“I am sitting on this after a long time. The last time I sat and was driven around was in 1972-73 with my father at the Chiran Palace,” says Prince Azmet Jah keeping aside his camera and posing for photographs in the yellow 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost owned by his father Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah VIII of Hyderabad.
A flight of steps below the forecourt on the lawns of Falaknuma Palace, his sister Shehkyar got into the two-seater 1929 Triumph owned by Padma Lal, as Michael Kent, one of the Cartier judges, gallantly drove the small car that puttered around on spindly wheels.
Concours D’Elegance
The vintage cars, bikes and scooters are part of Cartier’s biannual Concours D’Elegance in which 73 classic automobiles are being judged in eight categories and is being held in Hyderabad for the first time.
On Saturday afternoon, the forecourt of Falaknuma Palace was transformed into a playground of the rich and the well heeled as they posed and pouted near the gleaming chrome and metal automobiles simonized to a finish where you could comb your hair.
Not all the cars had numbers. Some had names like Dungarpur, Burdwan, Travancore No 6, Mahbubabad, Patiala State No. 9 and Rampur No. 1 harking back to pre-Independence India with dozens of princely states.
For coffee in 1929 Triumph
The 1929 Triumph owned by Padma Lal can be seen every Sunday in South Mumbai near Horniman Circle. “A bunch of us automobile enthusiasts meet at Starbucks for a coffee. Except when it is raining,” says Mr. Lal about the open-top coupe.
Some of the cars are prized legacies while others are acquisitions. Showing off the original bill of purchase of the 1908 Mercedes with wooden spokes, Ramesh Babu the grandson of Muthu Chettiar says: “We could have easily purchased a new Merc with the amount of money spent on restoration.” Another grandson reads from a letter by Benz Company enquiring whether Muthu Chettiar would be willing to set up a dealership in the area for the cars as the war had destroyed their business!
Love for the cars
Madan Mohan believes in destiny as he talks about his 304 cars, 108 bikes and 43 jeeps.
“As a child living near the palace of Maharaja of Khetri in Rajasthan I used to view the car, the king would drive around. I wanted to own it. The love for the car was like love for a girlfriend. Years later in 2000 when I was planning to buy an office, the mechanic who serviced the Maharaja’s cars asked me if I wanted to buy the car. In half an hour I made up my mind to buy the 1928 Dodge Victoria VI,” says Mr. Mohan who runs a cultural trust in Delhi.
The winners in the eight categories at the competition of elegance will be named on Sunday evening.
