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-   -   Manjusha Museum, Dharmasthala (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintage-cars-classics-india/79766-manjusha-museum-dharmasthala.html)

Shri Kshetra, Dharmasthala is the holy abode of Lord Manjunatha Swamy. This temple village on the banks of the Nethravathi River is one of the most visited holy shrines in Karnataka. This place is located 300 kms from the State Capital of Bangalore, in the Belthangadi Taluk of the Dakshina Kannada District. The Temple is unusual in that it is run by a Jain administration and poojas are conducted by the Hindu priests of Madhva Order.

The present Head of Dharmasthala is Padmabhushan Dr. D Veerendra Heggade, the 21st in succession to the Dharmadhikari Peetha. In addition to his religious responsibilities the Dharmadhikari has initiated many socio economic programs. Programs for education, rural development, health and nutrition are some of the areas strongly focussed upon. He is undoubtedly one of the most respected and revered personality in South India.

Dharmasthala houses an interesting museum that exhibits rare objects and artifacts, temple raths, etc besides a huge section on vintage and classic cars.

In this Thread over the next few days I hope to cover the Manjusha Car Museum as best as I can. I do hope you will enjoy this as much as I did on my visit last weekend.

The first pictures are of the booklet sold by the Museum





Cheers

KPS

Last weekend my dad and I decided to tag along with Mr. Sripathy who had been called to the car museum to advice on the Daimler DE 36 which is being refurbished. We were able to spend a lot of time in the museum, had a wonderful and satisfying dharshan of Lord Manjunatha Swamy and also spend some precious moments with the Dharmadhikari himself.

The Manjusha Car Museum



The visiting hours and restrictions which are self explanatory.
PLEASE NOTE THAT PHOTOGRAPHY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED UNLESS YOU HAVE SPECIFIC PERMISSION FROM THE MUSEUM AUTHORITIES.



Entry Fee is minimal. Since they do not allow photography, they sell at the counter a booklet on the cars for Rs. 50 or you have the option of buying individual prints of each car at Rs. 5 per print.



We were honoured by the fact that the Dharmadhikari spent a fair bit of time with us. To his left are my dad, Prithvi Ganapathy and Mr. Sripathy. To his right is me, KPS (Subbaiah)



Collections of Cars, Carts and Coaches
















As stated earlier the museum wants to start a public library on vintage and classic cars. Should any one like to donate books, articles etc to the museum, it will be most welcomed.

My next series will be on the individual cars and I will be trying to describe each car as best as possible. I have taken limited photographs (largely during lunch break) as I did not want to encourage people to take out their mobiles and take photos seeing me. I bought the booklet and have reproduced the prints from the same to over come this limitation.

Close to 50 cars are on display. Another 5 were getting restored/refurbished. Another 40-50 vehicles are stored for restoration. There are many motorbikes, mopeds and scooters.

Cheers

KPS

Dear KPS.

This is a great thread indeed. We all are very interested in seeing and knowing the stories behind the cars in this museum.

One request, could you please try to collate and post a list of all teh cars they have, the restored ones along with those in storage and on display.

Look forward to your next post on this.

Dear KPS. Thats a great thread. I have been to this museum many times. Mr. Surendra Hegde is our family friend.

Waiting for detailed pics.

I bought the Museum book recently. Let me know if you want me to scan all the pics and post here.

Great start KPS, really appreciate your efforts. Having trouble opening the attachments though (you may have to reload). Also, would be great if you could please get the Chassis Number for the Rolls Royce 20 H.P. so we can trace its identity. Cheers

Nice thread and good pictures.I could identify a Fiat Topolino.

A thread on the Dharmasthala collection incidentally already exists:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/pre-19...rmasthala.html

But nice to see pics. of more cars from there.

I know that this thread existed, but I was not sure if the museum had authorized those photographs as no where in the tread it states that there is permission from the Museum authorities.

1. 1903 Renault ( 1 Cyl., 4.5 HP)
This car is one of the oldest running cars in India and was the car of Maharaja of Bikaner. It features a Type D, De Dion Bouton engine and has a double pheaton body style. This car was restored in Bangalore and has been discussed much in the past by the Forum



2. Pre 1920 Fordson Tractor with Crane
Fordson was the brand name for all purpose tractors produced by Henry Ford & Son from 1917 to 1920 before it was merged with the Ford Motor Co. in 1920. The Fordson brand survived till 1964.

3. 1924 Rolls Royce (6 Cyl., 20 HP, MDN - 258)
This RR is a 20HP car as can be clearly recognized by the grill. This car is not one of my favourites and will not stand scrutiny by the judges. Personally would have prefered a tourer styled body. I will let the photos speak for themselves





4. 1925 Fiat (4 Cyl., 10.50 HP. MSC 354)
This car was acquired by a KVCCC member from Chennai and restored in Bangalore, before he sold it to the museum. I guess this is a Fiat 502 going by its HP. Driver enters from the passenger side as the stepney ensures that the right front door is fixed.



5. 1925 Daimler Benz (6 Cyl., 20 HP)
This car was procured from Calcutta and was a ground up restoration.




6. 1926 Merry Weather Fire Brigade (4 Cyl., 20 HP)

Keeping company to the RR and Merc!



7. 1926 Ambulance (4 Cyl., 25 HP, BYJ 2107)


8. 1928 Nash Special Six Rumble Seat Coupe (6 Cyl., 20 HP, MYS 954)

This is a very rare car as very few Nash of this vintage survive in India. This car was rescued from a farmer in Shimoga Dist., who had converted it to a pick up! Fortunately the farmer had retained most of the parts and hence this car was restored to its former glory.

As a Pick UP


The car now





9. 1929 Studebaker President (8 Cyl., 40 HP, MER 5051)

This beautiful car has some wonderful history. It was used by Gandhiji for his tour of Karnataka and Tamilnadu in 1929. The museum possesses a certificate given to Gandhiji on using this car. This car was got from Pondicherry in 1970.





Thanks

KPS

Question : who did you manage to click the picture? AFAIK they don't allow photography even on recommendation.

Edit : read the permission thingy :D

Its great to have you have access to photographing the displays, looking forward to a comprehen sive documentation of the cars and bikes on display.

Have you noticed in the picture, Gandhiji is sitting in a Buick, not Studebaker. Also, Gandhiji has been pasted on:)

Great Karl, after you have pointed it I agree with you, it is a Buick. I will give the feed back to the museum authorities and I am sure that they will take this feed back positively.

Cheers

KPS

This picture was discussed on the forum earlier, and was found unfortunately to be a fake. The picture of Mahatma sitting in the back is clearly doctored.

Good effort, i had taken pics of those cars with permission.

And the permission was given by the main restorer of cars at Dharmasthala, whom i know personally well.:)

Thanks Arun I should be able to manage. If I need anything I will come back to you.

Noted http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/694420-post21.html

Through this thread I wanted to give inputs through which a visitor has a better understanding on the cars and appreciates them better when he actually visits the museum. Hence I have attempted to detail as far as possible and hopefully I would be able to achieve this objective.

Cheers