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

[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 Bharatpur connection :

Another famous buyer was the Maharaja of Bharatpur (He always bought three automobiles at the same time). Once when the Rolls-Royce firm delayed sending mechanics to his capital to rectify small faults in the cars, the maharaja threatened to convert all his Rolls-Royces into garbage carriers. Lest the car lose its "aura" as the automobile for the super rich, the car-makers sent a group of mechanics at the earliest to Bharatpur.


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.


The Alwar connection :

When Maharaja Jay Singh of Alwar *visited the showrooms of Rolls-Royce in London, he was affronted when the salesman implied that he couldn't afford to purchase one of the sleek new models -- he promptly purchased 10, shipped them home, tore their roofs off, and used them to collect garbage.

Had stored these stories on my HD so i dont have the source right now. Will search and put them up soon.

[Rudra Sen]

Great find v12. Nice reading also.

[GTO]

Talk about A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E!!

Awesome stuff, V12

GTO

[Stratos]

Haha!...Wat a lesson to a certain breed of people!!!

[F50]

Just wanted to see those Rolls Royce guys' faces

[shravan316]

I would love to drive those garbage truck!

[Shan2nu]

Indian surely did have a lot of money then and a lot of garbage too.

Regards....
Shan2nu

[Dippy]

Excellent stories.. V12 can we source some pictures of the garbage trucks??

Dippy

[navin]

putting india's wealth in perspective.....
when we gained "indepandence" in 1947 India's share of world trade was in the region of 7%. Today about 50 years later India's share has dropped to less than 1%.

maybe India has progressed in the last 50+ years but the rest of the world (largely far east asia and china) have progressed almost 10 times as fast as India.

The Indian sub continent is one of the last known habitats of the polio virus (the others being Egypt, Nigeria and Niger).

Sorry for being a cynic but given our new found Leftist leanings I dont see how India is gonna pull itself out of this "hole" it has dug into.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]

maybe India has progressed in the last 50+ years but the rest of the world (largely far east asia and china) have progressed almost 10 times as fast as India.

Think about it, Chinas auto market was about the same size as ours till a couple of years back. It has long surpassed Indias automotive sales figures and if the current Chinese growth rates continue...2010 will see China as the worlds largest automobile producer!

GTO

[ravi_28_8]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]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 Bharatpur connection :

Another famous buyer was the Maharaja of Bharatpur (He always bought three automobiles at the same time). Once when the Rolls-Royce firm delayed sending mechanics to his capital to rectify small faults in the cars, the maharaja threatened to convert all his Rolls-Royces into garbage carriers. Lest the car lose its "aura" as the automobile for the super rich, the car-makers sent a group of mechanics at the earliest to Bharatpur.


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.


The Alwar connection :

When Maharaja Jay Singh of Alwar visited the showrooms of Rolls-Royce in London, he was affronted when the salesman implied that he couldn't afford to purchase one of the sleek new models -- he promptly purchased 10, shipped them home, tore their roofs off, and used them to collect garbage.

i too came acrose this article with photos long back. iam searching all my mails to get them...

[navin]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GTO @ July 15 2004,13:26)]

Think about it, Chinas auto market was about the same size as ours till a couple of years back. It has long surpassed Indias automotive sales figures and if the current Chinese growth rates continue...2010 will see China as the worlds largest automobile producer!

GTO

GTO, china is another story. even countries like philipines, bangladesh, srilanka, kenya, etc...have progressed at a relatively faster rate. and talking about china - they are already the world's largest importer of steel as well as the world's largest producer of steel. That means the make more steel than any other country but even this huge production capability is not enough so they need to import.

[v12]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]2010 will see China as the worlds largest automobile producer!

Correction GTO : 2010 will see China as the worlds largest automobile producer of "look alikes".

[navin]

i wish we produced as many look alikes as china did. even that would be progress.

[shravan316]

For our progress.......the constitution is too complicated and the whole process of getting a small change or improvement would take years....and frankly, the ministers aren't helping either.