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Old 26th February 2011, 18:02   #16
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

I noticed that the louvres on the scuttle are 7 on the b&w photo and 9 on the colorphoto, any idea how much of the bodywork needed replacement in the 70's?
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Old 26th February 2011, 18:08   #17
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

I noticed the scuttle in the b&w picture has 7 louvres and 9 in the color picture. How much of the body had to be replaced in the 70's?
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Old 26th February 2011, 18:11   #18
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Clare View Post
Concerning the Maharajah of Jaipur's Speed Six coupe, chassis LR2778...

I've been talking with John Fasal about his upcoming book on Rolls-Royces and Bentleys in India book, and I'm working on the 8 Litre (two in India), so more photos and info later, if it's of interest.

Clare Hay
Greetings Clare, and welcome aboard. An honour to have you with us. ANY photos and information on Indian cars, especially something as exquisite as an 8 litre, is always welcome.

LR2778 is a fine looking car indeed, hope the original colour would be known soon. I assume there are no build sheets/spec sheets existing for these cars?

Also, can you confirm the chassis number of the Indore 3 litre Bentley as being 1923 Chassis #432, the 1st owner Mrs M Lang? Thanks.
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Old 26th February 2011, 21:06   #19
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by DKG View Post


Apparently a 3 litre (chassis # not known) presently in the collection of Mr. Sanghi. Picture posted by Speedy
This car was actually with Late Mr. Ravi Kumar in Bangalore. My father remembers seeing this car in Bangalore driven by him. I understand that he had that time sold this car to invest into his business.


Ms. Clare please post pictures of any of the cars with India connection should you come across. There are so many enthusiasts here who like to know more of our history

Cheers

Last edited by Mpower : 28th February 2011 at 04:07. Reason: Clare is a lady
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Old 1st March 2011, 03:43   #20
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by Boybentley View Post
I noticed the scuttle in the b&w picture has 7 louvres and 9 in the color picture. How much of the body had to be replaced in the 70's?
Also noticed a few other differences from the 1950's picture........

1. Door handle was "T" shaped, going by its shadow; and placed lower beneath the waist chrome trim

2. Frt accessory drive cover between dumb irons was shorter (more "wine bottle" shaped after restoration)

3. Semaphore indicator on scuttle by A-Pillar ?

4. Looks like a unique hood ornament (not "Winged-B")

5. Driving / fog lamp removed
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Old 1st March 2011, 09:25   #21
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

So the Jaipur Bently minus the engine was exported out of India at some point, am I correct.

So what engine does it have now ?

Please post some interior and engine bay pictures.

Any idea when this car actually arrived in the UK
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Old 5th March 2011, 01:42   #22
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

Thanks for the replies - am flat out on Bentley work and away from photos at the moment. Yes, the scuttle has the wrong number of louvres and the door handles have been changed, but it looks possible that we've found the remains of an original saloon we can use for parts. The engine is the original. The car was exported from India in 1937 complete and belonged to the Becker family from 1937 to 1974 - don't know yet whether I can trace them. To judge from the black and white photo I don't think it's black over ivory, pale green is possible as H J Mulliner built a Speed Six coupe around the same time for Carlyle Blackwell, the film star married to Woolf Barnato's sister Leah, that was black and pale green. Will post more photos later... Clare
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Old 14th March 2011, 15:54   #23
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Engine photos of LR2778, the Maharajah of Jaipur car, as now:

The engine and all the running gear is as original.

A very early 3 Litre in Bombay, does anyone recognise the driver or the location? Are there any surviving registration records from the period?
Attached Thumbnails
W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-lr2778_engine_nearside.jpg  

W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-lr2778_engine_offside.jpg  

W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-3_bombay_1.jpg  

W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-3_bombay_2.jpg  


Last edited by Jaggu : 14th March 2011 at 16:27. Reason: Please edit the original post before this instead of back to back posts. Thanks
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Old 15th March 2011, 22:19   #24
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

Maybe #269 with Sir Victor Sassoon behind the wheel in the first pic?
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Old 15th March 2011, 23:54   #25
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by Boybentley View Post
Maybe #269 with Sir Victor Sassoon behind the wheel in the first pic?
Someone has to take this picture and go to Kala Ghoda, and check the Sasoon Library and Army & Navy Building. I feel that the picture was taken there. Maybe I will do so after 1st April.

Cheers harit
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Old 16th March 2011, 05:10   #26
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by Boybentley View Post
Maybe #269 with Sir Victor Sassoon behind the wheel in the first pic?
It is interesting how the Registration number has changed in the two pictures.

The wing lines are also very similar to Chassis #402 (VdP Tourer, also E.D.Sassoon, Ltd). Body was broken up in 1945 and engine fitted to Chassis DE 1208 per Vintagebentleys.org / Michael Hay. However car seems to have been on sale in 2009!

