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Old 11th April 2009, 20:12   #301
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
I saw this well known Caddy of the Rajasthan Government in a recent magazine article. I don't think we have photos of it on the forum do we? I believe it is still in possession of the Government? Heartening to see it still in good nick.
Thanks for the cool picture, karlos!
Julian had posted a picture earlier (maybe in the Queenie Movie Thread) -ex Jaipur car ?

By the way, what is the black limo next to it ????

Last edited by travancore : 11th April 2009 at 20:18.
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Old 24th April 2009, 14:36   #302
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Some pictures of the Maharaja of Orchha's 1931 Cadillac V16 roadster by Pinin Farina. This is today considered to be the oldest Pinin Farina bodied car in existance and was one of only 21 V16 chassis bodied by non US coachbuilders.

The 452 cid V16 was actually made up of two Buick straight eights mounted on a common crankcase with the valves operated by pushrods from one central mounted crankshaft.

This car is a part of the Robert Lee collection in Nevada. Here it is on the lawns at Pebble Beach in 2006. Pics courtsey of Ultimatecarpage.com - Powered by knowledge, driven by passion

There are records of four V16 Caddies that came to India, this car, the Maharaja of Tikari's dual cowl phaeton and two that were with the Nawab of Bhawalpur, now in Pakistan.

Does anyone know of any other V16 Caddies that came to India or any that are still in India ??
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How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-cadillac452av16pininfarinaroadster_3.jpg  

How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-cadillac452av16pininfarinaroadster_4.jpg  

How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-cadillac452av16pininfarinaroadster_5.jpg  

How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-cadillac452av16pininfarinaroadster_6.jpg  

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Old 24th April 2009, 14:40   #303
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Originally Posted by wasif View Post
Does anyone know of any other V16 Caddies that came to India or any that are still in India ??
A very knowledgable friend distinctly remembers seeing a yellow one at Dadajee Dhackjee in Bombay as a child. No more details though. Harit also mentioned elsewhere on the forum of one surviving in the south. Over to you Harit.
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Old 24th April 2009, 15:11   #304
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Maharaja of Bharatpur's Horsch

This is a Horsch that used to belong to the Maharaja of Bharatpur. An interesting story on how it was traded for horses ...

This fascinating car was presented to Robert Gove of Victoria from the Maharajah of Bharatpur in the 1930s in exchange for horses. The Gove family had supplied the Maharajahs with fine horses of all kinds - polo mounts, racehorses and many thousands of horses for the Indian Army. The Australian horses, known as walers, were renowned in India and Gove's father, Julius Gove, had been supplying them to the Indian government and it's aristocracy for two decades before he passed away in 1922.

In late 1933 or early 1934 Robert Gove and the then 17 year old Maharajah made an unusual deal in which Gove took possession of a 1931 Horch 480 from the Maharajah's garage as a gift or in part payment for a prize horse. The extremely rare and valuable automobile created a sensation upon its return to Melbourne. Following the depression years, luxury cars were few and far between and rarely seen in public. The Horch was the 25th car built out of a total production of a few more than 50 cars in its two-year production life, so even in the 1930s these were rare cars indeed.
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How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-1931horchcabrioletkm72.jpg  


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Old 24th April 2009, 15:54   #305
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Maharaja of Bardesh -- Fact or Fiction ?

Anyone ever hear of this Maharaja of Bardesh and his Dodge ?? Car is in the Swope Auto Museum.

The Dodge Bradesh

Legend has it that this 1921 Model Dodge Touring car (#573551) was specially built by the Dodge Brothers Motor Company for The Maharajah of Bradesh, Maharish Vjain, ruler of the tiny kingdom of Bradesh in India.

Outfitted to be used as a hunting vehicle, The Dodge Bradesh, as it was called, was shipped to India via steamboat. The car arrived in Bombay on September 4, 1920 and was transferred to a rail car for the long journey to the kingdom of Bradesh.

