How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas

[vezj420]

While we're on the topic of corrupt leaders/politicians, I'm sure all you Bangalore peeps here remember when Nikhil Gowda, the CM's son, was involved in a brawl with hotel staffers at 3 am....

Although it was entertaining to note the hotel staff beat him up first before he brought his goon friends along, the main point of this story was to uncover the corruption running in the Gowda/Kumaraswamy family....

Nikhil (Gowda, not our own TBHP-BLR Nikhil!) was at the time allegedly driven an unregistered 911 Carrera! It was also brought to light that the family also owns a Hummer H2 imported at a total cost of around 120 lakhs!!

So NOW u know where your Karnataka fuel tax and mining scandal money are REALLY going.....

I found it infuriating that the whole Nikhil Gowda story was just sorta brushed under the carpet, even by the police! Where's the Lokayukta when u need him?!

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by vezj420

While we're on the topic of corrupt leaders/politicians, I'm sure all you Bangalore peeps here remember when Nikhil Gowda, the CM's son, was involved in a brawl with hotel staffers at 3 am....

Although it was entertaining to note the hotel staff beat him up first before he brought his goon friends along, the main point of this story was to uncover the corruption running in the Gowda/Kumaraswamy family....

Nikhil (Gowda, not our own TBHP-BLR Nikhil!) was at the time allegedly driven an unregistered 911 Carrera! It was also brought to light that the family also owns a Hummer H2 imported at a total cost of around 120 lakhs!!

So NOW u know where your Karnataka fuel tax and mining scandal money are REALLY going.....

I found it infuriating that the whole Nikhil Gowda story was just sorta brushed under the carpet, even by the police! Where's the Lokayukta when u need him?!

What do you expect when all the tax payers money can be played along with by a little over 1000 odd politicians.

[kasli]

[chromodoris]

Talking about Indian garbage trucks, here's one (click on them for a bigger image).

[moralfibre]

What a beautiful piece of machinery! Nice pics chromodoris. Thanks for sharing them.

[khanak]

There are a couple of pictures of Maharajas and their cars at Philips Antiques next to Cafe Royal. The reprints are on sale for 2000 for anyone interested in picking them up.

[karlosdeville]

Ah, R 8818...silver ghost of Sir Michael Kadoorie of the peninsula hotel...he recently ordered 14, yes 14 phantoms for the hotel...quite a spectacle, all long wheel base, in trademark peninsula green...

[chromodoris]

Wow, you know your Royces... here's another one, in Peninsular livery 34 Phantom II:




so while the driver is being pissed on in the heavy rain, you may, from the relative comfort of your cab, telephone him to tell him to take you home...

[V-16]

Originally Posted by v12

The Punjab connection :

This world’s most famous and a best known brand is also associated with Punjab. According to a legend which finds mention on khalistan-affairs.org, in 1930, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh felt slighted at the British Rolls Royce company’s refusal to accept an order from him for a new Rolls Royce car. Reacting to the refusal, the old Maharaja put some of his old Rolls Royce cars to haul garbage dung and filth in Patiala city to the chagrin of the all-powerful Rolls Royce-loving Viceroy and the British ruling establishment who quickly prevailed upon the Rolls Royce Company to comply with the old Maharaja’s wishes.




The Patiala connection :

When the Maharaja of Patiala was snubbed by snooty British salesmen at a Rolls Royce showroom in the U.K., he hit back by buying up the entire consignment of 50 vehicles on display and turning them into garbage trucks back home. An English paper printed a picture and the story that made company representatives scurrying to Patiala with an olive branch.
.

Had heard about the Patiala incident. Incidently the Maharaja was a tall, lanky person who did'nt cars too hoots for fashion and pranced into a RR showroom with his PAs following him in his simple village attire. The prim and propah brit salesman thought them to be pheasants and insultingly asked them to leave as they would'nt be able to afford one. This ticked off the eccentric Maharaja who like so many would follow, did the garbage thing. It is interesting to note that he never bought another single RR in his life, nor did his children, as Capt. amrinder Singh remarked, "He hated rolls royces for their pomp and snobbery attached to them". The family were great fans of American Cars.

