Hindustan Ambassador With Artwork Gets High Court Go-Ahead To Get Registered

Mr Ranjit Malhotra, the owner of the vehicle, filed a petition after the Chandigarh Transport Department decided not to register the vehicle, and refused to issue a no-objection certificate.

Mr Malhotra said, "Our family values the ambassador and this car was delivered to me last year from my friend who was then posted as a councillor at the EU office of Delhi."

"Delhi authorities issued the no-objection certificate but Chandigarh administration did not register the vehicle due to the car's colour which was converted from white to multicolour. So we had to go to the court and now the court ruled in our favour," he added.

The Punjab and Haryana Court reviewed the petition, and took a decision in Mr Malhotra's favour, and highlighted the Transport Department's whimsical manners.

Justice Jaishree Thakur said, "The reason for denying registration merely on the ground that there is artwork done on the body of the vehicle, where the base remains white, defies logic. Any reasonable person can easily make out that a white car had some artwork done upon it."

"Like a canvas with a spray of flowers. The base colour of the canvas would remain as it is. The Inspector has acted in an arbitrary and wholly whimsical manner, causing undue harassment to the petitioner," she added.

The Hindustan Ambassador features artwork done by Mexican street artist Senkoe, who specialises in anthropomorphic characters, the unconscious, and animals.

The vehicle features artwork that follows a floral and ‘nature' theme. The artwork at the front of the vehicle includes what looks like a lotus, other flowers, and a water body.

The right side of the vehicle features flowers and leaves and a rather fantastic looking block-print styled flower. The boot has a majestic looking bird painted on it. The interiors have been customised too (most probably by the previous owner) and features a red, brown and black theme.

The Ambassador model in question is the Grand 1800 ISZ MPFI PW CL that featured a 1.8-litre BS3 compliant petrol engine. The engine produced 74bhp and 130Nm of torque. The engine came mated to a five-speed manual transmission.

The vehicle featured torsion bar spring suspension at the front, and semi-elliptical leaf spring suspension at the rear. Breaking duties were handled by a tandem master cylinder with Servo assist at the front, and 228.6mm diameter drum brakes at the rear.

Key highlights of the Ambassador Grand 1800 ISZ MPFI include 15-inch alloy wheels, power steering, air conditioning, leather seats, central locking and power door locks. The vehicle was priced at Rs 5.19 lakh, ex-showroom, India.

General Trivia:

The Ambassador models were manufactured by Hindustan Motors Of India, and was produced between 1958 and 2014. The vehicle was based on the Morris Oxford Series III that was manufactured by Morris Motors Limited based at Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Hindustan Motors signed an agreement with the PSA Group during 2017, selling the Ambassador brand and its trademarks for an amount of Rs 80 crore.

Thoughts About The Punjab And Haryana Court Allowing For A Multi-Coloured Vehicle To Be Registered

We are impressed by the Court's decision. There is a general belief in the country that painting a vehicle in colours other than what is mentioned on its registration certificate is illegal, and therefore the vehicle cannot be registered - the Punjab and Haryana Court proved that wrong. The real question is whether this decision leads to more people offering and purchasing custom paint jobs for their vehicles.