, etc. There was also a cab/cowl variant initially. And the sexy part being a 4x4 version available from factory.
First version was original Jeep version itself during Mahindra's Jeep collaboration period. It had wraparound curved windshield and a Hurricane petrol engine. My first school van was indeed this one. A beautiful white one with aluminium side window frames. It wasn't that reliable and broke down quite often, most of the time water gushing out of radiator. They replaced it with an even unreliable Standard 10 first gen and then a second gen and finally settled with a Mahindra diesel FJ.
Flat windscreen replaced the curved ones when laminated glass was made mandatory and may be flat one was cheaper.
Mahindra later introduced two diesel engines, the Peugeot XDP 4.90 and the Perkins P4/Simpsons S4, which is still popular with private school trip operators and illegal parallel van service people due to cheap maintenance and reliability.
Low roof version. They initially came with wraparound front glass, but flat screened was popular.
Delivery van version. The original aluminium-framed side glass. The police van and ambulances were common in Bollywood movies.
The 4x4 version. They were the lifeline of Dhanuskodi (Rameshwaram). It was a rollercoaster trip in it to lands end. Sadly now road is made to land's end and these have gone extinct. Still a handful are available on request, if you really wanna go wild. They had manually lockable wheel hubs. There were some pickups also, which weren't even in scene during the recent trip.
High-roof version. They instantly killed the low-roof version. The low-roof variant was instantly wiped out of scene with the high-roof introduction, with most of them being converted to the latter. It was pain to stand up in low-roof once we were grown up, especially near the rear wheel arch.
Interesting part, a couple drove it overland from Trivandrum to Holland. Their full story >>
Bring Us Home
and a mighty pickup used for off road safari.
PC:
KKP Tours and Travels