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The 1919 Daimler 45 HP "Special" Gold Limousine of Sir Seth Hukumchand has been of much interest to the vintage car enthusiasts in India. The problem was that, very little information was available. Very few were fortunate enough to have had actually seen the car. The car was known to be at Indore and still in the custody of the family.
Harit started a thread in 2009 on the Top Ten Collectible Cars Located in India. The discussion in this thread covered the Gold Daimler and we got see pictures of this car, albeit very basic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by harit
(Post 1207261)
Hi Everybody,
With reference to the discussion with DKG, this thread has been started to bring out the top 10 cars in India. Top 10 is not only in terms of value, but the Marque, body styling, rarity, uniqueness should be considered.This will be fun with lots of discussions. After perhaps 5 pages of the thread we can draw up a list. To this list we can continuously add and delete. Let me begin the fun by naming a few contenders:
1) Delahaye Jodhpur
2) Daimler Double Six UP
3) Daimler Golden body Indore
4) .........
Harit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by travancore
(Post 1942089)
Here is a picture of the Seth Hukumchand "Gold Plated" Daimler in its prime 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kasli
(Post 1981588)
One snap of the car in the eighties , pardon the snap and another in the late 90's .........  
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Most of us less fortunate had resigned to the idea that we would never get to physically see the car as it was not in the public domain for close to 60 years!
Then the exciting news filtered that the Gold Daimler of Sir Seth Hukumchand would be displayed at the 5th Cartier Concours de Elegance at Falaknuma, Hyderabad in Feb'17.
Enthusiasts from all over the country were relieved that one of the historically important cars of India was going to be restored and that a lot of us would get an opportunity to see the car in person. Restored by the famous restorer Maharana Manvendra Singh of Barwani, with the mechanical work being done by Christopher Rodricks, this outstanding car is back to its prime.
Before we go to the car we need to go the history of Sir Seth Hukumchand
Quote:
Sir Seth Hukum Chand Jain (Kasliwal) of Indore (1874-1959) was a leading business magnate of India, doing speculative and ready trade in commodities on a large scale. He was known as 'Cotton Prince of India' and had much credit even in some overseas countries. He established cotton mills (Hukam Chand Mill and Raj Kumar Mill at Indore), and a large Jute Mill and Iron Mill at Calcutta. He was the first Indian businessman to set up a Jute Mill.
He was made Rai Bahadur in 1915 and honoured with the title of 'Sir' (Knight hood) in 1919. Maharaja of Gwalior had presented him Khilat and Rulers of Indore honoured him with the Titles of Rajya Bhushan, Rao Raja and Rajya Ratna.
He was champion of nationwide Khadi Movement initiated by Gandhiji in 1920 and a leader of the Swadeshi Movement of 1931 in Bombay. He had an unparalleled record of religious and social service...........
(Source :http://www.jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/li...id=3864&cat=62)
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It is but natural that such an established man should own an outstanding car. Purchased in the 1920’s was a 1919 Daimler 45 HP. The car was sent back to Windovers Limited, London in 1936 for repainting with gold leaf and re-upholstered in luxurious brocade sent from India. All the exterior trims including the windscreen frame and head lights were gold plated. (Source : The Automobiles of the Maharajas)
Travancore had noted in the Daimler Thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by travancore
(Post 800040)
Here is an interesting excerpt on Seth Hukumchand's gold plated Daimler
( TIME Magazine, Monday, Oct 26, 1936) Golden Repairs
"Not a ruling Indian Prince, merely wealthy Sir Hukunchand Sarupchand purchased in 1919 a 45 h.p. British Daimler car with a gold-plated custom body which still suits him exactly: Last week, having been overhauled by the Daimler company which boasted that they had found it unnecessary to take down the sleeve-valve engine, Sir Sarupchand's 17-year-old car emerged from a British plating works which has been doing over its gold surface. On removing the upholstery to renovate the stuffing, enough dead Indian red ants were discovered to make a heaping shovelful. Finally the car was packed for shipment to India with a repair bill of $7,500."
