[V-16]

Some more pics of the Delhi Merc I found.

[the mole]

heres a close up of the supercharged engine, again displayed at the museum.

[karlosdeville]

Some more from Harit.

I refer to the thread of 1927 680K Mercedes and the talk on the 540K. This car has travelled around quite a bit within India and is supposed to have some royal connectionS.
First of all, there were at least 5 540K's in India and now 2 survive. One is this pictured of Jackie Shroff, it is definitely a 540K but seems to have a shorter bonnet. It also has a unique feature of historical importance which should be mentioned in Manvendra's book when it comes out. I will not put up info disclosed by him to me as I do not want to shut that tap. Believe me, it is historically very important.
The problem with Vintage car history in India is that we have lost a lot of knowledge about the cars before present times. It is believed that this car is not the Pahar Ganj car, and then it was bought from some old lady in Mysore. I stongly suggest that before putting up such statements, one should make an effort to go through the thread, garner some info and then ask around. You will then get a clearer picture, some progress to get its full history. I will write what I know and definitely some correction may be required.
The first time I saw a pic of the 540K, it was in a UK magazine under Finds in around 1980. In the same pic a Delahaye could be seen. Someone please check with Mr. Raj Seth. I believe that the car was then or soon after owned by Mr. Ravi Kumar whom I unfortunately never had the pleasure of meeting. The car was taken from Delhi and went to Indore either directly, or via Bangalore and was put together very presentable, but mechanically not working as parts were missing. Unfortunately Mr. Ravikumar expired and his wife sold the car to Jackie, from Bangalore and not Mysore. I believe it has since been sold on.
What about the car before it landed up in Delhi? I believe that this car has had 2 royal connections, Akalkot (spelling?) and Nepal. I had tried to fish out some info and got bits and pieces. At one time the car was lying near the docks, sort of abandoned, then shifted to a garage on Lamington road and offered for sale @ Rs 10,000/-. Now who has picked it up and taken it to Delhi is not known. I will try to find out and hope others can ask around. Perhaps Mr. Seth can tell how it came to him. I believe that someone had removed the supercharger bits and may still have them, but who was that?
Another 540K alive in India should be with Pranlal. This was dieselised and the original engine was found in the palace with ALL the parts. It is an open tourer, yellowish body with brownish mudguards.
Pictures of another 540K will be in Bob Rupani's magazine, one of his earliest issues where there are pictures of Pratap and Tom Roy's cars. There is a 540K pictured which has probably been sent out.
There were several 500K's in India, now I know of 2, one in Mumbai which we all know about and one in Gujrat.

[Julian UK]

I have just talked to Mr Seth about the 540K. He confirmed its Nepalese Royal connection but could not be any more specific.
It seems that Ravi Kumar bought it from where as Harit says it was garaged in Bombay and the car was moved to Delhi.

Ravi Kumar’s friend, a Mr Gerhart who worked for the then East German Embassy, appointed one of the senior embassy mechanics, a Sadar, to repair the car. He lived in Pahar Ganj, he dismantled the car, had the engine in his house and Mr Gerhart was supervising the work. Then Mr. Gerhart returned to East Germany and the work progress virtually stopped.

Ravi Kumar asked Mr Seth to take on the job of supervising the work as there had been some fancy bills paid and not a lot of work done, including a set of new tyres paid for but no new tyres fitted. When the progress did not improve the car was moved to Mr. Seth’s house, which is where it was when I photographed it.

The Sadar with held a lot of parts including the instruments and a lot of the fuel and oil supply components. I found the carburettor in the boot and bolted it back on the car. The Sadar had by then moved to Chandigarh, I remember going there with Mr Seth in an attempt to retrieve the missing parts from him but he was not to be found. As a result of this it was decided that there was no way the car could be mechanically restored properly as so many important components were missing. This was about 1986-87. I used Mr Seth's garages from 1986-1993.

Mr Seth is sending me some more photos of the car when it was in Pahar Ganj and I will upload them once I have them.

[SA7VA5]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Am posting some pics of the only surviving Mercedes 680K for you all to cherish.

The owner is from Delhi and this lovely gorgeous beauty is his pride of possession.

This vehicle was completely restored by my father in law Mr. Tutu Dhawan in Delhi. I was glad to observe this restoration and be a part of it at times.

Take a look at the mammoth Engine casing and the con rods!

Mind blowing technology!

Enjoy the pics!

Cheers!

[Julian UK]

I'm uploading these photos of the late Ravi Kumar's 540k here as the previous discussions about this car are in this thread.
There are a couple more Mercedes photos I will put in the MBs in India thread.
These were taken in Delhi in the early 80s. Again courtesy of Andrew Blake.

