[KartikeyaL]

This reàds 175 A (imho)

[travancore]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Good afternoon all.
In with the many old photos and newspaper cuttings I have got, sadly all of which are undated, is this RR from the Maharajah of Patiala.
It doesn't look like a royal registration. Anyone have any ideas what the reg. was?
Cheers
Cedric

I know that the same picture appeared in the Sydney Sunday Times, Jan 31, 1926.



Since the car is "just being landed", I do not think the registration is Indian.

However, captions to photographs sometimes need to be taken with a grain of salt. Journalists with the same photo competed to create the most interesting titles.

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

This reàds 175 A (imho)

Kartikeyal, I agree that is what it looks like but that would make it an Assam registration. That I think is pretty unlikely. I expect there is some other letter(s) before the A.

Travancore, Unfortunately the UK did not have 'reversed' registrations with the numerals before the letters until 1953 so a UK reg. is not possible

Nice tries though gents
Cheers
Cedric

[Roger OZ]

Originally Posted by travancore

I know that the same picture appeared in the Sydney Sunday Times, Jan 31, 1926.

Since the car is "just being landed", I do not think the registration is Indian.

The caption originally posted by 'sabinesnubbing'/Cedric unambiguously states that it is the Maharanee of Patiala who has just arrived in Bombay (or "being landed" according to the other caption), NOT the car. This makes it clear that the Rolls-Royce 20 hp had already been in India, evidently in the Patiala fleet, with that apparently mysterious registration number.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Good afternoon all.
In with the many old photos and newspaper cuttings I have got, sadly all of which are undated, is this RR from the Maharajah of Patiala.
It doesn't look like a royal registration. Anyone have any ideas what the reg. was?
Cheers
Cedric

Originally Posted by travancore

I know that the same picture appeared in the Sydney Sunday Times, Jan 31, 1926.

Attachment 1521536

Since the car is "just being landed", I do not think the registration is Indian.

However, captions to photographs sometimes need to be taken with a grain of salt. Journalists with the same photo competed to create the most interesting titles.

Originally Posted by Roger OZ

The caption originally posted by 'sabinesnubbing'/Cedric unambiguously states that it is the Maharanee of Patiala who has just arrived in Bombay (or "being landed" according to the other caption), NOT the car. This makes it clear that the Rolls-Royce 20 hp had already been in India, evidently in the Patiala fleet, with that apparently mysterious registration number.

Roger OZ,

I think what Cedric and Prem (Travancore) had posted was different portions of the same "Press Note" of News Article. But from two sources and hence the difference in fonts

Both can be combined as follows despite a missing 's' in the word "is"



Its clear from the above that the "fleet of Rolls" was also being landed, in my opinion

(There is one word missing after the word last "Patiala" in Prem's pic - which may clarify this even further - a better scan not so tightly cropped, Prem? or Cedric ? )


Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Its clear from the above that the "fleet of Rolls" was also being landed, in my opinion

(There is one word missing after the word last "Patiala" in Prem's pic - which may clarify this even further - a better scan not so tightly cropped, Prem? or Cedric ? )


Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

Ram,
I agree that the Australian caption states the fleet of cars came back with her from England although the one I have (I guess from an English newspaper) implies that car was already in India. Since UK registrations with the numbers before the letters did not start until very much later, it is not a regular UK number. That would make it an Indian registration and if we rule out 175 A as being an Assam number, I guess it must be something like 175 aA or perhaps even a white on red 175/A with letters GEN above the registration. In that case it would be a 1902 series dealer plate/trade plate. These were officially called General registration marks. Looking at the (inevitable) black of the car, the plate does look a little less dark I think.
IF (a big if) I am right, that would mean she brought the car or cars back with her and when it/they were being unloaded, they put on these plates so she could be driven home or wherever.
Guessing that it would be a GRM from the Bombay RR dealer then, does anyone have any photos of their cars with similar registrations? They should all be in the format of nnn/a where nnn would be their number (175?) and a would be just a serial letter A, B, C, etc. with a different letter on each car they had.
Cheers
Cedric

[travancore]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Ram,
That would make it an Indian registration and if we rule out 175 A as being an Assam number, I guess it must be something like 175 aA or perhaps even a white on red 175/A with letters GEN above the registration. In that case it would be a 1902 series dealer plate/trade plate. These were officially called General registration marks. Looking at the (inevitable) black of the car, the plate does look a little less dark I think.
IF (a big if) I am right, that would mean she brought the car or cars back with her and when it/they were being unloaded, they put on these plates so she could be driven home or wherever.
Guessing that it would be a GRM from the Bombay RR dealer then, does anyone have any photos of their cars with similar registrations? They should all be in the format of nnn/a where nnn would be their number (175?) and a would be just a serial letter A, B, C, etc. with a different letter on each car they had.
Cheers
Cedric

Above is a Crossley used by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward) during his India Tour of 1921/22. The location is Bharatpur.

