1972 Mahindra CJ4

by Rushikesh Galande
(Mumbai, India)

Nice to see a CJ4 other than mine, at least in photographs. I live in India and own an original CJ4. As a child I used to follow this jeep in my town wherever I saw it. And finally when the owner wanted to give it away to a caretaker, my dad bought it for me.

It belonged to a church in Pune which was bought by the owner before me. His name was Victor and he used to religiously maintain the jeep and used to spend hours cleaning it. We promised his son that it will stay with us forever and we will maintain it just like his dad did.

It was my daily driver in Design school in Pune. Now I am planning to restore it. This jeep is so rare that I have never seen the same model in real other than mine.

Once I had an interview at Mahindra Design Studio where I mentioned that I have a CJ4. They were surprised and said probably Mahindra doesn't have one any more. It's a rare and very dependable jeep.

Mahindra made these long wheelbase jeeps as an experiment to see if people like it or not. The chassis and body were cut in the middle by Mahindra itself and extended 10 inches.

The difference between CJ4 and CJ4a is its overhangs. CJ4 has short overhang on chassis and body is short in the rear. You can see the chassis joints done by the company.

Mine is original except the engine which its previous owner got changed to diesel. But the body is 100% original.

I also have a Willys CJ3B which is all original.
Both jeeps need restoration.

Cheers!

Rushikesh Galande
rushi.galande@gmail.com
MUMBAI