The Hindustan Contessa is an automobile which was manufactured by

Hindustan Motors Hindustan Motors is an Indian automotive manufacturer based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the Birla Technical Services conglomerate. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog. Hind ...

(HM) of India from 1984 to 2002. It was based on the

Vauxhall VX Series The Vauxhall Victor is a large family car produced by Vauxhall from 1957 until 1976. The Victor was introduced to replace the outgoing Wyvern model. It was renamed Vauxhall VX Series in 1976 and continued in production until 1978, by which time ...

of 1976 to 1978, itself a development of the

Vauxhall Victor FE The Vauxhall Victor is a large family car produced by Vauxhall from 1957 until 1976. The Victor was introduced to replace the outgoing Wyvern model. It was renamed Vauxhall VX Series in 1976 and continued in production until 1978, by which time ...

. When introduced in 1983, it was one of the few Indian manufactured luxury cars in the market. One of its few indigenous competitors was the short-lived Standard 2000 which was based on the

Rover SD1 The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produced ...

and the Premier 118 NE was based on

Fiat 124 The Fiat 124 is a small family car manufactured and marketed by Italian company Fiat between 1966 and 1974. The saloon superseded the Fiat 1300 and was the basis for several variants including a station wagon, a four-seater coupé ( 124 Sport Cou ...

. The Contessa was a popular choice amongst government officials.

History

By the late 1970s, HM was ready to introduce a more modern car in the Indian market after having produced the ageing

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

for three decades. They were successful in acquiring the production tooling and technology of the

, a car that was phased out in the UK in 1978. The production line was set up alongside the Ambassador at

Uttarpara Uttarpara or Uttarpara Kotrung is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Uttarpara is located at , within 10 k ...

near Kolkata and the first test cars were ready by 1982. Series production was underway by the spring of 1984. To keep development costs in check, the HM Contessa was introduced to the Indian market with the 1.5 L BMC B-Series engine which also powered the

in a slightly modified form along with the Hindustan four-speed gearbox both from the early 1950s.The Contessa was thus a car introduced in 1984 with a 1970 body and 1950 engine and gearbox. The press was upbeat about the roomy interior and plush ride, but was critical about the grossly underpowered engine and equally primitive gearbox. Top speed was only around , although there was also a version with higher 8.3:1 compression which offered .

Isuzu-engine era

By the late eighties, Hindustan had tied-up with Isuzu of Japan and started manufacturing their 1.8 L 4ZB1 petrol engine and matching five-speed gearbox for installation in the Contessa. The new car was called the Contessa Classic with distinctive "CLASSIC" and "1.8GL" badging on the trunk lid. The Isuzu-engined car quickly displaced the BMC-engined model, which was phased out in short order. The car achieved an increased top speed of around 160 km/h. Even though the Contessa was based on a 1970s design, the interior was quiet and the seats were considered to be extremely comfortable. The basic design of the Contessa has remained the same throughout its life, though HM made minor updates throughout the life of the model such as a revised grille during the 1990s. Numerous features like fuel injection, power windows, power steering, bigger bumpers, upgraded headlights, air conditioning, etcetera, were introduced in phases to keep the car appealing to the premium customer. In the 1990s, Hindustan started manufacturing the 2.0 L Isuzu 4FC1 diesel engine that came to power the Contessa Diesel. The diesel was a reasonably strong seller, considering its high price. A turbo diesel version was introduced a few years later. However, after the advent of more modern cars from GM, Ford, Fiat, Tata, etcetera, the demand for the Contessa began to wane. Maruti Suzuki had grabbed the lion's share of the market and intense competition between the new auto manufacturers brought modern fuel-efficient cars to the Indian marketplace in the late 1990s. The constant rise of petrol prices was the final nail in the coffin for the now comparably thirsty Contessa, which was phased out in 2002. Towards the end of production, there were three versions of this car; the 1.8 GLX (Isuzu petrol), 2.0 DLX (Isuzu diesel) and 2.0 TD (Isuzu turbo diesel).

Specification

The specifications of the petrol engined Contessa are as follows:

Engine (1800 Isuzu)

*Type - Inline-four, SOHC with Carburretor.

MPFI Manifold injection is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines with external mixture formation. It is commonly used in engines with spark ignition that use petrol as fuel, such as the Otto engine, and the Wankel engine. In a mani ...

from 2000 when new pollution norms kicked in, requiring fuel injection *Fuel - Petrol *Capacity - 1,817 cc *Bore / Stroke - 84 / 82 mm *Compression Ratio - 8.5 : 1 *Max. Power - 88 BHP at 5,000 rpm for early fully imported assembled engines, 75 BHP for later engines assembled locally by Hindustan Motors *Max. Torque - 13.8 Kgm at 3,000 rpm *Cooling - Water-cooled

References

{{Hindustan Motors Cars of India Cars introduced in 1984