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-   -   1947 Vauxhall 14 'J' Six Previously Owned By The Maharaja Of Kolhapur! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-war/70857-1947-vauxhall-14-j-six-previously-owned-maharaja-kolhapur.html)

Hi Fellow Bhpians!
This is my first thread, as i've joined Team-BHP Recently,
These are pics of my 1947 Vauxhall 14, and it's donor car, the maharaja's car's been in our family since we purchased it at an auction in December 1952! the donor car was chanced upon by my uncle in '76 in belgaum, and he just couldn't resist Pouncing upon it. it was missing a few spares such as the distributor, and the carburettor, and the garage owner sold it in "as is, where is" condition for some 2k. As my uncle had been collecting spares since the late 50s, he had all the required spares necessary to start the car, and he got it started, and drove it down! Here are pics of both the cars, (still in our hands) p.s. i would greatly appreciate some pointers on restoration..

Greetings and welcome aboard. That is a nice complete and solid looking car. This picture was posted sometime back elsewhere on the forum, I forget where.



Do post up pictures of the donor's car, and if possible a scan of the RC book mentioning the full title of the Kolhapur Maharaja, I found that unique.

The car is looking in a very bad shape right now. Needs a good restorer now.

A fair condition Vauxhall 14 Model J was exhibited in the Auto Expo at Chandigarh earlier this year. The picture is taken from the thread on tbhp.



Why dont you try contacting some Chandigarh tbhpians to lead you to the owner of this car?

Here are some pics of the donor car... she's in very bad shape right now, cause she'd been locked up in the garage for more than twenty years till we took her out, but i've gotten her running, i.e. started her up and all, but i have only one set of tyres between both the cars, as the tyres on the donor car burst when i tried to inflate them. but both cars have all the original fitments intact except that the sun roof on the donor car's been welded up. We've done a complete engine overhaul on the donor car. (have all the spares and Lots more to run both cars DAILY for another six generations, Thanx to my uncle's foresight!) Except for the tyres :-(

Here are some pics of the donor car... she's in very bad shape right now, cause she'd been locked up in the garage for more than twenty years till we took her out, but i've gotten her running, i.e. started her up and all, but i have only one set of tyres between both the cars, as the tyres on the donor car burst when i tried to inflate them. but both cars have all the original fitments intact except that the sun roof on the donor car's been welded up. We've done a complete engine overhaul on the donor car. (have all the spares and Lots more to run both cars DAILY for another six generations, Thanx to my uncle's foresight!) Except for the tyres :-(

Welcome to the forum Mickie. Great to see your interest in restoring and giving this beauty a new lease to life. The car looks fairly good. Complete in many sorts excepting in the interior trim department. Those ivory coloured knobs ar worth their price in Gold, dont loose them.

The body line seems good and un tampered, thank God. The engine bay also looks to be in good nick. I guess someone who used the car just lost interest. Good that you are reviving it. There are many Vintage badshahs on this forum who will gladly guide you in restoration. See if there is one near you. If any help is needed, then Forum Zindabad. Keep it up and enjoy your passion.

Hi V-16..!
Thanks for the compliments on the car, yes, we used to use the car regularly until the early 90s. since the fuel prices started going higher and higher, my uncle decided to stop using the car, and he bought a fabulous condition single owner 1967 Mark II Amby. since then because of some legal hassles with our neighbors, the car was walled in. and the sun and rain have taken it's toll on the front of the car which was exposed. otherwise, we regularly used to fill air in the tyres and fire her up once in a while. :)

Hey, lovely car Micki! In fact, there used to be one car locked up in Mysore, very very similar to this, but I could not identify it since only a little bit was visible through the shutter doors and the owner was untraceable.
Anyway, the car looks pretty intact in my opinion. And like V-16 rightly pointed out, the first step would be to make sure you dont lose any of those meters and knobs. They are very precious and a little difficult to find. May be you can begin with a thorough cleaning of the car and then take stock of what parts you may need. And see if you can fire up the engine with some servicing. But I would suggest a neat ground-up restoration. But it is very much in a state from which it can come alive and kicking! Good luck. Keep in touch.

