[karlosdeville]

Another interesting XK find, this 120 roadster is seen in the 1967 Telugu film "Ummadi Kutumbam"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3eItDpxYQw

The scene is shot in Madras, the car is registered BMU 2376, Bombay registered around 1952. Note that it is left hand drive, narrowing it down to 3 cars - 670595, 672830 and 673400. Of these only 670595 is known to survive, which has a Madras registration, so I'm wondering if this was the old number for the car. Research continues, over to the experts.

[John Elmgreen]

I think Karlosdeville you are right to say this car is likely to be chassis number 670595, because the car appears not to have the footwell vents of later cars in the front wings, and may have the early style chrome sidelights. 670595 was delivered in the UK to Captain Thomas to the order of Pearly Lal in Delhi and I have no other record of it. I suppose he must have had it shipped to India. The other two lhd cars mentioned: (1) 672830 would have had vents in the from wings and also appears to be somewhere else in the world as I came across a shipping record for it (2) S673400 was an even later Special Equipment car and would have had wire wheels which the car in the film does not have. Thank you!

[John Cooper]

Hats off to the two of you for the search details. I grew up in Madras and went to St.Beds High School just down the road from where the song was filmed. The ship in the background was the "S.S.Stamatis", a Greek registered vessel that was ran aground during a cyclone in 1967. It could not be reflected and had to be dismantled but remained a tourist attraction for years afterwards.

[travancore]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Another interesting XK find, this 120 roadster. Of these only 670595 is known to survive, which has a Madras registration

A snippet from the XKData website on 670595.

[karlosdeville]

Thanks for the insights John!

Originally Posted by John Elmgreen

670595 was delivered in the UK to Captain Thomas to the order of Pearly Lal in Delhi and I have no other record of it. I suppose he must have had it shipped to India.

I wonder why someone in the UK would have a car ordered and delivered to India in LHD configuration. Doesn't make sense.

[John Elmgreen]

Yes, I agree that the ordering of a lhd car for India is an anomaly. And why collect it first in the UK?
The usual reason for such a "Home Delivery" car was to enable the buyer to have a holiday in the UK and to be able to use the car there for a short period (e.g. 1-3 months) in the UK and Europe, before shipping it home. In fact this scheme was used by all significant motor manufacturers in the UK, and this was a time when Britain was the biggest motor car exporter in the world. Also the cars were bought tax-free, so long as they were exported within a short time. Many US, Australian and Asian buyers took advantage of this scheme - Jaguar sold thousands of cars that way in the 1950s. We have found that in some rhd areas, lhd cars were ordered. The most prominent example was Japan - where lhd cars were acquired by US servicemen in the early 1950s and used for a short period in Japan before being shipped home to the USA.
Here, we do not know what was the status of the new buyer of 670595, Captain B.D. Thomas, and we can therefore only guess as to why he would have bought a lhd car. In any event, we do know that the car in the 1967 movie was indeed lhd, whatever is the explanation as to how it ended up in India. If someone finds a better photo of the car, it may be that my assumptions about its features will be shown to be wrong, and a different conclusion as to its identity will have to be reached. At least the three lhd cars identified have different visible external features that enable a conclusion to be drawn - once we have good pictures anyway.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by John Elmgreen

Here, we do not know what was the status of the new buyer of 670595, Captain B.D. Thomas, and we can therefore only guess as to why he would have bought a lhd car. In any event, we do know that the car in the 1967 movie was indeed lhd, whatever is the explanation as to how it ended up in India. If someone finds a better photo of the car, it may be that my assumptions about its features will be shown to be wrong, and a different conclusion as to its identity will have to be reached. At least the three lhd cars identified have different visible external features that enable a conclusion to be drawn - once we have good pictures anyway.

We have seen a relatively recent image of the car here (Vintage Jaguar XK120/140/150 in India)



On digging deeper and confirming with a previous custodian I am pleased to confirm that our hunch was right, and the car seen above and in the 1967 film is indeed 670595, and now under restoration - might even be completed by now.

[John Elmgreen]

Excellent! That 2010 picture of the black car was in our book as an "Unidentified" car although we had narrowed the candidates down to two cars. The car which we now know to be 670595 has the wrong front bumpers and I noticed that that was the case in the 1967 movie as well. They are larger than the originals. I have so far not found out anything about Captain Thomas, the first owner.

[travancore]

Originally Posted by John Elmgreen

I have so far not found out anything about Captain Thomas, the first owner.

http://reardonsmithships.co.uk/shipmates03.pdf

Wonder if this is the same Captain Thomas

[John Elmgreen]

Thank you Travancore! You might well have found "our" Captain B.D Thomas, but I have searched in Ancestry.com and a newspaper archives as well as Google without finding anything that would strongly suggest that this was the person who ordered a lhd XK120 through New Delhi in India in 1950.
I had hoped that the old cards kept by the Coventry registration authorities in the UK might give us some more details - like full first name, and some address - but that has not been productive which suggests that the registration plate was not cancelled in the UK within the usual short period of time for a tax-free delivery.
"Thomas" of course is such a common surname, and we have no first name or address, so we do not have much to go on. Also "Captain" could be a member of the British armed forces, rather than a sea captain. He might even have been retired but retained the title as a courtesy, an English convention.

[karlosdeville]

Not very often do we get to see 2 XK120s in the same Hindi movie - in this case Ek Paheli, 1971, with actor Feroze Khan

Car number 1 - what I believe is chassis 660284, seen here with number MRZ 5825.





Note the auxiliary horn grilles (?) welded into the fenders, side rear view mirror, black wall tyres, wheel spats and black wheels with red hubcaps. A car in this exact matching specification is also seen in the movie CID 909 with the same actor Feroze Khan behind the wheel


The same car and actor is seen with WBE plates in this publicity shot (with wheel spats removed)


Back to Ek Paheli, for some scenes a second car is used, what I believe to be chassis 660852 (belonging to actor Mehmood and used in multiple films)


Note the whitewalls, spats removed, and reversed colours of wheels and hubcaps. In this spec this car is seen in other movies with number BMC 8479.

By a quirk of fate today both cars are in the same collection in Indore.

[John Elmgreen]

Thank you Karl for those photos from the film and for identifying the cars.

[KPS]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

On digging deeper and confirming with a previous custodian I am pleased to confirm that our hunch was right, and the car seen above and in the 1967 film is indeed 670595, and now under restoration - might even be completed by now.

She is in Bangalore and is restored. Seen at the recent KVCCC -Bangalore Club Event

See this link (Bangalore Club - KVCCC Vintage Car Show, 2022)






Thanks to Ajmat for the pictures

Cheers

KPS

[karlosdeville]

In 1951 an inquiry was made from Ahmedabad to Jaguar Cars Coventry requesting for copies of the latest range brochures and price lists. The Export Department kindly replied with details, and even mentioned that they couldn't find Ahmedabad on the map and hence provided the list of dealer's details, including Garware Motors.


Prices are already listed in GBP, I assume as by then special import licenses were already required.


The Jaguar 'XK-Sports 120' is listed at over 1263 pounds including purchase tax.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by DKG

The actor Ajit apparently had an ivory XK 120. Dad knew him well and tells me he used to move about in Bombay in this car with a girlfriend who looked quite like Rita Hayworth.

Here in Hyderabad there once was an XK 120, pale blue colour owned by a gentleman named Shanker Kheni of Ranjol

Perhaps the same car that he is posing with here. Wonder which of the XKs Ajit's car was...