Here is the link: Golden Repairs - TIME
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Let us try and make a sense of $7,500 spent in 1936 to refurbish this car.
Conversion of Dollar to Rupee - 1 : 2.67
Hence $ 7,500 equivalent INR is Rs.20,025
Price of 10 gms of gold in 1936 was Rs. 29.81
Hence 6.7175 kgs of gold could have been bought, which if valued at today's price of Rs. 27,000 per 10 grams, would translate to a whooping Rs. 1.814 Crs !
On 5th February, at the 5th Cartier Concours de Elegance at Falaknuma, Hyderabad we got to see the car in its full glory. Standing magnificently and holding her own next the Nizam's Ceremonial Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was the Gold Daimler of Sir Seth Hukumchand clap:
The pictures posted in this thread are taken by many enthusiasts who were there at the event.
I am happy to share the pictures, which will enable you to appreciate this magnificent car better.
Index Exterior
Interiors
Engine
Mechanical Restoration
Conclusion
Cheers
KPS
Pictures here detailing the exterior as much as possible. However, I would be the first to admit that these pictures do not do justice of this magnificent car!
The car is painted with a custom gold paint, specially imported to replicate the original colour as far as possible
The car looks outstanding. Note the absence of the right side front door for the driver
As you soak in the car, one starts to appreciate the finer details
The left side view reveals the distinct cowl and windshield shape
The single spare tyre is only on the right side and a big horn takes the said space on the left side
The top view
The front is magnificent. The massive brass radiator matches the body colour
The radiator is very basic and does not have a core. One can clearly see the pipes instead of of a core.
The side view shows that this is actually quite a big car
The rear view of this magnificent car.
The gold plated luggage rack over the fuel tank
At the bottom front end but over the floor board, is a big horn to be used for humans! Read on to know why
The V shaped windscreen frame is gold plated. I understand this is the original gold plating. What a beauty!
The gold plated bell as a radiator mascot has its own story. It was supposed to be unholy to horn at the holy cow! Hence gold bell was put in place as a radiator mascot with the string attached and pulled by the driver should the path of the car be blocked by a holy cow!
The gold plated bonnet lock handles
Gold plated head lights
The size of the radiator can be appreciated in this picture.
Rao Raja ,Indore was one the honorary titles given by the Rulers of Indore. Note the "S" on "H" logo of Seth Hukumchand
The aerodynamic windscreen is appreciated from this angle
The gold plated cowl lights
The inner front wheel
The rear wheel with a gold painted wheel well
Confirming the Coachbuilders, Windovers Limited, London
Truly outstanding, but wait till you see the interors
Cheers
KPS
As we go through the interior pictures, you will realize how luxurious this car actually was. The gold plating is done tastefully, limited to the extent it does not spoil the aesthetics inside. This car is a limousine and had jump-seats to seat the attendants or extra passengers.
The partition glass between the driver and passenger makes it a limousine
The spotless white steering wheel looks majestic
The rosewood dashboard follows the V shape of the windshield. Below the dash is the gold plated firewall.
You will never get to see such an outstanding firewall. Gold plated, of course !
The gauge indicates the petrol tank pressure. The hand-pump is needed to pressurize the petrol tank, thereby the petrol flows to the carburetor. Once the the vehicle starts the mechanical fuel pump takes over
In the absence of the driver's door on the right, the gold plated Gear Stick and Handbrake are on the extreme right.
Note that the gold plated accelerator pedal is between the clutch and brake.
The speedo on the left angled dash, enables the driver to have a clear view. The clock is on the right
The beautiful gold plated Smith's speedo shows a reading of 76376 miles
The three gold plated levers on the steering are for Throttle, Advance/Retard and Rich/Lean Fuel mixture
We enter the rear, reminded of the coach builder!
The door shows a beautiful brocade upholstery.
