The Star of India : Rajkot's Rolls Royce. EDIT: Coming home after 42yrs!

[beejay]

Read in today's Hindu that Rajkot Maharaja's Rolls Royce is likely to become the worlds most expensive car. The car is up for auction by its present German owner. The car features a technology similar to the adaptive curve lights seen on modern cars of today. The car is a Phantom II. Its assumed to fetch 8.5m.

Read the article here.

The Hindu : International / India & World : Maharaja's Rolls-Royce tipped to fetch œ8.5 m.

[dhrishikesh]

Its really sad to know that this INDIAN beauty is up for sale by the foreign owner & not any Indian bidder is bidding for it.
Mr. Vijay Mallya, may I have your attention please ??

[kasli]

i had seen the car in weisbaden a couple of years back ! simply mindblowing with if not mistaken the nanpara car with crocodile skin upholstrey and the rewa car with ostrich skin.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by dhrishikesh

Its really sad to know that this INDIAN beauty is up for sale by the foreign owner & not any Indian bidder is bidding for it.
Mr. Vijay Mallya, may I have your attention please ??

You can never know if there are any Indian bidders. I hope there is one too.
And I am sure Dr.Mallya and the likes of him would be aware of the auction.

Originally Posted by kasli

i had seen the car in weisbaden a couple of years back ! simply mindblowing with if not mistaken the nanpara car with crocodile skin upholstrey and the rewa car with ostrich skin.

Do you have any pictures to post?

[karlosdeville]

The Rajkot Rolls (registered RRR 65 if I'm right) is a magnificent specimen to see. Finished in a rich orange/saffron with polished wings, this car was uncovered in absolutely original condition - even paint and upholstry was flawless. A few years back I think it was badly damaged in a fire, but beautifully restored.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

The Rajkot Rolls (registered RRR 65 if I'm right) is a magnificent specimen to see. Finished in a rich orange/saffron with polished wings, this car was uncovered in absolutely original condition - even paint and upholstry was flawless. A few years back I think it was badly damaged in a fire, but beautifully restored.

Now, I am sure you have the pictures.

[suren181]

Deatiled pictures of this car are available in this link:

Rolls-Royce Phantom II Star of India, 1934

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by beejay

Now, I am sure you have the pictures.

Yup, but at home, I will be there on the weekend. Pictures are there elsewhere on the forum too.

Meanwhile here is one from a google search



Some nice images here too

Roop Gills Classic Motorcycles/The_Rajas

[moralfibre]

There are cars that are traded for higher prices than this. I heard of a Ferrari Testarossa being sold at a crazy price. And here's one that crashed at the recently held (and probably the last) Monterey Concours - 250 TR Crash.] 250 TR Crash. This one was worth about $8 million too.

[simply_sunny001]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

I heard of a Ferrari Testarossa being sold at a crazy price.

it was sold for 7.2 million last year and this RR Phantom is supposed to be around 8.5 million.

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

There are cars that are traded for higher prices than this. I heard of a Ferrari Testarossa being sold at a crazy price. And here's one that crashed at the recently held (and probably the last) Monterey Concours - 250 TR Crash.] 250 TR Crash. This one was worth about $8 million too.

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

it was sold for 7.2 million last year and this RR Phantom is supposed to be around 8.5 million.

Guys, let me clarify this. It is impossible to put a tab on a standalone sale, i.e. individual to individual. Price setting is highly debatable, as is the method used for payment. Who knows, the buyer of the RR phantom might have paid double of the disclosed amount, rest being in black money!

However, what is possible to keep a tab on is auction prices. The price is declared, and payment is monitored. Auction houses are bound by law to accept legal payments only. Hence the title of the "world's most expensive car" actually means "world's most expensive car sold in an auction."

I'm sure many know this, but a Bugatti Royale was for years the most expensive car sold in an auction, at a price of GBP 5.5M in 1987. Recently the Ferrari California bought by Chris Evans broke the record (GBP 5.6M or Eur 7.2M). So if the Star of India manages to acquire its reserve price, rest assured it will be the most expensive car ever sold in an auction.

Also, in case some of you are not bothered with method of sale (auction? What auction?) and only want to crunch numbers, a Bugatti Royale was bought by Meitec Corporation of Japan for a rumoured USD 15.7M (GBP 9.7M) in 1990. Go figure!

[AltoHoncho]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

I'm sure many know this, but a Bugatti Royale was for years the most expensive car sold in an auction, at a price of GBP 5.5M in 1987.

Normally these auctions arent done on an individual basis, there are big corporates like Christie's etc behind such huge money transactions. So black money cannot enter that easily in this game.
Bug: The pic taken from Forbes:

[the mole]

What is $8 million dollars to the average joe Billionaire? If you consider cars as automotive art and compare it with Painting and sculpture then consider that paintings are going for an average of more than 100 million dollars at the least. So 8m dollars is not much, cars are still undervalued as pieces of art. Again this IMHO.

[IndrojitSircar]

This car looks damn good.Any history of the car and more pictures ?

[v12]

The one history I know about the Royale is that only 6 were made - all in different body styles. And it has a 100% surviving rate. All 6 still exist.