So, why a 20-year-old BS2 Maruti when the world is moving towards turbocharged / hybrids and EVs with BS7 emission norms?
BHPian DevOnWheels recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
It all started 2 decades back when a 9-year-old me saw a beautiful Emerald green sedan owned by the biggest business house in the town. It was love at first sight. But neither was I old enough to buy my own car, nor was my family wealthy enough to buy a Rs. 8L car back then. We had a humble Ambassador diesel and an LML Vespa at that time.
Fast forward to 2015, I got my driver’s license and started driving my family’s cars. The garage by then was upgraded (rather downgraded in terms of segment and size) to a 2004 Maruti 800 Std in S. Silver and a 2006 WagonR LXi in M.W. Red. In years to come, the 800 was replaced by a 2009 i10 iRDE in blue and WagonR was exchanged for a Tigor Petrol in 2021.
As soon as I completed my studies and started working in 2015, the urge to get that dream old car started growing rapidly. However, as life would have it, the dream never materialized.
After being a regular follower of Team-BHP for more than a decade, I finally joined the forum in 2020. And soon BHPian Tanveer02 invited me to join a small local enthusiasts’ group CREW37 Assam which back then had merely 20-25 members comprising mostly BHPians of Assam and some other enthusiasts, which aren’t on the forum. There would be regular discussions on these oldies and whenever someone spotted an example, they would share photos and the urge to own one would grow stronger and stronger.
It was in May’2023, when an Aquarious Blue Fiesta 1.6S came on sale in Guwahati. I was posted in Kolkata by then, which means the 3rd car can stay here with me while i10 and Tigor will stay in my hometown. Dear friends and BHPians Phukan_Tridiv, Tanveer02 and Mritunjoy went to check the car on my behalf as I was in Kolkata. The condition was totally opposite of what OLX photos represented. So, considering the feedback received from the trio, dropped the plan altogether.
It was in Aug’2023, when a fellow CREW37 Assam member and friend Siddharth Baruah (owned a beautiful 91′ 800 at that time) shared these photos of a random black 2004 petrol sedan in our WhatsApp group.
That 9-year-old kid inside jumped in excitement.
The Emerald Green sedan that I fell in love all those years back was this… In a very sad state now
Through all these years, I tracked the car with an intention to buy it and restore it to its former glory. It changed 3 owners, but luckily stays in my hometown till date. When the first owner sold it, I was very much interested to pick this up, but I was a student back then. My aunt’s colleague picked it up and started using it for rental purposes. After a couple of weeks, he realized what a huge mistake it was, and it got sold to another guy in our known circle only.
Watching the state the car was maintained from its 2nd owner onwards, made me drop the plan. But the photos shared by Siddharth stuck the right chords in my heart.
We had many discussions regarding this black car along with its history and present ownership, but no one in our group put any serious thought into buying it as it was too old now and getting parts is a nightmare, especially in Assam. I was also in a dilemma of getting another car as both i10 and Tigor were doing well, and my family was strictly against buying a 3rd car.
However, as with any enthusiast, you can’t stay away from automobiles for so long. Since it’s been almost a year since I have shifted to Kolkata with no car at my disposal, it was becoming really hard to control the urge to get a car here. And this time it must be something which sings to my heart. Around Oct’23, another Fiesta 1.6S (a black one this time) came for sale in Kolkata with just 12k on the odo. However, the seller was not interested to show the car and wanted the price to be finalized first. Once I gave a ballpark figure which was a couple of thousands less than what he had advertised for, he would want some advance to book the car first. These things put me off and decided to drop this as well. While discussing this Fiesta with BHPian Chiranjitp and Tanveer02, that black 2004 sedan sprung to my mind. Gave a call to Siddharth and he confirmed that it’s still there, and that the owner might sell it.
Lots of parts research, discussions, TBHP threads and magazines later, asked Siddharth if he could get the car checked by his FNG. As expected, he got it checked the very next day along with another blue 2001 Baleno which was for sale as well.
