Living the Life of a Gypsy. With a Maruti Gypsy.
With the recent launch of the Maruti Suzuki Jimny, there is a renewed interest in its predecessor the Maruti Gypsy. Several photographs of the Maruti Gypsy have emerged on social media and there is a fair bit of talk on its off-roading abilities, etc.
Some of my friends, and even few of you my dear readers, who know about my long association with the Maruti Gypsy and how I was one of the first person's in our country to modify the Gypsy and also travel long distances in several of them, have suggested I write about "My Life with a Gypsy".
Ever since I was born, there has been a nomad within me. A nomad that believes, "The best way to see a place or country, is through the windscreen of an automobile". And I have spent over 40 years and some of the best times of my life, behind the steering wheel exploring and discovering.
On my countless road trips and driving holidays and expeditions, I have had several diverse vehicles as companions, ranging from a Premier Padmini to a Rolls-Royce Phantom! But the Maruti Gypsy has to be special. Very special. Because for a span of 15 odd years, I drove various Gypsy's, all across our country.
I must have owned at least a dozen different Maruti Gypsy's, most of which I extensively modified to suit my requirements. And I also modified some Gypsy's for friends and later also for few customers who were keen I do up their Gypsy's too. Â Initially in the mid-1980s, I modified the 1000 cc narrow track Gypsy and later 1993 onwards, the wide track Gypsy King with the 1300 cc engine.
When the Maruti Gypsy was launched in India in 1985, our country was very different from what it is today. The condition of our roads and infrastructure was extremely poor and with most bridges either being broken or under repair, you often had to take a diversion through difficult riverbeds.
Back then wildlife tourism was also in its infancy and you were allowed to take your own vehicle into most national parks. And because there were few visitors, the dirt tracks in our jungles were also tough and demanding, and one required four-wheel drive (4WD) with a low ratio transfer case, to negotiate many sections.
In those times, the Maruti Gypsy was an ideal long distance touring machine as it was very strong, most reliable and in comparison to other vehicles available then, reasonably powerful too. With live axles and leaf spring suspension on all four ends, the ride was obviously very bouncy and uncomfortable.
The soft-top, which could be easily removed, made open top motoring in the forest, or while off-roading loads of fun. But on the road and highways, it flapped and made lots of noise and as it was not airtight, it let in the exhaust fumes too, which made things even more uncomfortable. With the soft-top being easy to open, there were also security and theft issues, especially if you were carrying luggage.
For all these reasons I started modifying Gypsy's, one of the first being for my dear friend Suvir Mirchandani. Suvir is an avid traveller and over the years we have done many trips and expeditions together. So when I was modifying his Gypsy just a couple of years after Maruti launched it, the brief was very clear.
Fabricate a hardtop, but a removable one so one could use it while travelling on paved roads, and remove it once you got into the wilderness. The rear side facing seats were most uncomfortable on long journeys, and as the flooring at the rear was raised, the seats were placed higher too, which further added to the discomfort of passengers in the rear.
So I decided to fit a front facing bench seat at the rear, but at the same level as the front buckets seats. This required some ingenuity or "Jugaad" and after relocating few of the mounting points of the exhaust system and reshaping the pipes, the rear flooring was cut and a depression created to fit a front facing rear seat at the same level as the bucket seats. This then went onto become a trade mark of my modified Gypsy's, most of which had easily removable low roof metal hardtops, with a front facing rear bench seat at the same level as the bucket seats.
Incidentally, my Gypsy's and the front facing seat attracted lots of attention whenever I visited any wildlife sanctuary or national park. And many local safari drivers copied the front facing seats (without lowering the flooring of course) and now these are common all over our country and can be seen on almost all the Gypsy's used for jungle safaris.
On my Gypsy's, I would also install custom fabricated light brackets cum crash guards, side nerf bars, and so on. To improve the performance, I would slightly shave the cylinder head and polish the combustion chamber and ports, and also install a free flow exhaust system.
Almost all ran on gas shocks with the leaf springs being slightly reshaped and softened, to improve ride comfort. And of course, all the Gypsy's were given a special custom paint job, usually done at the workshop of my good friends Manvendra Singh Barwani and Tripu Singh.
I even made a couple of urbane Gypsy convertibles, with the idea being to cruise the streets and boulevards and attract attention, especially from the fairer sex! Today, when I look back I find some of the body mods over the top and not so aesthetic. But I guess it was all part of the learning and growing process.
However what cannot be denied and what is most important, is that I had loads of fun modifying each and every Gypsy, whether it was my own or it belonged to someone else. And as far as my own Gypsy's are concerned, right from the mid-1980s to the 2000s, they took me to numerous delightful destinations, and I cherish all the experiences and memories associated with them.
So yes, I have "Lived the Life of Gypsy with the Maruti Gypsy" and believe me every moment was gratifying and enriching. This I think is best described in songwriter Ernie Maresca's lyrics, "I hop right into that car of mine and ride around the world. Yeah I'm the wanderer, yeah the wanderer. I roam around, around, around, let's go".
All photos and copyright Bob Rupani