Ornate woodwork enhances the beauty of the door
Note the gold plated window lock
The gold plated jump-seat frames are seen
The rear comforts are outstanding too. Reflects the taste and wealth of the owner
What a luxurious rear seat
The roof with the interior lights
A final look at the luxurious interiors
I am sure that you will agree with me that the interiors are no way second to the exterior of this magnificent car
The engine is a 6 cylinder 45 HP, Sleeve Valve Engine (explained later) and has been completely restored back to originality.
6-45 indicates 6 cylinders 45 HP
The typical engine design of a Sleeve Valve Engine
You will note the absence of an air filter. The air intake to the carburetor can be seen from the exhaust, from where heated air is fed to atomize the fuel mixture.
The massive fan belt is seen
Has both a Magneto and Dynamo
The engine design is so very neat and clean. The massive black unit on the firewall next to the carburetor is the Starter.
The carburetor and intake manifold
The Carburetor is unique in that it has seven jets which are activated on demand, based on the engine speed.
Tickler for the Carb
The aesthetically designed water pump. I had earlier mentioned that the air intake is from the exhaust. You will note the water jacket at the intake and the asbestos lining below. This is prevent any spark travelling up the intake, should the engine back fire
This is to check the oil pressure. If the oil flow is good, it indicates that the oil pressure is fine!
The process of starting the engine with the starting handle was demonstrated to us. First the manual pump on the firewall is pumped till the fuel pressure gauge indicates adequate pressure. Then the carburetor is tickled to ensure there is fuel. Next the firing is fully retarded and the engine is cranked to prime the cylinders with fuel. Once the engine is primed, the firing is advanced and the engine started in one crank of the starting handle!
Here is a video of the car being started
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m1MblqOXFE
This section is dedicated to the young Christopher Rodricks of Rodricks Restorations. Chris as he is fondly called, does only mechanical restoration of the cars.
As explained earlier, this car has a 6 cylinder 45 HP Sleeve Valve engine.
The Sleeve Valve Engine, as explained below
Quote:
A sleeve valve takes the form of one or more machined sleeves. It fits between the piston and the cylinder wall in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine where it rotates and/or slides. Ports (holes) in the side of the sleeves come into alignment with the cylinder's inlet and exhaust ports at the appropriate stages in the engine's cycle.
The first successful sleeve valve was patented by Charles Yale Knight, and used twin alternating sliding sleeves. It was used in some luxury automobiles, notably Willys, Daimler .......
Source
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Watch this YouTube video on how a Sleeve Valve Engine works works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSMYjRNQ8Rs
We are very fortunate that Chris agreed to share with us the engine restoration details. Let us start with his introduction before we experience his work on this wonderful car.
Chris has a Masters degree from an Australian University. After spending 5 years in Australia, he took up a job at an automobile mechanic workshop, starting at the washing bay! His passion for the work ensured that he got to work on Jaguars, Rolls and Bentley and graduated to the position of Head Mechanic of the place. In the absence of formal training, this by no means a small achievement. He returned to India in 2012 to set up his own workshop Rodricks Restoration and started to collaborate with other famous restorers for their mechanical work. He is focused only on the engine, suspension, and electrical related works.
Chris stands proudly in front of the great car he got ticking.
Chris has shared his note and engine restoration pictures, as below
Quote:
The 1921 Daimler TG & TH-6 sleeve valve 45 HP engine was manufactured under licence from Knight and Kilbourne patents company by The Daimler company, Coventry England. Quite an ingenious design for its time, designed by Charles Yale Knight with a real out of the box way of reinventing the internal combustion engine. Basically engineered to use sleeve port type valves instead of the more common poppet valve construction.
This particular engine is one of the bigger horse power engines that use a double sliding sleeve valve arrangement. The basic principle is similar to a two stroke engine where the ports line up to the intake or exhaust manifold in order to inhale or exhale a charge of atomized gasoline.