The registration is 7B (click photo to enlarge)


Twelve 25/30 H.P. RFC model Crossleys were imported for the Tour. A photo in Calcutta just shows the registration "2" (no alphabets)

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by travancore

Above is a Crossley used by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward) during his India Tour of 1921/22. The location is Bharatpur.

The registration is 7B (click photo to enlarge)


Twelve 25/30 H.P. RFC model Crossleys were imported for the Tour. A photo in Calcutta just shows the registration "2" (no alphabets)

Travancore,
Excellent photo. I have seen the Crossley #2 but from my photo of it is not possible to tell if there is anything before the numeral. This one of 7B is a great photo and the 7 B is offset to the right. I converted the image to negative and changed the contrast so it showed what is to the left of the 7. It appears to be a badly stencilled Prince of Wales feathers.
I think these must have been some sort of administrative fleet number rather than a proper Indian registration.
It looked better in the fancy software I have but mine is a trial version and won't let me save the finished image so this is a low res screen capture.
Cheers
Cedric

[travancore]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Travancore,
Excellent photo. I have seen the Crossley #2 but from my photo of it is not possible to tell if there is anything before the numeral. This one of 7B is a great photo and the 7 B is offset to the right.Cedric

Well, later on they centered it for you Cedric. Crop from the Patiala photo with the Silver Ghost

[travancore]

courtesy:wikimedia



The clearest I have seen so far of the Birla Museum car.

1926 Phantom I, ex-Bhiwandiwala, chassis 45LC

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by travancore

courtesy:wikimedia


The clearest I have seen so far of the Birla Museum car.

1926 Phantom I, ex-Bhiwandiwala, chassis 45LC

Are we sure that this is ex-Bhiwandiwala? The reason I ask is because a gentleman by the name of Hanuman Poddar (or H.P. Poddar I forget) residing at Raja Santosh Road, Alipore, Calcutta, ordered a very similar Phantom I and owned it and I am told that this is the same car.

[travancore]

Originally Posted by mbz180

Are we sure that this is ex-Bhiwandiwala? The reason I ask is because a gentleman by the name of Hanuman Poddar (or H.P. Poddar I forget) residing at Raja Santosh Road, Alipore, Calcutta, ordered a very similar Phantom I and owned it and I am told that this is the same car.

"H.R.P.Poddar" did have a Hooper Tourer (Chassis 91RF, 1927). I am told that car had rounded front wing edges; and a Vee windshield. I have not seen a picture of that car.

Mr.Poddar also had 45AL (WBA 2112) which later went to Protop Roy of Santosh ; and I believe was exported.

Maybe you can help us - check out the Museum car for us

[travancore]

Originally Posted by mbz180

Are we sure that this is ex-Bhiwandiwala? The reason I ask is because a gentleman by the name of Hanuman Poddar (or H.P. Poddar I forget) residing at Raja Santosh Road, Alipore, Calcutta, ordered a very similar Phantom I and owned it and I am told that this is the same car.

Is there any way to find who / what car "WBD-7829" was registered to ? That is the registration of the Birla Museum car.

[harit]

Originally Posted by travancore

courtesy:wikimedia......

1926 Phantom I, ex-Bhiwandiwala, chassis 45LC

Originally Posted by mbz180

Are we sure that this is ex-Bhiwandiwala? .......

Originally Posted by travancore

..... Maybe you can help us - check out the Museum car for us

Originally Posted by travancore

Is there any way to find who / what car "WBD-7829" was registered to ? That is the registration of the Birla Museum car.

Here is a photo of the Bhiwandiwalla car which was the reason I got in contact with t-bhp and the gang. It was first posted on 14th May 2008. Compare and check the similarities. Early this year some more photos had popped up I don't remember if I had posted some. In 2008 we did not know that this was the Bhiwandiwala car.

Cheers harit

Just checked, I did post it on 21st November 2015. Have added below.

[kasli]

Originally Posted by harit

Here is a photo of the Bhiwandiwalla car which was the reason I got in contact with t-bhp and the gang. It was first posted on 14th May 2008. Compare and check the similarities. Early this year some more photos had popped up I don't remember if I had posted some. In 2008 we did not know that this was the Bhiwandiwala car.



Cheers harit



Just checked, I did post it on 21st November 2015. Have added below.

Based on the snaps which are posted here . The cars in the snap posted by Harit have Grebel lights while we see the regular P100 Lucas lights , so someone needs to visit that museum and request chassis details

Cheers