Bentleys in India

[anjan_c2007]

Are the cars exhibited by Mr Pranlal Bhogilal still in a mechanically running condition? He has kept these cars with him and has done a yeoman's job, as without a good ownership these cars would have been smuggled out of India and surfaced elsewhere. Kudos to the Great man for preservation of the beauties of yore!!

[Julian UK]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

He has kept these cars with him and has done a yeoman's job, as without a good ownership these cars would have been smuggled out of India and surfaced elsewhere. Kudos to the Great man for preservation of the beauties of yore!!

I agree, and also wholeheartedly with V12's post #88 in the Pranlal Bhogilal thread, elsewhere these cars could have rotted or gone abroad, they are still here, where they belong, how many can successfully maintain a few cars, let alone preserve hundreds?
Keep pouring oil down the plug holes and spraying the 40-DW or whatever, and check underneath for those towers of white ant earth as they try to reach the body wood and eventually each car's time will come for proper attention. As Ettore Bugatti said, the car is "Le baton" ( a baton as in a relay race) to be passed from hand to hand. It's nice if they are passed on through time in as original form as possible. But better restored than rusted though while waiting for dream prices or court settlements.

[TractionAvant]

Akalkot-1 was mentioned earlier. Here are some pictures I took at a rally more than 10 years ago. It was at Police ground, Pune.

Please forgive the poor quality since these are photographs of photographs.

Some details that I recorded at that time.
1934 Bentley
Owner- Rajkumari Sunitaraje Jaisingh Bhonsale of Akalkot
Engine no. R8 BN
Chassis no. B35..???

1934 would make it a 3 1/2 litre. I think W.O. did work on this model.


Kind Regards

Aditya

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by TractionAvant

Akalkot-1 was mentioned earlier. Here are some pictures I took at a rally more than 10 years ago. It was at Police ground, Pune.

Great, finally we get hold of some pictures. She looks immaculate. I wonder if she is still in the same condition. I suppose if properly stored not too much could go wrong.

Do share pictures of other cars at the rally too.

[TractionAvant]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Do share pictures of other cars at the rally too.

Will do Karlosdeville,

another little detail i remember, the Rajkumari wore a 100 year old sari to the rally

[DKG]

Originally Posted by TractionAvant

Akalkot-1 was mentioned earlier. Here are some pictures I took at a rally more than 10 years ago. It was at Police ground, Pune.

Lovely car. I assume its a single owner Bentley still remaining with the family? Fantastic

[TractionAvant]

Originally Posted by DKG

Lovely car. I assume its a single owner Bentley still remaining with the family? Fantastic

It was single owner when I saw it. Another little titbit, it has an aluminium body.

Kind regards

Aditya

[Roger OZ]

(From TractionAvant/Aditya)
"Some details that I recorded at that time.
1934 Bentley
Owner- Rajkumari Sunitaraje Jaisingh Bhonsale of Akalkot
Engine no. R8 BN
Chassis no. B35..???"

According to Bernard L. King's 'The Derby Built Bentleys' (Complete Classics vol. 4), engine R8BN was fitted to 1935 Bentley 3½-litre B35EJ, a Vanden Plas 2-door sports tourer, delivered new to the "Ruling Chief of Nandgaon", with current owner (in 2000) listed as "Akalkot".

In all probability, therefore, B35EJ is the car in those lovely colour repro-photos.

[TractionAvant]

Originally Posted by Roger OZ

(From TractionAvant/Aditya)
According to Bernard L. King's 'The Derby Built Bentleys' (Complete Classics vol. 4), engine R8BN was fitted to 1935 Bentley 3½-litre B35EJ, a Vanden Plas 2-door sports tourer, delivered new to the "Ruling Chief of Nandgaon", with current owner (in 2000) listed as "Akalkot".

In all probability, therefore, B35EJ is the car in those lovely colour repro-photos.

Perhaps it went from Nandgaon to Akalkot as a wedding gift?

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Do share pictures of other cars at the rally too.

Done, here's the link

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...years-old.html (Pics of Pune vintage rally, 10+ years old)

[Julian UK]

Traction avant, I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of improving one of the photos, I'm uploading it then will ask the mods to switch the photos over and delete this post. Its such a lovely car.