Thanks for your interest avinash, the car is very much in running condition, it's been about six-eight months that i've not been able to continue my work on it. it's mechanically 100% fit. i took it for a short 20 km run with the sunroof open and my friends poking their heads out!! the suspension is really awesome, like as if you're in a boat!! it only needs some upholstery and paint. btw, i have plenty more of the meters, (in fact, i have 3 whole meter consoles) as well as the door and window handles with ivory knobs.

Cheers!

Hi Micki.

Love both the cars. From reading your posts it would appear you didn't actually need a donor car for the original as it is quiet complete by itself.

Thanks for your uncles foresight you have managed to save another car from beigng destroyed.

Hope you will restore both to their former glory.

The Maharaja's car has an interesting set of dual parking lights on the front mudguards. Is there any significance attached to them as was the case on cars from the Indore royal family.

Is that the original regestration number from the time it belonged to the Royal Family ? What was the mileage on it when purchased and what is it showing now. Is the speedo missing or has it been removed.

The upholstry looks to be original and it would be a good idea to photograph it extensively before it is worked on so that you have visual references to work with.

Please do post some pics of the rear end of both the cars.Does the windscreen open outwards. There seems to be a crank or something on top of the dash that look like it can be turned to crank open teh windscreen.

I have a specail affection for Vauxhalls as my dad had a 51 Velox which I remember clearly.

What are your plans, which one will be done first ?

a nice car, but it resembles the AUSTIN 10. is it based on it??

It is definitely similar to an Austin Ten but is in no way baased on it nor does it share any components with the Austin.

Micki a very interesting thread with two great cars.The Vauxhall 14 has become very rare to even sight these days. Seems both the cars are quite original.I never knew the Vauxhall 14 had a 6 cyl, OHV engine. Must have been much ahead of its times.Its engine sound is very very unique.I believe you relish the sound which is quite distinct from any other car.
As far as your upholstery restoration is concerned, I am sure no one will be able to recreate the original. Its all leather there with the Luton, England touch!
Please keep the cars alive and firing!

Hi wasif!

well, to begin answering your queries, the crank on the dash is for the wipers, it has a mechanical cable driven wiper system. and no the windshield does not open outwards. yes, the car has original upholstery, original genuine leather. btw, my uncle used to say, that the elliptical springs also used to be wrapped in thick leather so that the suspension should not gather dust and start to squeak. as for the upholstery, it was completely done up in cream coloured cordurouy material. don't know whether i can do that up as per original specs. also, i don't plan to get the seats re done, i want to treat the leather and leaving the original leather underneath, i'll give them some covers on top. it also had thick coir mats on the floor, Thanks to the rats, the matting has all been eaten up. also the speedo i working, it had a genuine 9,000 miles on the clock when we bought it, and now i think it's somewhere close to around 48,000 miles. (thanks to my uncle's frequent trips to mumbai! or should i say bombay?)

But it's still got a sealed Engine. The engine's never been worked on, until i got the valves reseated and changed the water pump bearing. and my uncle used to work on the cars all by himself, resembling the true parsi style with the white vest with pockets in the side of it :-)
as for the donor car, well that's a completely different story,
after my uncle bought the donor car, since he had collected a lot of spares since the early 60's, he started work on the donor car as soon as he brought it home, he first made sure that it was mechanically fit, then he got the body work done only just however much was the bare necessity. then he put the maharaja's car into the garage, and started using the other car only. till the compression went down and the car started giving trouble. after that rather than work on the car again, he sadly garaged it and started using the maharaja's car again, which is the result of the donor car ending up in the state it is right now :-( being driven somewhere close to around 80-90,000 miles. but i\'ve given it a complete engine overhaul around a year ago. new pistons and rings, new crank bearings, new valves, oil seals, the works. since we have a whole storehouse of spares, it wasn\'t much of a problem. now it\'s pending the body work and the interiors.