Premier Padmini Taxi station wagon | Movie 'Aap Ki Khatir'

 

The Premier Padmini estate/station wagon, built by Starline in Mumbai during the 1970s and 80s, was based on Premier Automobiles' "drive-away chassis," sold without a rear body to allow for custom utility builds. Starline Motors, a prominent Bombay dealership, specialized in crafting these custom bodies. 

Around the same time, in the 1977 movie Aap Ki Khatir, we see the script "Small Taxi / Chhoti Taxi" on the sides of vehicles. These often carried the legend "Chhoti Taxi" in Devanagari script (meaning "small taxi"), likely to reassure passengers that their fares matched those of Fiat saloons. This was significant as the larger American taxis, withdrawn a few years earlier, had operated under a dual fare system with higher rates for their size.

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