The complexity of design is quite evident especially with the construction and intricate design of each sleeve having multiple serrations for lubrication and oddly enough each sleeve is perforated! Not to forget the timing involved in getting these two cylindrical sleeves and a piston to be at the right place at the right time in order to create an airtight combustion chamber. This might sound fairly simple but keep in mind that each cast iron bore has two sleeves constantly sliding atop one another on a vertical plane all the while also allowing for the vertical movement of a piston with rings to travel inside them. Therefore, there is loss of compression between each sleeve and between piston and rings to sleeve wall.
Now to complicate things further, the action of these sleeves and pistons are actuated by three connecting rods per bore. All this controlled by the perfect timing of crankshaft to camshaft. Also to aid compression each bore has a separate removable head with its own set of piston rings to seal the top of the combustion chamber.
So to summarise; each bore has two cylindrical perforated and serrated sleeve valves with huge intake and exhaust ports, three connecting rods, six piston rings (three on the piston and three on the head), one petridish shaped piston, and three gudgeon pins. Quite a lot of moving parts for one cylinder....now multiply all that into six!!! And that is just the top end of the engine.
Of course it goes without saying that correct valve train timing is absolutely imperative and even a deviation of one tooth will stop the engine from creating enough compression to fire up! and we haven’t even approached the topic of ignition timing.!!
For this particular type of engine, clearances are of the utmost importance, as even a few thou extra clearance will cause lubrication failure and piston/valve slap amounting to extremely low compression values, and too little clearance will lead to rapid seizure! The unique oiling/lubricating system of this engine that contains so many moving parts. It had a pressurized oiling system that ends with gravity feed and splash lubrication! Oddly enough this works pretty well and so much so that all sleeve valve engines were known to continuously smoke ! The oil pump has two separate chambers, one to feed the connecting rods and one to feed the main bearings. The sleeves and upper cylinder lubrication are all taken care of just by splash feed!!!! The oil is pressurized and sent into a filter chamber and from there it flows under pressure to open channels which feed all main bearings. So in essence all the main bearings are fed through gravity and any excess pressure will cause the rate of flow in the canals to vary and at highest pressure the canals would just overflow allowing the excess oil to fall back into the sump. The main bearing pressure feed can be set according to requirements and is basically meant for hill climbing where one can set the pressure to make sure all main bearing channels are full even on a gradient. The connecting rods also get lubricated in a similar way where the pressure fills up a channel for each connecting rod that has a tiny scoop at its bottom end. As the rod is at Bottom dead center it scoops up oil and splashes it all over the inside of the engine. This splash feed is picked up by the sleeves and piston at its bottom most position and the oil residue basically climbs the walls between the sleeves due to the serrations previously mentioned until it reaches the top of the combustion chamber where it lubricates the three top piston rings and eventually burns away in the combustion chamber. The lubrication system was so good that a regularly run engine was pretty much bullet proof! Wear and tear was far less than a regular internal combustion engine due to low compression, the only downside being that it has higher oil consumption.
I was absolutely blessed to be able to lay my hands on a sleeve valve engine and I have always wanted to repair one !! I cannot begin to express the absolute feeling of elation I felt when I heard her fire up after more than sixty years as I was told.
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Chris has been kind enough to share some pictures of the mechanical restoration.
Engine during teardown stage
Engine pre restoration
"A" frame and leverage used to remove bores from seized pistons and sleeves
Pistons, sleeves and bores removed for machining
Nickel plated engine parts
The dashboard was completely stripped once the body was removed. Please note the massive flywheel
The seized piston of the fuel pump had to be coaxed out. New rings were made in Mumbai.
Close view of the Carburetor
The inside of the carburetor
More parts from inside the carburetor. Honey comb atomizer and pot
Note the seven jets in the carburetor. The jets are activated on a demand basis
Rebuilding the carburetor
Brake drum removed for overhaul
Clutch Housing
The Clutch
Leather lining for the clutch
Magneto servicing and detailing
Steering column overhauled and ready for assembly
Water pump overhauled
Bhpian Kasli shared an very interesting recreation of a photo!