[SA7VA5]

Hi All,

News from a seasoned vintage restorer and collector is that the 680K last owned by Mr. Ranjit Mallick in Delhi has been sold for an astonomical some of money.

The news in the circles is that it was last being negotiated for about 1 million US dollars and am given to understand that the deal has perhaps crossed it.

Cheers!

[67Bug]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

Hi All,

News from a seasoned vintage restorer and collector is that the 680K last owned by Mr. Ranjit Mallick in Delhi has been sold for an astonomical some of money.

The news in the circles is that it was last being negotiated for about 1 million US dollars and am given to understand that the deal has perhaps crossed it.

Cheers!

Hey that is some news. Who is the new owner of this beauty?

[wasif]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

Hi All,

News from a seasoned vintage restorer and collector is that the 680K last owned by Mr. Ranjit Mallick in Delhi has been sold for an astonomical some of money.

The news in the circles is that it was last being negotiated for about 1 million US dollars and am given to understand that the deal has perhaps crossed it.

Cheers!

What classification would you place dear old Mr.Malik in - restorer / collector / speculator or something else.

Wasif

[the mole]

Mam everytime I see pictures of the 540 K on this thread I cant help but wonder how a car of such pedigree land in such a sad sad shape and to think other less rarer and much more common cars still survive

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by 67Bug

Hey that is some news. Who is the new owner of this beauty?

I'm told it has gone to Orissa.

[harit]

Hey, whoa, hold on, there seems to be a mix up. The pics here are of the 540K, car sold must be the 630K. Remember, there is no 680K in India!
And recently I was given a picture of the 630K when it was lying unrestored and not yet sold to Mr. Mallik in Delhi. The car was quite complete even at that time.

Cheers harit

[TractionAvant]

Was this car ever owned by a person who goes by the name of 'La Gajjar' in ahmedabad?

Many, many years ago (when I was a slip of a boy), I was visiting my aunt in ahmedabad and she took me to a farm owned by 'La Gajjar'. There was a huge shed with many imposing cars inside.

I do not remember the details but I faintly recollect seeing a similar large white mercedes there.

Cheers

Aditya

[wasif]

Originally Posted by TractionAvant

Was this car ever owned by a person who goes by the name of 'La Gajjar' in ahmedabad?

Many, many years ago (when I was a slip of a boy), I was visiting my aunt in ahmedabad and she took me to a farm owned by 'La Gajjar'. There was a huge shed with many imposing cars inside.

I do not remember the details but I faintly recollect seeing a similar large white mercedes there.

Cheers

Aditya

The Gajjars were a family deeply into restoring / collecting old cars. I remember they liquidated their collection maybe in the early to mid 1990's.

Some of the cars were bought by Capt. Pestonjee of Hyderabad.

Harit if it is OK could you post the before restoration pic of the 630K ???

Also in the Bhogilal thread there are no pics of teh 540K that you mentioned was with him. is it possible to post pics of this car and the 540K which was with JS. Also it would be lovely to see pics of the surviving 500K cars in India without having to trawil through a 60 page thread.

[harit]

Originally Posted by TractionAvant

Was this car ever owned by a person who goes by the name of 'La Gajjar' in ahmedabad?
I do not remember the details but I faintly recollect seeing a similar large white mercedes there.
Cheers
Aditya

No, La Gajjar never had a supercharged Merc. But he had many grand cars including Marmon. Saddly he disbanded his collection.

Originally Posted by wasif

The Gajjars were a family deeply into restoring / collecting old cars. I remember they liquidated their collection maybe in the early to mid 1990's.

Some of the cars were bought by Capt. Pestonjee of Hyderabad.

Harit if it is OK could you post the before restoration pic of the 630K ???

Also in the Bhogilal thread there are no pics of teh 540K that you mentioned was with him. is it possible to post pics of this car and the 540K which was with JS. Also it would be lovely to see pics of the surviving 500K cars in India without having to trawil through a 60 page thread.

Most of the Gajjar cars went to Indore, and a few, particularly the unrestored cars, went to Capt.
The pic of the 630K I will mail to you next week.
I am not sure who you refer to JS, maybe I missed something. JS as Junior Statesman magazine had a Ford T.
I do not have a pic of Pranlal's 540K, but it is there at his house. Unfortunately she is suffering from gearbox problems.
There are two 630K's, two 540k"s and 2 500k's that I know of. But there must be 1 or 2 more "K's" in India.