[TractionAvant]

Originally Posted by Julian UK

Traction avant, I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of improving one of the photos, I'm uploading it then will ask the mods to switch the photos over and delete this post. Its such a lovely car.

Attachment 31599

Not at all Sir !! Limited skills on an auto-focus camera along with a fondness for matt paper do not make for good photographs .

[karlosdeville]

RJD 101 in her previous avtaar, courtesy Harit.

One for the Bentley thread. This car, RJD 101 was black, now in two tone blue. Originally from the Mysore garage, went to a Maharaja in central India and is now in Mumbai. She had a very corroded chassis but that has been fixed.

[karlosdeville]

Another picture of RJL 4004, Gayatri Devi's Bentley, here.

India’s First International Concours D’Elegance - Classic Driver - MAGAZINE - events

[DKG]

A few years back when I met a gentleman named Mr. Momen and complimented him on a stunning pair of RR 25/30's with him he remarked "wait till you see the Bentley I have when you visit Calcutta"

I still need to visit Calcutta! but here courtesy Asad is the picture of that awesome Bentley



Thank you Asad for treating us to this gorgeous picture

[DKG]

Originally Posted by Julian UK

A fuller list of Some of the Derby Bentleys that came to India including three maybes.
The bold ones are identified and there are photos apart from B77MX which I will get shortly.

B170AH 1934 T&M Saloon Cooch Bihar
B59BL 1934 Park Ward DHC Bryson Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 7th Bt Maybe India
B197BL 1935 Gurney Nutting DHC Nawab of Rampur
B164EF 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer Cooch Bihar
B72BN 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer Indian trials demonstrator - Briggs S Cunningham
B82DG 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer Indore
B37DK 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer Allied Motors for M P M Dalar
B91DK 1935 Park Ward Saloon Allied Motors RS Chenai
B32EF 1935 3.5 litre Barker Saloon Bahawalpur
B164EF 1935 Vanden Plas tourer Cooch Bihar
B35EJ 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer Allied motors for the Ruling chief of Nandgaon
B95EJ 1935 Park Ward DHC V L Ethiraj
B183EJ 1935 Gurney Nutting Coupe Jodhpur
B50FB 1935 Vanden Plas Tourer K S Numal Kumar Singhji of Bhavnagar
B144FB 1936 Gurney Nutting Coupe Jammu and Kashmir
B174FB 1936 Barker Saloon Maharaja of Jaipur
B194FB 1936 Gurney Nutting Coupe Holkar Indore
B12GA 1936 Barker Saloon India trials J E Lowey
B11GP 1936 Gurney Nutting Tourer Holkar Indore
B51GP J4BJ 1936 Hooper Coupe Cabriolet Nabha (Nabha 34)
B67GP L3BW 1936 Park Ward Sports Saloon Mayur Bhanj
B159GP W5BLX 1936 H J Mulliner DHC D McMartin–California/ Hitchcock film maybe came to India?
B185HM E9BF 1937 Vanden Plas tourer Arnott -- Raja Sahib of Nilgiri
B192JD P8BU 1937 Thrupp and Maberly All Weather Cooch Bihar Maybe India
B64MR E8BK 1939 Vanden Plas Tourer Darbhanga
B45MX U5BT 1939 Last Barker body / Hooper Saloon Jaipur
B77MX V3BJ 1939 H J Mulliner Coupe Bhopal
B97MX Y6BA 1939 James Young Sedanca Coupe Nabha (Nabha 2)
B131MX U5BE 1939 Park Ward Saloon S M Swenson

All the following are probably cars in the above list:
Unknown Vanden Plas Tourer JKA 3 (post #103 Karl’s post from Xoticars)
Unknown Park Ward Saloon MRG 7700 (post #94 Harit’s Bentley photos )
Unknown DHC MSC 1000 (post #94 Harit’s Bentley photos)
Unknown Vanden Plas Tourer BMX 4472 Harit’s Bentley photos and post #71 of
-pranlal-bhogilal-collection

Julian could you please throw more light on B104MR Park Ward All Weather which doesn't appear in your list above. Who imported that car into India originally? Like Karlos mentioned both this and the green RR have a state number starting with J