In the 1980's Kasli's father was pictured looking into this fabulous car. This was probably one of the few pictures available before the 2017 event
The father from the 1980's at Indore
The son recreating the above scene at Cartier 2017 clap:
I would like conclude by stating that very few can argue against this being one of the "Top 10 Collectible Cars in India". Truly outstanding car and we are fortunate that this has been restored. Enthusiasts from across the world have been "Wowed" by this car.
Thanks to Karl and Kasli for sharing some pictures for this thread. Special thanks to Christopher Rodricks who spent time with us, explaining the finer details of the car and last but not the least sharing the engine restoration details
Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Cheers
KPS
Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks a ton for sharing!
Dear KPS,
Thanks for this outstanding thread of an incredible automobile. I feel that a car says a lot about its owner. Here, the Daimler's grandeur speaks volumes of Hukumchand's life & style.
This one's going straight to our homepage :thumbs up.
Thanks KPS for taking the effort to put together this superb thread. The car is indeed one of the most special ones around, and was almost forgotten in most people's minds for so long. I say it very often - these kinds of cars only come out and about thanks to deadlines set for large events - in this case a special thanks to Cartier and Mr. Barwani. Am also especially glad to see Chris's note on his experiences - he is no doubt a strong asset to the community. It is heartening to see the car is still in the same family, and hopefully in the days to come it will be seen more often.
Great thread, KPS, I had the good fortune to see the car first hand , the best part was that I was around when Chris, gave a demo and fired the engine for us.
What was the original colour scheme on this car ?
The luxury in this car is just obscene!
And way it has been preserved to this date is equally amazing.:eek:
I wonder, how much was the cost of this beauty, when new.
The phantoms, Maybachs of today are nothing when compared to this testament of sheer luxury.:thumbs up
Sometimes the emotions get so overwhelmed that it becomes difficult to gauge the depth of feelings - so to say when it involves structures of metal & grease.
Most of us who have been through above emotions and are still trying to come to terms with unbelievable resurrection of BRISTOL and so now find ourselves with another enigma in case of this fabulous car.
Needless to say that every inch of this car speaks about the wealth & taste of its owner, past & present and gives us mortals a chance to take a peak at rich Raj history of India.
Regards-Sonu
Quote:
Originally Posted by KPS
(Post 4152908)
The 1919 Daimler 45 HP "Special" Gold Limousine of Sir Seth Hukumchand has been of much interest to the vintage car enthusiasts in India.
Most of us less fortunate had resigned to the idea that we would never get to physically see the car as it was not in the public domain for close to 60 years!
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KPS !!
A big thanks for bringing out this thread - and the way it has been introduced. Was so compelling that I had to read up the History of Sir Hukumchand and the Swadeshi movement and the lot.
"Chris" was indeed a revelation and now that I know, where he is I will definitely try to know him better (of course with an ulterior motive of getting to see the exotics he is going to work on in future).
Best Regards & Drive Safe
Ram
Thanks and Best Regards
What a great thread. Kudos KPS. I was fortunate enough to visit the Cartier show this year and happened to see this car at close quarters. I also happened to be along with KPS when he was viewing this car and for KPS to provide this write up without making notes is truly remarkable as the level of accuracy is spot on.
Special mention to Chris. Chris had so much patience in demonstrating the intricacies of this car (of which there were many) to the people who were fortunate enough to attend the Cartier event. For some one so young to have perfectly restored the mechanical aspects of this car is incredible. I have been fortunate to meet Chris in some of our Sunday Drives in Bangalore (see the Classics and Coffee thread) and he is ready and willing to share his knowledge.
It is remarkable that such a car exists in India and goes to show the kind of vehicles that India had. Great to see it restored and having pride of place at an event like the Cartier. Overall, a great thread befitting a truly great car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abhishek46
(Post 4161298)
The luxury in this car is just obscene!
And way it has been preserved to this date is equally amazing.:eek:
I wonder, how much was the cost of this beauty, when new.
The phantoms, Maybachs of today are nothing when compared to this testament of sheer luxury.:thumbs up
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Hi, don't be shocked . The car has been restored and not preserved.
Cheers :)
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