- Back in the 60’s, when the Indian army was struggling with limited men & material movement capability of the Mahindra CJ3B, Army needed a vehicle that had the roots of a Jeep yet was more powerful and spacious to haul heavy artillery. A Jonga was born.
- Jonga (Jabalpur Ordinance and Gun-carriage Assembly) was essentially a Nissan Patrol G60, was wider, longer and much more powerful than the ubiquitous CJ3B.
- The 6-cylinder massive 4litre engine was rated at over 128bhp@3800 rpm and churned torque of 29.4kgm at just 1600 rpm on a Hitachi carburettor.
- This kind of torque is known only to diesel trucks in India.
- This explains as to why Jonga was a hot favourite to pull heavier artillery guns while CJ3B was limited to ferrying officers and light combat operations.
These are rare, super rare! Back in the 60’s, when the Indian army was struggling with limited men & material movement capability of the Mahindra CJ3B, Army needed a vehicle that had the roots of a Jeep yet was more powerful and spacious to haul heavy artillery. A Jonga was born.
Jonga (Jabalpur Ordinance and Gun-carriage Assembly) was essentially a Nissan Patrol G60, was wider, longer and much more powerful than the ubiquitous CJ3B. The 6-cylinder massive 4litre engine was rated at over 128bhp@3800 rpm and churned torque of 29.4kgm at just 1600 rpm on a Hitachi carburettor. This kind of torque is known only to diesel trucks in India. This explains as to why Jonga was a hot favourite to pull heavier artillery guns while CJ3B was limited to ferrying officers and light combat operations. Though Jonga faired very well on the power, space and agility front, where it lacked was frugality. Known for its heavy thirst for fuel, this was clearly out of budget even for the fourth largest army in the world. It was decommissioned in favour of lighter Mahindra’s and the Maruti Suzuki Gypsy in the 90’s. However, this is still a hot favourite and there’s a wave of restoration bringing it back to life from army disposals.
Is it worth exploring?
This 6-cylinder petrol monster is a super rare specie today. You would find many CJ3B’s, but only a handful of original Jongas have survived till date. Thanks to the skewed fuel pricing policy, India never saw powerful petrol’s in an off-roader. The most powerful 4wd petrol sold in India was the 1.3 litre Gypsy king 4-cylinder rated at 80bhp @ 6000rpm & barely managed to churn 10.3kgm torque at high 4500rpm. Jonga managed 3 times more torque at less than half engine revs. Yes, before someone points out the kerb weight difference, torque per ton ratio is at about 18kgm/ton VS just about 10kgm/ton for the Gypsy. If one is a Sumo wrestler then the other is a shaolin fighter. Now, I don’t need to explain who’s who.
Maruti Suzuki – Gypsy
Nissan Patrol G60
Like everything good in life comes with a fine print, Jonga is no different. This machine is rare and hence quite expensive. Parts are becoming difficult to source by every passing day and wouldn’t work like a reliable Japanese machine that you are otherwise used to. Many JONGA replicas have been resto-modified and are running Mahindra mechanicals that are easier to find & maintain. The soul of the original Jonga goes missing in such a case.
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