The Maharajas' Motor Car: The Story of Rolls-Royce in India


The Maharajas' Motor Car: The Story of Rolls-Royce in India

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India, always a country of contrasts and contradictions.

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CARS HONK

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Nowhere more so than in its relationship with the car.

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And one car in particular.

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In the first 50 years of the 20th century,

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more than 800 Rolls-Royce cars were exported from England to India.

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In a sustained period of motoring madness,

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the Rolls-Royce name became an obsession for a group of Indian maharajas.

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Money was not a consideration, as the princes

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tried to outdo each other with the sheer extravagance of their cars.

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How did one manufacturer capture the imagination of the exotic subcontinent?

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This is the story of Rolls-Royce in India.

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Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat,

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India's largest collection of vintage cars.

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The country's automotive history is represented here,

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from 1950s American models,

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to cars driven by the British officials who governed the country before independence.

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Some of India's surviving Rolls-Royces are here, too.

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Advertised at the time as the best car in the world,

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these luxurious machines were not driven by British civil servants and officers.

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They were hand built in England for some of Rolls-Royce's most prized customers,

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India's princes and maharajas.

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Maharaja is a Hindi word meaning 'great ruler'.

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It's used in a general sense to describe the whole range of princes,

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nawabs, maharanas and nizams who ruled India

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in the centuries leading up to independence.

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I think, to the British in India,

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and indeed many writers and travellers since,

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the princely courts are really a kind of spectacle

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of Oriental pageantry and ancient ritual.

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But, of course, we can't forget that the maharajas

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had a very important job to do, as well.

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They ruled over hundreds of thousands,

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in some cases literally millions, of subjects,

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and controlled vast tracts of land across the Indian subcontinent.

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In the 19th century the British ruled India.

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But the 600-odd princely states,

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marked in yellow, were governed by the maharajas.

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Udaipur in Rajasthan was one of the oldest of the princely states.

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It was ruled by one line of princes for almost 1,300 years,

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the longest unbroken dynasty in the world.

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Today, Udaipur is perhaps most famous for its pristine Lake Palace.

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But a few hundred yards away, the royal garage still houses

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a collection of Rolls-Royce motorcars from the 1920s and 1930s.

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Among them is this pristine 1924 Tourer,

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which was bought new by the grandfather

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of the current maharana, Arvind Singh.

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These cars need to be used otherwise they deteriorate very fast.

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And every morning, like horses, they are being worked.

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They have a schedule and they are taken out

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so that the batteries and all are in good shape,

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the whole engine and everything is in good shape.

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I insist on that. I think it's important, if you have a collection,

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the cars must be running.

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These Rolls-Royces are not just a car,

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but a thing of great joy and beauty.

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And even though this is not a modern Rolls-Royce,

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it gives me more pleasure than a modern Rolls-Royce does

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and I can sit and look at it all day, all night.

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It's a passion,

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and there are various ways of fulfilling one's passion,

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and, for me, this works.

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This princely passion for motorcars is a recurring theme

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and it started 100 years ago when they were first introduced.

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When the car first came to England and Europe,

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I think the wealthy in India were longing to possess one.

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They had so much wealth

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and they were constantly going after new toys, new gadgets,

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new mechanical marvels,

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and what better than the mechanical elephant that had come to India?

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In the years before the First World War

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there was no finer mechanical elephant than a Rolls-Royce.

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The company was founded in 1906 by amateur racing driver Charles Rolls,

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the engineering genius Henry Royce,

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and Claude Johnson, the man known as the hyphen in Rolls-Royce.

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Their first factory was in Manchester,

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but the company moved to Derby in 1908.

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From the earliest days, it was clear that Rolls-Royce

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was looking for special customers.

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The aim was simple, to produce what came to be known as the best car in the world.

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Silent, reliable and luxurious.

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And had you been a potential customer at the time,

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Rolls-Royce might well have shown you

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this 1910 40/50 horsepower model which was used as a demonstrator.

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To prove the car's smoothness and lack of vibration,

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customers were shown a penny balanced on the radiator

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while the engine was running.

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Also on show was a comprehensive tool kit.

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Rolls-Royce maintained that its cars would not break down,

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but very occasionally they might fail to proceed.

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The final detail was the famous Spirit Of Ecstasy mascot,

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sometimes called The Flying Lady.

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Suitably adorned, Rolls-Royce motorcars were ready for anything.

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And so to India, where Rolls-Royce's first ever maharaja customer

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had to make do with a second-hand car.

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It was shipped out in 1908

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by a Lancastrian businessman called Frank Norbury.

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Like this car, it was a Silver Ghost model,

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named for its almost supernatural quietness.

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Norbury entered his car in a reliability trial

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on the rough country roads outside Bombay.

