Team-BHP - Top Ten Collectible Cars Located In India

Quote:

Originally Posted by wasif (Post 1940707)

Could you please post soem pics of the Bhogilal 540K ....I have been asking for them from a while now but nobody seems to want to do this.

What is the history of that car ?

Possibly as nobody has the pics:D

The person who bought the car (and many others) on behalf of Bhogilal told me how he bought it. It was lying in an erstwhile princely state, but dieselised. The original engine was traced back to the home of one of the driver's, where his wife was washing clothes on the head etc etc:D. It was painstakingly reassembled and brought back to running condition. This was decades ago, I know nothing of what happened to it eventually.

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Originally Posted by karlosdeville (Post 1940774)

The Raja who owned this 540K lived in Sterling Apartments on Peddar Road. This car was always parked in the basement. When the red number plates were abolished, it was tied to a pillar. At that time a friend was residing in that building and we saw the car a couple of times. Colour was cramish, yellowish brown, maybe two tone. On the grill they had fitted a Mercedes star with the word Diesel on the lower side. One fine day I saw Pranlal driving it, driving down Altamount Road. And I knew that he had bought her. Must have been for around 15K.
Then the gentleman Karl speaks about and his gang went to the palace and located the engine and parts. They also found the super charger. Unfortunately the car still suffers from mechanical problems and is lying at his home in a corner. If someone were to go there he would find it difficult to take pics. But the body is the plainest standard 540K ever seen.

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Originally Posted by DKG (Post 1942270)

Handsome car !! The car looks a lot like the Town Car Dhanrajgirji had which was restored by Julian in Delhi.

Would you agree to placing in top 10? Because of its gold finish. I was told that today the front axle is broken.

Now the Alwar Lanchester is pictured in the Maharaja Book on page 263. I do not want to scan in fear of upsetting anyone. Perhaps travancore has this picture also? An older picture, where car is in good shape, not in its present state.

Cheers harit

Dropped by the forum and unsuprisingly, this thread has now ground to a halt. It had built up a nice momentum while we tried to be as objective as possible.

Since the tone has changed the only cars that have been introduced have been an Alfa without an engine and a Daimler. With the engine, without doubt a top 10 car. Without it, I am afraid I don't think it is player at quite that level, as the other complete car's we have already discussed have more provenance in my opinion.

The Daimler is a special car, but whether it is top ten is debatable. Should we just add it to the objective lists found between pages 10 - 13 and then have a poll? Perhaps a top 20 instead of a top 10 to make things easier and to allow for multiple examples of a valuable car (e.g. 540 k and 8 Litres) and to keep everyone happy?

Will be interesting to see which car ends up being everyone's favourite and tugs on the heartstrings, regardless of price taking the thread from objective to subjective and full circle.

From what I can see, all the pictures available are already in the thread. If there is a lack of pictures, that is because no more are forthcoming.

I've already suggested my top empirical top ten, so I'd just suggest that again (posts 149 and 171). With reference to a further ten, I would just add the other cars mentioned on here.

There are only a few cars in the country that are truly world class, and those are already in most people's top ten.

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Originally Posted by Faster789 (Post 1978629)

There has been a lot of speculation, most of it amusing, about the ALFA SVZ, originality / modifications / engine, etc; Thought, as owner I'd finally put at rest all doubts. Between 1957-59, 19 brand new Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloce cars were 're-bodied' by ZAGATO, light weight aluminium for racing, hence SVZ - but not all were double-bubble. The cars were very successful in racing, my SVZ (chassis 04249) having won it's class at the '59 Targa Florio. The original engine is safe & sound with me & the car will soon be restored to it's original glory. The history of this very special car is well documented in the book 'Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato' by Gino Giugno.

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Originally Posted by rdcm1985 (Post 1979093)

The car I was referring to was the Gurney Nutting bodied Alfa 1750.

Yours is a nice car with a lovely piece of history and it's good to hear that it is soon to be restored to glory. However, returning to the substance of the thread my understanding is that it is not quite of the standard of some of the other cars on this thread. No offence meant, simply saying that it's not Silver Ghost.

I think you'll find most of the speculation and misinformation here amusing, I certainly do.

All the best with your restoration, it's a long road!

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Originally Posted by Faster789 (Post 1979332)

I think you'll find most of the speculation and misinformation here amusing, I certainly do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdcm1985 (Post 1979093)

There has been a lot of speculation, most of it amusing, about the ALFA SVZ, originality / modifications / engine, etc; Thought, as owner I'd finally put at rest all doubts.

There are as many stories as there are facts, and I do hope more owners like you take the trouble to explain some facts about your car.:thumbs up

Could you share some Indian history on your Alfa? How did she come to India etc?