The Maharajah eagerly awaited the arrival of his Dodge hunting vehicle from the United States. To his dismay, however, he never saw the car. A Keraubi bandit tribe raided the train and stripped the Dodge of much of its special equipment, including a lookout chair, gun harnesses, and other hunting accessories.

When the bandits fled, the wounded train crew returned to Bombay. There the Dodge was unloaded and placed in storage, where it was all but forgotten. Years later, in 1947, when the last of the British were leaving India, the car was discovered in a government warehouse by Sir Reginold Beecham. Sir Reginold purchased the car and shipped it to the United States. It was to be a gift for his American wife-to-be. Unfortunately, she did not appreciate the gift, and when she left the United States for England, the car once again went into storage. There it remained unused and virtually untouched for another twenty-two years.

In 1969, the Dodge Bradesh was part of an estate liquidation in up-state New York. It was purchased by a vintage car collector and has remained in the hands of collectors to this day. Considering the car’s limited use, it is fairly certain the 30,000 miles showing on the odometer is the correct mileage. Restoration of the Bradesh Dodge was completed in 2003 by Swope Auto Center technicians.
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Old 24th April 2009, 16:11   #306
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The Tigers Eye of Jaipur

Rolls-Royce Phantom II, 1933, #89MV
Sports Open Tourer by Hooper
Aspects of formal elegance obviously have not been the most important criteria when this design was developed. What was the reason then for Hooper who were renowned for their attractive creations to erect this body on the chassis of the Rolls-Royce Phantom II #89MW that was delivered to H.H. The Maharajah Sir Sawai of Jaipur? This remarkable design can be traced back to the year 1926 and early Rolls-Royce Phantom I experimental cars. The manufacturer had not been amused when tests had shown that the new Rolls-Royce Phantom's top speed and acceleration was inferior to what had been achieved with certain Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, the predecessor. Frederick Henry Royce did investigate and found as a major reason that over the years coachwork had become much heavier. To a certain extent that was due to higher weight of components (to increase stability), though the fact that more opulent features (fitted to meet clients' demands) added weight couldn't be neglected either. The company ordered three special bodies from various coachbuilders. These were open touring cars that combined lightweight and stability with a coachwork to a design by Ivan Evernden, a member from the team of F.H. Royce. For that period the design was far ahead of its time and the result were true sports cars. These were as fast expected – as regards acceleration and top speed they did beat the ‘old’ Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.

The puristic lines that F. Henry Royce had insisted upon – and this is one of the very few documented cases that "the Grand Old Man himself" guided the design of a complete body! – met applause by quite a number of customers whose main interest was outstanding performance. They were willing to accept a body "reduced to the max", built exactly to the motto "Form follows Function". After the end of production of Rolls-Royce Phantom I in 1928 such bodies were made well into the 30ies, though not in exceptional high numbers, on chassis of Rolls-Royce Phantom II. A newspaper report from the 30ies exists and stated therein that "For Use in India" coachwork to that special design even had been built on the chassis of the 'small' Rolls-Royce 20/25 H.P.; that one was to the order of H.H. The Maharajah of Maudi.


As regards this Rolls-Royce Phantom II with chassis-number #89MW the Hooper Body Books, i.e. the company documents of the coachbuilder, show the Sports Open Touring Body was made "As 7701" and that is a hint it was along the lines of the body made in December 1932 for the Rolls-Royce Phantom II with chassis-number #44MY. This doesn't mean though that the coachwork was identical in every respect; certain details could be entirely different.
The special colour and the enthusiasm of the 1st owner is reflected in the name this car became known in collector’s circles: "The Tiger’s Eye of Jaipur". Beside incorporating all those advantages that are characteristics of the Rolls-Royce Phantom II this particular car shows a body that was result of Sir F. Henry Royce's genius – a lightweight coachwork with almost avant-garde lines.
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Old 24th April 2009, 18:52   #307
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A few comments on the last few posts.

Orchha Caddy was very much in Mumbai, I have a B+W pic of her probably on Marine drive. The Sheikh used to stay somewhere in Tardeo, his driver brought the car to Solanki's dad to fix.
As mentioned earlier, the car in adajee could have been a Hispano. One V16 car is there in south India, hopefully one day she will emerge. She is a Limo or hardtop.

