There she was standing beautiful when I first saw her in a colleagues house. I don’t know how she felt about this but it was love at first site.
The Fiat Premier Padmini was my first car. I was desperate for a second hand car and when I came to know that one of my colleague was willing to sell out his fiat I thought I could give it a shot. Upon reaching his house I saw this car (a white fiat) standing gracefully and the number plate on it bore the number **DIB 1522. I had no second thoughts and immediately planned to buy her the reason being that the motorcycle that I had at that time had the number 1521.
One thing that prevented me having my hands on her was that I had no idea of driving a 4 wheeler at that time. I had the car sent to my place and applied for my Learning License with no further delay. The next day I planned to give it a try with only theoretical knowledge about driving. *Sitting on the drivers seat for the first time in life was a great thrill. *Ignition on and gear changed and there she went rolling - my maiden ride. Within weeks I was an expert in handling her and month gone now I had my license too.
The Fiat Padmini I would say is a ideal car to learn driving. There may be many reasons that may be attributed to this. Its a very rugged car and the bonnet size is big as in Ambassador and once you have driven in this car every other car seems to be a cake walk. The fiat I had a hand gear shift the ones which are attached in the left of the steering wheel. The advantage being lot of space in the front and a person who is driving for the first time could have clear view of the gear as well. The car body is very strong and is unscathed by the initial scars usually a car can get when someone learns driving on it. I remember having it bumped over the concrete gate pillar, nothing happened to the car but the pillar was uprooted. A Fiat with an L sticker on it could be a nightmare to any other vehicle as if hit nothing would happen to the fiat so usually I have seen other cars keep a safe distance from it.
The Fiat has a very good seating in front and rear as well and could easily accommodate 5+1 normal sized passengers. The boot space is so large to accommodate a couple of large suitcases or big bags.
I had converted my Fiat to run on gas. I had a gas kit fit in it and I could get a fair good mileage with that, the cost per kilometer came somewhere around 1.5 Rs. Making it affordable at a scooters mileage. I have run this continuously distances and always have enjoyed the ride. A lot of my colleagues used to make fun of me saying I had bought a 12K raincoat because I used to comfortably arrive at office during rainy days in my Fiat.
Though she is not with me now I can still remember the days which I spent with her. Due to lack of parking space I had sell her out when I got my new car. I could never forget this car as it was my first car and the one in which learnt my driving nearly 6 yrs ago.