Around the same time, some of our CREW37 Assam members and BHPians Prakritij, Chiranjitp, Hirohito, BhaskarG, Jamini, Ayan and yours truly planned for a trip to the easternmost part of the country i.e. Walong, Kibithu, Kaho in Arunachal. The plan was to start from Dibrugarh on 24th November’23 and since Duliajan (where both the Balenos were) is only 50kms from Dibrugarh, decided to club the Arunachal trip with work and check out the Baleno in person.
Flew from Kolkata to Dibrugarh and straight away went to Duliajan to meet Siddharth. Both of us went to check the cars, took test drives, discussed with both the owners regarding their expected prices and left.
Came back to the hotel and the discussion started between me, Siddharth and Chiranjitp on which car to choose and what should be the maximum price.
There were some suspension works needed in the black car along with some minor nick-nacks and a set of tyres, but the blue car needed a full paint job and the engine felt tired and misfires a lot despite only 65k on the odo. There was some pully sound when the AC was switched on (owner claimed to be an AC compressor pully). Also, because the black one being a small-town PSU car that too one which never left the township, it was really tight even with 98k kms on the odo. Also, in Assam, these small town cars are generally very well cared for and since the black car was daily driven from 2004-19 although very minuscule kms, it was in a fully functional state. Considering all these, we decided to get the black Baleno and finalized a price we would offer to the owner without any scope for negotiation.
Next day went to the owner’s house, negotiated the deal (paid 30k more than we had thought), signed the sale forms and paid a token advance.
Deal was, he would get the paperwork done and once the vehicle is transferred to my name, I’d transfer the balance amount and Siddharth would take delivery.
Once that was done, we completed our Arunachal trip, and I returned back to Kolkata.
Now why a 20-year-old BS2 Maruti when the world is moving towards turbocharged/hybrids and EVs with BS7 emission norms?
Being a late 90s kid, old Japanese cars always had a special place in my heart.
For the Baleno, it was love at first sight, that Emerald Green Baleno that I saw 2 decades back.
These advertisements back then were proper wallpaper material.
The 13 noise reduction technologies, no Indian car emphasized so much on NVH back then.
Once I was back in Kolkata, the plan for the restoration started.
Initial plan was to do a full service, get new tires and then bring the car to my home in Assam (600km from Duliajan).
Once the car is at home we will slowly start with the works depending on what is needed and what parts we can source.
But as expected, patience was getting out of hand and we started searching for parts online without even knowing what was required for the car.
Spoiler
Now, one thing I hated about my car was the absence of a rear spoiler since it’s a LXi. After a failed search for an original spoiler, came across an OLX advertisement of a Delhi-based seller who was making a replica spoiler for the Baleno. Contacted the seller and these photos were received.
Since, it looked exactly the same as the OEM VXi spoiler, paid an advance and placed the order.
Wheels
I always loved the 14″ 11 spoke alloy of BS3 VXi. But it was nowhere to be found. After a month-long failed search, decided to go for aftermarket alloys in 15″. But as luck would have it, while we were deciding on the options of aftermarket multi-spoke alloy, Siddharth shared an Instagram post by a guy from Kerela who was selling a set of those 14″ VXi alloys along with tyres. Since I was buying new tyres, finalized a price for the alloys only and got these shipped to Siddharth’s place.
Tyres
Initially decided to go for the stock size of 165/80 R13 and with a plan to upgrade later on. However, after seeing the total amount for a set of 4 tyres now and then upgrading later on to upsized wheels and tyres, decided to go for either 14″ or 15″ now only depending on the set of alloys. After I made the payment for the alloys, immediately placed an order for a set of 4 Continental UC6s in 185/65 R14 to be delivered at Siddharth’s place again.
On 29th January, received a call from the seller that the paper is ready and I can take delivery.
Delivery Day: 30/01/2024
Siddharth went to the seller’s place, checked the papers and gave a go-ahead to me for the payment transfer.
Once the payment is done, this is the first photo I received from Siddharth. Baleno is mine now.
Siddharth drove straight to his home and after an hour shared these photos which brought tears to my eyes.
His mom did a welcome puja for my Baleno
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