About Horsch, well Manvendra Barwani has done research and someone has to ask him to share details. But there were less than 10 cars in India. One day a pair of headlights marked 'Horsch' came to chor bazar, he was asking 10K when an MG was going for 40K, +/- 1990. I did not buy. (was) (was) and broke.

Bardesh, where is this place? The only royal story I read about Dodge Bros. is that one was sent to Nepal. It went through India, and was dismantled and lugged up the hills as there were no roads. The remains of this car were discovered at some point of time, no idea about what happened next

Cheers harit
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Old 24th April 2009, 19:15   #308
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Quote:
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Orchha Caddy was very much in Mumbai, I have a B+W pic of her probably on Marine drive.
Wow, do share that with us. I don't know whether we have any nice pics of the car in India.
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Old 24th April 2009, 20:57   #309
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Wow, do share that with us. I don't know whether we have any nice pics of the car in India.
Karlos, attached is a period picture (posted earlier in this thread, post # 147).
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The Automobiles of the Maharajas book has picture (front 3Q view) with the Maharaja. cannot remember the exact page number. Cheers
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Old 24th April 2009, 21:09   #310
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Originally Posted by wasif View Post
Rolls-Royce Phantom II, 1933, #89MV
. A newspaper report from the 30ies exists and stated therein that "For Use in India" coachwork to that special design even had been built on the chassis of the 'small' Rolls-Royce 20/25 H.P.; that one was to the order of H.H. The Maharajah of Maudi.


As regards this Rolls-Royce Phantom II with chassis-number #89MW the Hooper Body Books, i.e. the company documents of the coachbuilder, show the Sports Open Touring Body was made "As 7701" and that is a hint it was along the lines of the body made in December 1932 for the Rolls-Royce Phantom II with chassis-number #44MY. This doesn't mean though that the coachwork was identical in every respect; certain details could be entirely different.
Couple of obseravtions:
The correct chassis number for the Jaipur car shown is 89MW

The 20/25 with a similar body (now with Bhogilal) was originally owned by the Maharaja of Mandi (not Maudi)

PII Chassis # 44MY has an almost exactly same body and was originally owned by the Mir of Khairpur. There should be picture of this Green + Polished Aluminum car in the RR thread (it is also on the RR Motors website)
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Old 25th April 2009, 11:39   #311
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Quote:
Originally Posted by travancore View Post
Karlos, attached is a period picture (posted earlier in this thread, post # 147).
Attachment 129016

The Automobiles of the Maharajas book has picture (front 3Q view) with the Maharaja. cannot remember the exact page number. Cheers
Thanks. I think the picture in the book is with Shiek Mukhtiar though, dressed as a royal.
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Old 25th April 2009, 13:41   #312
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Harit.

There was a Horch in Hyderabad too, with the Zaheer Yar Jung of the Asmanjahi Paigah family, it was a very impressive specimen and Ive heard a lot about it from an uncle of DKG's and I hope he can tell us moe on this.

About the V16 in South India. Can w talk about it.Was it from a Royal family and do you know what year is it from.

Would it be asking for too much to see pictures of it !!!!!!
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Old 25th April 2009, 14:22   #313
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Kapurthala Talbot Lago by Figoni.

Few pictures of the faboulous Talbot Lago that was the Maharani of Kapurthala's car. Never came to India but was extensively driven in Europe.

Car now a part of he Nethercutt Collection at Sylmar California.
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Old 25th April 2009, 14:37   #314
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Old 25th April 2009, 15:23   #315
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Orchha and Tikari Cadillac V16

This is a picture of the Orchha Cadillac when it was with Jay Leno. Notice this colour combo looks great.

The other car is the Maharaja of Tikari's V16 with a Fleetwood dual cowl touring body.
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How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-6725_85184422747ae76fb37a60.jpg  

How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas-v630mah5.jpg  

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