[kasli]

[farhan_kidwai]

i saw the Holkar Bentley last in end 1999. It was parked at the Holkar residence in Defence Colony (Delhi). I went to meet Mr. Richard Holkar for his entry to the Jack Daniels Vintage & Classic Car Rally in Dec 99 and he also sent in his entry for the vehicle, but it never came for the event. Havent seen it since.

[deutscheafrikar]

[quote=karlosdeville;284970]oh theres more....2 cars were traded for 2 impalas...one was the duesey, the other was this priceless V16 cadillac, ex maharaja of orcha, with coachwork by pinninfarina....thats right, V16, and pinninfarina coachwork in the 30s!!!


]


Karl,
In the late sixties my Dad and I saw this V16 Cadillac which was then owned by Film actor and director Sheik Mukhtar.

(This was a RHD boat-tailed speedster by Pinin Farina made for Maharajah of Orccha who had the number ORCCHA 1 and was designed for tiger hunting.)

It was parked on the road since he had come to visit a famous story writer of yesteryears. I was a little boy at that time but still remember this car. Years later I read in the Moto Trend magazine how Sheik Mukhtar found the car burried in the ground with the boat rear sticking out. He paid a sum of 700 or 7000 rupees back in the sixties. He later took it out of the country though Pakistan and sold it for what I recall reading as UK Pounds 105000. Research on the Internet shows that this car is now in the US.

Do any of the forum members recall seeing this car in Mumbai....

[awini]

according to the current maharaja of Orchha,HH Madhugar Shah, who remembers this car clear as day. this was never designed for hunting tigers, thats just a myth!! and it was never buried or even close to it... and one of the hubcaps still survives in the orchha garages...
this is one of the several V16s that made it to princely India..

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by awini

according to the current maharaja of Orchha,HH Madhugar Shah, who remembers this car clear as day. this was never designed for hunting tigers, thats just a myth!! and it was never buried or even close to it... and one of the hubcaps still survives in the orchha garages...

Thats so typical. If it was a royal car, you can safely assume the Westerners will take it as a shikaar vehicle. Such a large portion of the Maharajas were staunch vegetarians. Travancore cars never had leather seats, and I read that even certain suspension components which were covered in leather were replaced on their insistence.

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by awini

according to the current maharaja of Orchha,HH Madhugar Shah, who remembers this car clear as day. this was never designed for hunting tigers, thats just a myth!! and it was never buried or even close to it... and one of the hubcaps still survives in the orchha garages...

The so called myth about the hunting tigers is from the internet...
( At a cost approaching 7500 dollars plus a 30% import duty the Maharajah of Orccha chose a V16 chassis with a phaeton hood, reinforced front springs, high speed rear end and high compression cylinder heads. None of these features was particularly unusual for an export vehicle, rather it was his request for right-hand drive and a steering column tilted at a low angle that should have made Cadillac aware that the car would receive radical design treatment. Factory records reveal that the chassis left Detroit on July 17, 1931 destined for Turin, Italy.)

(At the time of the Maharajah's ascension the man who would later become Italy's most renowned automotive designer was just setting out on his own. The 35 year old coach builder had left his brother's firm Stabilimenti Farina, to open a shop under his own name: Carrozzeria Pinin [Gianbattista] Farina. The Maharajah's tiger-hunting car was one of his first masterpieces. It has been acclaimed as more graceful and more durable than any other car of its kind - a functional work of art. Pinin Farina lowered the cowl and hood and joined them to a fashionable boat-tailed body)
(Forsaking traditional fenders and running boards he achieved a sportier look by adding cycle fenders and applying louvered dust shields over the frame. In the boat-tailed deck he installed small doors which opened onto a throne compartment raised 12 inches above the front seat where the driver and footman sat. This innovation not only enabled the Maharajah to be conveyed around Orccha at an elevation befitting his rank, it also gave him a free field of fire when his beaters drove a beast from the bush. The finished speedster that Pinin Farina shipped to Orccha by way of Bombay could achieve speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, assuming superior roads for which the sub-continent was not noted

as for the burial in mud is what I remember reading clearly in the Motor Trend March 1985 issue.