Man buried with beloved car

The Times of India ^ | 4 April 2007 | The Times of India

[CarrotAndStick]

KUMBAKONAM: A farmer in a Tamil Nadu village loved his car so dearly that when he died, his relatives decided to bury his old Morris Minor along with him as per his wishes.

Narayanswami, headman of Sivapuram village near Kumbakonam, in southern India died last week at the age of 64. A wealthy farmer with three sons and daughters, he bought his prized Morris Minor in 1958.

According to reports, Narayanswami was spiritually inclined but lavished his affection on his vintage car. He had earlier expressed the wish that he be buried with his car when he died.

When his friends and relatives gathered to bury him on Monday, they decided that the Morris Minor should definitely go with him.

The car was decorated and Narayanswami's body was placed in it.

A huge grave was dug with an excavator and a large crowd gathered to see the master and his machine laid to rest together.

[CarrotAndStick]

[EternalVigilance]

Here's a 1958 Morris Minor:

[HitmanLV]

‘You can take it with you’ PING!

[SmoothTalker]

What a waste of a classic auto.

[freepertoo]

Hmmm.

[MeanWestTexan]

How oddly British of him.

[unkus]

How many years will it take to completely rust out?

[digger48]

[realr]

Man that’s living!

[Fierce Allegiance]

Reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s ‘Willie the Wimp’.

[dc-zoo]

I’ve always loved Morris Minors. The old Renault 4CV had a similar body style.

[headstamp]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Minor

[TommyDale]

LOL! I had a 1961 Morris Minor when I was in college. They were always burning valves. I finally solved that problem by replacing the $1 standard valve with $4 Mini Cooper valves.
Even back then, it got well over 40 MPG. I remember driving from Salinas, CA to Yuba City, CA (210 miles) for $1.95...

[headstamp]

“I’ve always loved Morris Minors. The old Renault 4CV had a similar body style.”

Yes, the car made famous in an Abbott and Costello skit with the sewing machine in the trunk. (grin)

[MeanWestTexan]

Depends on how wet the soil is and the mineral content.

If dry and relatively neutral, never.

[nuconvert]

That’s weird! They should have at least closed his eyes or put sunglasses on him or something.

[lesser_satan]

That’s a cool little car! It would make a neat street rod.

[Cicero]

I had a Morris Minor back when they were still making them, my first car!

[Moonman62]

It’s too bad he wasn’t allowed to marry his car while he was alive.

[kaboom]

That’s what his eyes looked like as the bullets were hitting him.

[muleskinner]

I finally solved that problem by replacing the $1 standard valve with $4 Mini Cooper valves.

Nice solution - how did you figure that out?

[BallyBill]

“Used Cars” w/Kurt Russell and Jack Warden. Funny movie, buried him with his beloved Edsel.

[Millee]

Feel sorry for his pallbearers.

[Grut]

If the dates are right, he bought the car when he was 15. Odd.

[mysterio]

I love that movie. Especially when they break into the competition’s lot to film the commercial.

[Horatio Gates]

How dare he pollute mother earth with the oil and gasoline thats in that old jalopy???...LOL

I was going to get buried in my 68 Plymouth Roadrunner but my wife made me sell it. Something to do about kids and other expenses

[TommyDale]

"Nice solution - how did you figure that out?"

My cousin first told me, then a nice BMC mechanic and parts man told me that they were identical in sizes. The Cooper valve was sodium-filled and designed for higher temperatures. After that, I never had another problem. That little car would run at 75 mph up Interstate 5 and keep up with all the traffic, still getting great gas mileage. 948cc engine, 4 speed. The biggest problem was when it was 5 years old, I had trouble finding brake shoes for it.

[Bean Counter]

As opposed to Frank Zappa’s Willie the Pimp...

[nothingnew]

"Hot Rats" ? Yeah

FMCDH(BITS)

[windcliff]

Wow check out the photo in post #9.

[kenth]

I like how they got the plug in for the barber shop.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Very cool, nice find!

[muleskinner]

Nice - I could use one now with $3.20 gal for regular.

[Squeako]

Whoops! Looks like the image of Willie the Wimp in his Cadillac coffin was from a no-post site. Sorry about that!

[highlander_UW]

Sort of a modern day version of Sati. Better than killing the wife.

[Sue Perkick]

Just thinking that. I bet Stevie would have gotten a kick out of this.