Superpanga
Active member
Camped next to a guy this week with a sweet Mahindra jeep which he has made street-legal. He was enjoying the hell out of it!
Cool Jeeps You Can't Have - Mahindra of India
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
Dan Grec
Expedition Leader
I'm loving all these photos!
When borders open up again you're giving me an idea to fly to India and buy one of these things then roam that part of the world for months and months before selling it again.
It will negate the need for a carnet and all the shipping hassle. Having a sweet turbo diesel that gets awesome mileage would be great too!
Hmmmmm..
-Dan
When borders open up again you're giving me an idea to fly to India and buy one of these things then roam that part of the world for months and months before selling it again.
It will negate the need for a carnet and all the shipping hassle. Having a sweet turbo diesel that gets awesome mileage would be great too!
Hmmmmm..
-Dan
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Definitely worth considering. You could easily spend many months in just India and you would only see a small fraction of the fabulous forts, palaces and temples that are there, not to mention the wild tigers, elephants, rhinos and other interesting species. I've probably spent four months of road trip time in total in the past 3 years years exploring parts of maybe 5 Indian states. I haven't really covered those states well and I've got a bunch more states to cover. Nepal is fascinating too, I've only spent a few weeks road tripping around that country and I've only covered a small part of it. I probably wouldn't do Pakistan, but the "Beating Retreat" ceremony at the Attari (Pakistan)/Wagah (India) border is not to be missed. I'd like to do Myanmar (Burma) someday, but there was just another military coup there so maybe that's not such a good idea anymore. South Asia is a fascinating place and very under-appreciated here.
Some of the Mahindras are big enough to easily sleep in, I'll get to those as the thread progresses.
Besides focusing on Mahindras, I'll keep posting background info about the country and where I spotted the various vehicles, maybe more people will be interested in exploring India if they learn about the many fascinating things there.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Long before there was an AEV Brute or a Gladiator, there was the Mahindra Pik-Up. This nice example belongs to the municipal government of Simla, a town in the Himalayan foothills that in British Raj times was the summer capital of India.
Almost all of the Pik-Ups you'll see in India have some rack or other cargo enhancement in the bed. And many have roof racks as well, as does this one:
This one's had the bed replaced with a custom cargo body.
There are lots of small fab shops that make custom cargo bodies for PikUps, especially in Rajasthan. Driving around the holy city of Pushkar once I passed about a dozen such shops along about a mile of road, all of them had stacks of custom beds outside and fabrication going on inside and outside.
This isn't my video, I found it on Youtube, it shows a typical fab shop in Pushkar:
Almost all of the Pik-Ups you'll see in India have some rack or other cargo enhancement in the bed. And many have roof racks as well, as does this one:
This one's had the bed replaced with a custom cargo body.
There are lots of small fab shops that make custom cargo bodies for PikUps, especially in Rajasthan. Driving around the holy city of Pushkar once I passed about a dozen such shops along about a mile of road, all of them had stacks of custom beds outside and fabrication going on inside and outside.
This isn't my video, I found it on Youtube, it shows a typical fab shop in Pushkar:
givemethewillys
Jonathan Chouinard
Hey jscherb, these are really cool. I'm curious, is there a reason we never see these imported as antiques into the US like we do old land rovers? Is it the stigma of lower quality (ha, lower than a land rover??) Lack of awareness? Or is it that older models are so used up that they aren't worth the cost to ship?
I could totally see having a commander as a camping vehicle, or a pikUp to putt around and run chores. Sort of related, if I didn't have an early cj-5, I'd have a Roxor.
I could totally see having a commander as a camping vehicle, or a pikUp to putt around and run chores. Sort of related, if I didn't have an early cj-5, I'd have a Roxor.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I would guess it's due to lack of awareness. Most people in the U.S. don't know much about India and I'm sure they don't know anything about these cool Mahindras. It's kind of a shame, with Indians playing such a large role in our country (our VP, several members of congress, thousands of doctors and software engineers, etc.), I believe we all should know more about India and Indians. India is an amazing country and we could learn a lot from Indian culture. I am a much better person because of my decades-long association with Indians and India.
Mahindra jeeps are fairly simple devices and as such are very reliable - they have to be reliable (and simple to fix) because in many places in India services (and parts) are a challenge to find. They're very rugged; most roads in rural India are fairly rough (if paved at all) so these jeeps take a pounding; they're also abused by overloading (stay tuned, I have some photos of overloaded PikUps).
Importing one wouldn't be hard or terribly expensive (the biggest cost would be a shipping container from India to here, the Mahindra itself would probaby only be a few thousand bucks), but getting parts in the U.S. would be a big problem. Later in the thread I'll talk about what I'm thinking about importing and how I would deal with the parts problem.
Chorky
Observer
Long before there was an AEV Brute or a Gladiator, there was the Mahindra Pik-Up. This nice example belongs to the municipal government of Simla, a town in the Himalayan foothills that in British Raj times was the summer capital of India.
Oh man if this were an extended cab like the old rangers, that would be a perfect sized rig.
I think this parts problem is not limited to a special right like this though. Obvously it is a bigger issue than a jeep. But even some parts for a TJ can be hard to come by now...or are expensive.. It seems the lifespan for being able to service vehicles in general gets smaller and smaller as more newer and newer vehicles are pushed out in favor over reliability and 'maintaining' something 10 yrs old or more... Kinda sad really.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
This one's got a somewhat extended cab. There's also a 4-door version like the Gladiator, I'll get to that one later.
The custom topper on this one matches the pickup bed.
Blowby
Active member
jscherb this is a very interesting thread,and I appreciate the time and effort you are taking in explaining all the intricacies of these Mahindras.
Love seeing all your photos and I do have a vested interest as I presently own a 53 Willys pickup which has been my baby for quite some time.
Your comment on lack of awareness about India I would have to agree with as I was fortunate enough to spend 3 months there in my earlier years.I would mention though that you definitely needed to have an open mind and be willing to do things that you may not be accustomed to coming from the western world.
I am sure things have changed somewhat,but for me it was a fantastic country to travel and the people were very friendly and accommodating.
Love seeing all your photos and I do have a vested interest as I presently own a 53 Willys pickup which has been my baby for quite some time.
Your comment on lack of awareness about India I would have to agree with as I was fortunate enough to spend 3 months there in my earlier years.I would mention though that you definitely needed to have an open mind and be willing to do things that you may not be accustomed to coming from the western world.
I am sure things have changed somewhat,but for me it was a fantastic country to travel and the people were very friendly and accommodating.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
A few more PikUps
This one's got a "covered wagon" style canvas top. Also has the grille overlay. And a roof rack.
This one has an extended cab, and it looks like the frame may be a little bent. It's not uncommon for them to show signs of stress, they work very hard and are often abused.
This one's got a "covered wagon" style canvas top. Also has the grille overlay. And a roof rack.
This one has an extended cab, and it looks like the frame may be a little bent. It's not uncommon for them to show signs of stress, they work very hard and are often abused.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
You're very welcome. I'm just getting started, lots more models and photos to post.