We were four friends, all of us owned 118 NEs. We decided to take Neeraj’s petrol 1991, 118 NE instead of mine, as all of us had limited leaves and it was a “It’s now or never” situation”
BHPian anjan_c2007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The long-distance adventure commenced during the monsoon, when many avoid pleasure trips even with new cars. It was a group of four young friends from Western Maharashtra joining together and deciding to embark on this long, fun-filled adventure. All of them own either a Premier 118NE or a 1.38 D.
The team members were:-
Swaraj Gaikwad (Poladpur)
Neeraj Rittikar (Miraj)
Shrikant yradkar (panvel)
Abhishek Kushte (Ratnagiri)
My young friend Abhishek Kushte, among the foursome, sent me a vivid account of the trip in text with all the pictures that go along with the writeup. He owns a 1997 1.38D that was initially decided upon to undetake this drive. The original idea was floated by Swaraj Gaikwad and Abhishek Kushte (both were now a part of this team of 4), after being influenced by a page “Lada Svetom” by a group of friends from Russia who had bought a 118NE in India and travelled to the North for adventure.
Here’s an account in his own words:-
“I always dreamt of doing Leh Ladakh on my 1.38D.
I’ve been following a page named Lada Svetom, by a bunch of friends who had travelled to India, bought a 118 NE from Pune, and had done their North India trip on it.
After making multiple plans to do it for the last 4-5 years, it was finally time to work on it and prepare my 1.38 D for the road trip of a lifetime.
As I live in a coastal area, cars rust like hell in a short period of time. And the 118NE/1.38D are branded as rust buckets.
It was the first month of 2025, and I decided to open my car up for restoration.
The initial goal was to quickly finish the metal work, overcoat the car, do a couple of 400-500 km trips, and ensure that it is ready for the road trip.
The plan was to get it done before my birthday (12th Feb) and make a boss entry at Swaraj’s (one of the team of four) marriage on 13th Feb, but that did not happen as the denter was out of town for a good 10-15 days.
Now, as we had a stretched timeline to complete the work, we started the parts hunt.
In a short period of time, we gathered all the suspension parts, bearings, oil seals, complete wiring harness for 1.38D, brake-related components, etc.
We also found the door cover replacement panels, taillight panel, and a few other body replacement bits. Flooring, running boards, and wheel well corners were not available/ available an unrealistic rate, so we decided to fabricate all such bits using sheet metal and sheer craftsmanship.
The tinkering work was completed in the first week of May, and the car was ready for a paint job. Unfortunately, pre-monsoon showers started and lasted for almost 15+ days. In those 15+ days, we addressed some other work that needed attention.
After the pre-monsoon/ unseasonal rain, it was finally time to get it painted.
The paint job was done, and the car was sent to the seat maker’s shop to get the interior top or roof upholstery done up.
After that, we had officially entered the final stage, where we started fitting all the bits back on the car.
Excluding a couple of door window winder machines and front and rear windshields, we managed to pull off a miracle by fitting almost everything on the car within 2 days.
Due to a lack of time, we decided to repair the existing wiring harness and fit the new one after the trip.
New tyres were purchased for the trip. The only major thing remaining was fitting of front and rear windshields, along with a few more tiny fitting jobs.
While fitting the rear windshield, the rubber beading tore off. This usually happens when we try to refit the existing beadings after a paint job. I had a new spare rubber, but my luck ran out.
This led us to opt for the backup plan.
We were four friends, all of us owned 118 NEs. We decided to take Neeraj’s petrol 1991, 118 NE instead of mine, as all of us had limited leaves and it was a “It’s now or never” situation.”
The restoration pictures of Abhishek’s 1997 Premier 1.38D:-
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