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MAN AND MACHINE
Longevity is spelt Oldsmobile
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Tupil Ananthachari Narayanan's reward came on four wheels - a 1984 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Brougham
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OLDS IS GOLD This 1984 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Brougham has left an indelible impression on printing engineer Narayanan
The god who gives names never nods. He swears by justice and gives credit where it is due. When Ransom E. Olds founded an automobile company in 1890s, he named it after himself - Olds Motor Works. Ransom was high on technical expertise but low on managerial skills and it was inevitable that he would one day leave the company up the creek and without a paddle. Year 1907 saw this happen. It was a clear cleft-stick kind of situation, with competition breathing down the neck on one hand, and debt collectors demanding their pound of flesh, on the other, asking just that money that poor Olds did not have. Olds Motor Works,survived the scare and flourished, however, under a different name and a more efficient management. General Motors took over its reins in 1908. However the name-giving god wanted to keep Olds' memory alive and in his own fashion influenced the top guys in GM to rename it `Oldsmobile'. It turned out to be an apt name, because Oldsmobile retired in 2004 with a rare distinction - "the oldest American marque".
Until it completed its course, Oldsmobile was sought on the basis of its "technical sophistication", a quality that has always been the highlight of other GM offerings such as Cadillac and Buick. The Oldsmobile, let Olds have his share of glory, was an object of encomiums even before GM set its mind on acquiring it.
Packing off an automobile in the 1890s, reportedly to someone in India, makes it the first American automobile company to dabble in exports, even if on a small scale. In 1901, it garnered the honour for fitting the first ever speedometer on a car. It is said that "the `Curved Dash' model (1901-1904) is the first ever car to have come out of a mass-production unit". The turtles of those days stood no chance against the Oldsmobile - "a record of 54.38 mph created by a 1903 Olds model on a beach road is testimony". All these cars (especially the model R Curved Dash) were easy maintenance - advertisements for Oldsmobile compared the car with a horse - the quadruped ate up $108 a year in maintenance, but an Oldmobile was more economy-conscious; it did not need anymore than $35.
When GM was making out a cheque in favour of Olds, it was not putting its money on the wrong horse. Under the GM expertise, Oldsmobile added more firsts to its name - "in 1926 Oldsmobile became the first automobile to receive the benefits and glitter of chrome-plating; in 1929, Oldsmobile was credited with hauling the first mono-block V8 under the hood; in 1932, Oldsmobile beat others to an automatic choke innovation; in 1940, Oldsmobile was the first to offer the introduced "hydra-matic drive." The list of firsts is actually longer.
Armed with just a diploma in printing technology, Tupil Ananthachari Narayanan made a colourful, inky mark in America, even rising to the enviable high of heading the printing press of the California Department of Correction in Soledad, primarily because he understood the reality of the American workplace - you need to keep adding to your knowledge bank and have to turn around on the dime and offer innovative solutions to even dreary, old problems.
Rewards came in due course. The most visible sign of his success is a highly refined 1984 five-litre V8 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Brougham, a brand new demo vehicle which he bought for $13850 and eventually brought to India. The first numeral in `98' denotes the car's body size (Oldsmobile cars between 1959 and the 1990s came in fours sizes - 6, 7, 8, and 9) and the accompanying number stands for the engine. "Its majestic length and left hand drive give it snoot value on Indian roads. Skirted rear wheels, hood ornament, lengthy grille, wire wheels lend an otherworldly air to the car even though, at 22, it is just a young adult. Its tilt steering, automatic transmission and cushy seats and overall luxurious interior make it a great pleasure to use."
Summing up, the man says, "the car is full of technical sophistication and creature comforts". Now, these Oldsmobile-user plaudits are as old as Oldsmobile itself.
PRINCE FREDERICK
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