Last edited by travancore : 16th March 2011 at 05:19.
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Old 16th March 2011, 09:16   #27
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by Clare View Post
A very early 3 Litre in Bombay, does anyone recognise the driver or the location? Are there any surviving registration records from the period?
Those are lovely pictures. The registrations appear to be 'BOM 5555' and 'BOM Z 8127'. In the 1930s and prior to that Bombay cars must have been re-registered at least 2 or 3 times depending on how old the car was. Possibly BOM predated BOM Z. After that there were single digit series like X 1234, W 1234 etc.

As these registrations were cancelled in 1939 (all uniformly replaced by BMW series), there is no existing record. The local authoroties often do not have records of cars from the 60s too!

Thanks for sharing.
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Old 17th March 2011, 15:14   #28
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

Thanks for the replies.

First of all, the original post is missing two cars:

Chassis 91 engine 93 delivered May 1922 short chassis first owner J E Scott

As far as I can tell Scott must have worked in India as the car was back in the UK by April 1925; there is an address listed for him in Scotland.

Chassis 156 engine 159 delivered October 1922 short chassis first owner listed as E V Sassoon

It looks most likely that this car was imported by Sassoon and sold immediately to P.D. Patel of West View, Colaba, Bombay. I think this must be the 3 Litre in the photos, presumably with Sassoon and then Mr Patel in the car. This fits with the Bombay registration. The Boyce motometer fitted to the radiator cap (a temperature gauge) was fitted as standard to the first 160 production 3 Litres, so this is consistent with chassis 156. Any trace of Mr Patel?

karlosdeville - I've checked the records, chassis 432 was delivered new to Mrs M.S. Lang of "Mingary", Worpleston Hill, Woking, Surrey. 1924 standard (long chassis) 3 Litre with engine 436, 2-seater body, B type gearbox, 13/55 axle, UK registration PD8342. This is the car in the next post from KPS, registered CPF7964.

Some good news - I've heard from Graham Moss, the restorer, that Mrs Becker has been in touch after finding the photos of the Maharajah of Jaipur Speed Six in this thread. We now know that the car was green and black and hopefully more photos will be forthcoming.

Two more - a 41/2 Litre registered 34020 belonging to a Mr Abasy, and a modified 3 Litre with no details attached except "In India". Any ideas anyone?
Attached Thumbnails
W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-412_abasy_1.jpg  

W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)-3_india.jpg  

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Old 17th March 2011, 17:55   #29
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by Clare View Post
karlosdeville - I've checked the records, chassis 432 was delivered new to Mrs M.S. Lang of "Mingary", Worpleston Hill, Woking, Surrey. 1924 standard (long chassis) 3 Litre with engine 436, 2-seater body, B type gearbox, 13/55 axle, UK registration PD8342. This is the car in the next post from KPS, registered CPF7964.

Two more - a 41/2 Litre registered 34020 belonging to a Mr Abasy, and a modified 3 Litre with no details attached except "In India". Any ideas anyone?
CPF 7964 (also seen with an MRH regn?) currently bears registration MP 09 W 7582. CPF would be erstwhile Central Provinces, which later became Madhya Pradesh and all registrations had to comply with the new series in the 1990s? or so. I saw the car last week at the Cartier Travel with Style Concours (latest pictures elsewhere in dedicated thread). The car is owned by Sharad Sanghi for many years, and I was told at the show that it has had over 20 previous owners!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...ce-2011-a.html

'34020' should be an old Calcutta/Bengal registration.

The last car with the sloping radiator is also rumoured to have been raced in Calcutta, a more recent picture (1980s/90s?) appears in Gautam Sen's book on the Maharaja's and their Magnificent Motorcars.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...otor-cars.html

Thanks for sharing.
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Old 17th March 2011, 20:36   #30
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Re: W.O. Bentleys in India (Produced from 1919 until 1931)

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Originally Posted by travancore View Post
It is interesting how the Registration number has changed in the two pictures.

The wing lines are also very similar to Chassis #402 (VdP Tourer, also E.D.Sassoon, Ltd). Body was broken up in 1945 and engine fitted to Chassis DE 1208 per Vintagebentleys.org / Michael Hay. However car seems to have been on sale in 2009!
The car claiming to be 402 has, as far as I'm aware, nothing whatever to do with the real chassis 402, which was broken up in 1945. My information is that it was built around a front axle numbered 402, which came from a 3 Litre with a chassis number around 750. The reason is that Bentleys started fitting front wheel brakes to 3 Litres around chassis 350, with a new pattern front axle, with numbers starting from 1. Any further info on this car appreciated.

If anyone is surprised at a car being built round a front axle, have a look at the Bugatti world!
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