I may have a thing for these rare and unique cars. They dared to carve their own path creating new niche segments.
But most products failed because they couldn’t understand that the Indian market has grown past the ‘that will do’ era of cars. while these first attempts may be good at some key factors, it ultimately lost as an overall package where safety features, built quality, reliability, dealership/spare parts support, resale etc mattered more to the customer. This is about such a brilliant concept which failed ultimately because of poor execution.
Guido Bothe is a German Engineer and Fiberglass expert, settled in Alibag (Mumbai, Maharashtra). He owns a company called ‘Chinkara Motors’ . I particularly liked the name ‘Chinkara’(Indian Gazelle) which sounds very ‘Desi’ yet represents something fast and beautiful. The company is quite profitable making many types of marine, ATV and aviation related offerings.
But the bit that got me hooked to this brand is their road going offering(They also made another model called Jeepster. but I am least interested in that), which I came across only a few days ago(Some 12–13 years late, My bad !).
So without further ado… Please feast your eyes on India’s most affordable Sports car back in 2004 (probably)…
The Chinkara Roadster 1.8S
Why is this car so special?
The thing that I loved most is the whole idea of this vehicle.
An eye catching, yet simple engineered ‘fast’ car which can withstand Indian road conditions and could be maintained by any mechanic in the country using cheap and readily available spares. Brilliant thought.
You would think I’m mad when I said easily available spares. how is it possible to procure spares for a car that people don’t even know that much?
By developing the vehicle with parts of popular cars of India. That doesn’t sound very reassuring and yes, sounds like a Jugaad(It is. but more on that later). but the point is, Its better to go to your local parts store and buy parts than wait for it indefinitely stranded on the road like most ‘unique’ or ‘Vintage’ car owners do.
So keeping true to this idea, the car uses the reliable 1.8L ISUZU sourced petrol engine and 5 speed gearbox from Hindustan Motors Contessa & Ambassador. The Suspension from Maruti 800(Customizable), remember it was back in 2004 so the above said cars and spares were easily available in the market then. Don’t be fooled by the ‘Ambassador’ engine though. It is tuned to eek out more power and torque, as much as 116 PS and 135 Nm and a claimed 0–100 sprint in 6.7 seconds. Top speed was close to 190 kph. So the figures suggest its got enough to justify the budget ‘sports car’ tag. When I say budget car, It costed ~7.5 lakhs which was equivalent to a Lancer/Baleno at the time, I guess.
Technical Specifications
Engine: In-line, Isuzu 4 cylinder, 1.8 liter/1816 cc (Petrol), 116 PS (85 kW; 114 hp) @ 5000 rpm, 135 N·m (100 lb·ft) @ 3000 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed Manual
Brakes: Ventilated disc (front and rear)
Tyres: Front — 205/50 R16, Rear — 225/50 R15 Goodyear F1 tubeless
Performance: 6.7sec 0–100 km/h, 187 km/h, 13kmpl (all figures claimed)
Length: 3,560 mm (140.2 in)
Width: 1,760 mm (69.3 in)
Height: 1,280 mm (50.4 in)
Weight: 745 kg (1,642 lb)
Source — Wikipedia
Now, what went wrong with the car?
A lot actually. But let’s just stick to 5 points for now.
1.The vehicle had fiber glass body panels bolted onto a steel chassis like the original Lotus 7, Caterham etc. but the problem was that India never really fancied fiber glass bodied cars. be it the yesteryear Sipani Badal/Montana or the San Storm convertible. The main issue is that in the event of a crash unlike steel, the damaged fiberglass panel has to be replaced which shot up repair bills. also in high heat conditions older cars have had an issue of body sagging overtime.
2. The use of common parts although beneficial, didn’t quite cut it for many people. if you look closely, you can see that the windshield looks a bit similar like the Mahindra MM540 Jeep. NO. it is not a co incidence. Like I said before, the suspension had the choices of Maruti 800/Alto(Front end) or Esteem, basically anything they could find and according to the customer demands(If any). It’s said that nor 2 Nissan GTR engines are similar because each one is carefully hand built by Takumi’s(master craftsman). The whole Chinkara Roadster can be related to that in the sense that nor 2 Roadsters are similar. but here it is because of a whole other reason
3.The Chassis of the Car. Yes. The main thing that made the critics furious at the time was the choice of its chassis. It always used a donor chassis because it was cost effective and easy to get the car registered with the authorities than developing one from scratch and going through the paperwork. Now In their defense, even big companies like LOTUS do this reasoning that developing minor bits was a waste when the big firms had already done so. But unlike LOTUS, Chinkara used this philosophy for most of the car . The Chassis was taken from… wait for it…. The Standard HERALD. Younger readers may struggle remembering this vehicle, so attaching a picture below.
It was over 60 years old at that time and using this as a canvas made everyone question its capabilities such as high speed cornering as the Herald was never designed for such high performance stuff. The claim that Chinkara made the necessary modifications to suit their application didn’t hold well to say at least. Now what popped into my head was, Where in hell were they finding these chassis? the Herald itself was an ultra rare car by then.
4. Price. It was a low price ‘Sports Car’ for sure but knowing what luxuries we were getting(None, by the way) and Knowing what they were using in the car , a sticker price of 7.5 lakhs ex showroom seems too much. The scrap chassis might be under 5000, engine and gearbox 40,000 and every thing combined at best under 1.5–2 lakhs. If you put the same amount into modifying a used Zen/Esteem/City V-tec, they would smoke the Chinkara out of the blue for sure.
5. This is the Biggie. Absence of TRACK-DAYS like we have now. The Chinkara Roadster would have made a very fun track day car but unfortunately, it was not a thing back then in India. The exclusivity factor alone just didn’t cut it. Absence of a proper roof, Air conditioning and weird seating/driving angle made it suitable for short distances only which limits its practical usage.
But even so, I adore it. It’s still got a charm that made me go wow and write this piece. It costed ~7.5 lakhs where as a Caterham 7 costed ~29 lakhs.
Both are cars made from leftovers and flavored by the past. The Caterham 7 definitely is the better car as it drives sharper and is superior in every way to the Chinkara Roadster but all this comes at a price(Which was the Price) plus it takes an expert driver to tame the Caterham and drive it to its limits. So for those lesser mortals wanting to have some fun, the Chinkara Roadster gave it all at a quarter of the price.It was a brave attempt but the market was simply not ready to accept the idea of a fun (track day) car which served only one purpose.
The only Video Review I could find on the net is posted below.
Besides, I have written about cars worse than the Chinkara Roadster. Don’t believe me, Find the Zimmer Golden Spirit HERE .
So, Now you know about the Chinkara Roadster 1.8 S .
Thanks for reading…
Original post — https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/posts/23540-chinkara-roadster-1-8-s-the-forgotten-caterham-wannabe-car-of-india
