[KartikeyaL]

Bombay , The Hanging garden.

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Interestingly an old document with some details on cars registered in Calcutta shows car number 665 as being a 1 cylinder 4 seater Chenard Walker registered to Sutto Kripal Banerjee, Telinipara. Could this be right?

Karl,

Yes, the car did belong to the Banerjee family of Telinipara; an aunt of mine got married into that family hence I had the chance to see that photo. You are absolutely right, the car is a Chenard et Walcker and it's very evident when comparing the fully round radiator of a Delaunay to the Chenard design which is not absolutely round. Amazing that you found such an old document and made the connect

Originally Posted by travancore

The Delaunay-Belleville founder's roots were in boiler making, the influences continued for a while in their designs.

Even though the cylindrical bonnet / radiator had me thinking Delaunay-Belleville too, I agree with Karl that it is a ca 1905 Chenard Walcker.

Yes, it is definitely a Chenard. I jumped to the assumption of a Delaunay seeing the round radiator design but didn't notice that it wasn't completely round. And then there is the documentary evidence Karl has found with the reg 665 belonging to a Chenard of the Banerjee family; case closed

[Stanher]

Pic. taken at Delhi University, 1976, showing an Amby mk2, Fiat 1100D and a Standard Pennant, in this Hindustan Times online article:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-...469317957&_p_c



Unfortunately though, the author mentions only two cars of yore, the Amby and the Fiat as having 'dominated Indian roads'!

[travancore]

Dr. Salim Ali, ornithologist.

Besides being a "bird man" he also was, in his own words "an ardent motorcycle addict" .

He fell in love with birds and bikes in Burma. First rode a bike, a 3 1/2 H.P. NSU in 1914!

[harit]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Unfortunately though, the author mentions only two cars of yore, the Amby and the Fiat as having 'dominated Indian roads'!

The author was right. After all Standard was present, but not dominant.

Here is a photo of a Standard parked at the side of a road and a crowd gathered near it. The crowd and car do not seem to be connected, this does not look like a procession.

Cheers harit

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by travancore

Attachment 1533573

Dr. Salim Ali, ornithologist.

Besides being a "bird man" he also was, in his own words "an ardent motorcycle addict" .

He fell in love with birds and bikes in Burma. First rode a bike, a 3 1/2 H.P. NSU in 1914!

Prem,

Just for info, the bike in the pic you've posted is a Sunbeam S7. He reportedly rode that from Sweden to India circa 1950 (the pic has been published in Dr. Salim Ali's autobiography "Fall of a Sparrow" as well).

There are some relevant posts in this thread itself - post # 949 - 951, 953 and 965.

Best Regards & Drive safe

Ram

[travancore]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Prem,

Just for info, the bike in the pic you've posted is a Sunbeam S7. He reportedly rode that from Sweden to India circa 1950 (the pic has been published in Dr. Salim Ali's autobiography "Fall of a Sparrow" as well).

There are some relevant posts in this thread itself - post # 949 - 951, 953 and 965.

Best Regards & Drive safe

Ram

Thanks Ram! That series of posts escaped me totally somehow. Looks like there was even a personal family connection with Dr. Ali!

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by harit

The author was right. After all Standard was present, but not dominant.

Well.maybe not the case in your neck of the woods (Bombay/north etc) but they had more than a fair presence here down south! Not to mention the various Indian movies that they (especially heralds!) appeared in!
As for dominating or otherwise, not too difficult considering there were only so many other brands of cars allowed - er-available then?

[KartikeyaL]

Couple of pictures from Delhi (Both from Jama Masjid or Jummah Masjid)

[travancore]

courtesy: Oberois / The Maidens Hotel



The Maidens Hotel, Delhi opened to accommodate guests to the 1903 Delhi Durbar . It was then known as Maiden's Metropolitan Hotel.

[travancore]

Bombay, 1968

[travancore]

courtesy: Keventer's



Pure nostalgia (and dairy); ca 1925. Even the truck looks classy, I can only imagine what their ice creams and milkshakes were (are) like.

Keventer's operated in Delhi, Calcutta, Karachi, Simla, Darjeeling and other large cities in the early to mid 20th century. The brand seems to have been recently revived.

[Rehaan]

Spotted this at the Bombay Yacht Club.

The caption reads:

Digvijaysinghji of Jamnagar with his daughter Harshad Kumari. This car though custom made for the princess won the heart of Prince Bhawani Singh "Bubbles" of Jaipur and was gifted to him on his birthday.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Spotted this at the Bombay Yacht Club.

The caption reads:

Digvijaysinghji of Jamnagar with his daughter Harshad Kumari. This car though custom made for the princess won the heart of Prince Bhawani Singh "Bubbles" of Jaipur and was gifted to him on his birthday.

Attachment 1537110

Thanks, this is a widely circulated picture, for obvious reasons. The car is a Rytecraft, quite a few of these came to India. I believe they had two stroke regular internal combustion engines, wonder about transmission. One working car attends the Calcutta events regularly.

On looking closer it seems to have a mock Lanchester front grille - Jamsaheb was known for his love of Lancheters and maybe got this commissioned?

[KartikeyaL]

A few pictures from Calcutta , might have been shared before