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With no tools on board,

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and the bonnet kept locked shut for the entire 620-mile course,

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Norbury left the competition behind, comfortably winning the event.

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We're talking about 100 years ago now.

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For any car to perform a journey of 620 miles was almost unheard of,

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but for it to cover 620 miles without breaking down

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was something nobody could possibly believe.

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Combine that with typical Rolls-Royce standards of comfort

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and you've got something which was a complete revelation,

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even in Europe in those days,

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and, you can imagine, in India where the motorcar was very much a novelty.

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After the success, it's no surprise that Frank Norbury

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found a royal buyer for the car, His Highness The Maharaja Of Gwalior.

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It was soon nicknamed the pearl of the East

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and was painted in off-white, with apple-green stripes edged with gold.

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There's a rumour that the paint had a special ingredient.

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The maharaja had a special fondness for pearls.

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Even in the largest of his palaces,

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real pearls were ground with the paint

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to give that lustre and finish to the paint on the walls,

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so he could have possibly done that to his car to make it look unusual.

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The pearl of the East disappeared in the 1920s and has never been found.

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Today, this 1913 Silver Ghost

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is one of the oldest Rolls-Royce motorcars in India.

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It's been in Tariq Ibrahim's family for five generations.

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My car was lying in a garage for about 40 years,

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and in 2000 I started restoring it.

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It took me five years to restore the car.

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Tariq's car has the wooden artillery-style wheels

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favoured for India's rough country roads,

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and a boa-constrictor-type horn.

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HONK!

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HONK! HONK! HONK!

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These are the original lights.

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They are original Lucas lights.

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This is the crank handle.

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This was used in those days to start the car

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and you just had to push it three times

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and then the car used to start.

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The car is powered by the famous 7.5 litre 40/50 horsepower engine

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that was fitted to more than 7,000 Silver Ghosts

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that were built up until 1926.

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It's a low-revving, silky-smooth, six-cylinder motor, but thirsty,

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with only about 12 miles to the gallon.

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Well, this particular car is known as Double Limousine

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because in those days the driver was supposed to sit in the open

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and this model particularly had the driver covered also.

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So, this is known as Double Limousine.

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You can see from here that the driver's covered

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and both the compartments are covered.

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Waterloo Mansions in central Bombay, the place where Rolls-Royce

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established its first Indian showroom in 1911.

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The company had already sold a few cars to maharajas,

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but how could it expand its Indian business?

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The answer lay in the marketing opportunity of the century.

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The occasion was the coronation ceremony, or durbar,

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for the new King Emperor, George V.

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300,000 people, including all of India's maharajas and princes,

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came to pay their respects in Delhi.

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I think it's hard to underestimate the importance

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of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

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It, in many ways really, represents the kind of zenith of imperial rule in India.

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On one hand you actually have the Imperial sovereign,

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the King and Emperor George V,

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actually coming to India for the first time.

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On the other hand, you have this event attracting princes and noblemen

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and men of wealth and status from all across the Indian subcontinent.

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The Rolls-Royce company had generously put eight Silver Ghosts

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at the disposal of the King Emperor and his senior officials.

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It was a brilliant piece of product placement

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in front of a glittering audience,

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many of whom would, in time, become customers.

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Rolls-Royce had arrived in India.

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Hyderabad, the City Of Domes, is 800 miles from Delhi.

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It was here, in the year after the durbar, that the Rolls-Royce company

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sold an extraordinary car to the world's richest man,

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Osman Ali Khan, the nizam of Hyderabad.

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The nizam's long reign was marked by his progression from playboy prince

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to progressive ruler and, finally, to notorious miser.

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He ruled over 80,000 square miles of south central India,

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and he held court in the Durbar Hall of the Chowmahalla Palace.

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An immensely powerful figure on a low yellow throne.

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His vast collections of pearls, rubies and especially diamonds

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were valued in the billions of rupees,

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and his subjects could not turn their backs on him

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as they left his exalted presence.

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Today, only a few of the Nizam's cars are left in Hyderabad,

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but he once had more than 200, looked after by an army of servants.

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Not only was there a team for each car,

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there was a supervisor for so many cars,

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and then there was a superintendent for so many cars.

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It was almost as hierarchical as the army!

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If you wanted a screwdriver, you had to get a requisition slip

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signed by the person you were reporting to

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and then take it to the stores, who would verifiy that you were

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taking from him the exact size of screwdriver that was required!

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The Nizam's bureaucracy has long gone,

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but the jewel of his collection can still be found in a quiet corner of the Chowmahalla Palace.

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It's one of the most distinctive Rolls-Royce cars ever commissioned.

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The so called Throne Car is a Silver Ghost, ordered by the Nizam

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to reflect his status as India's most important hereditary ruler.

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His crown is a recurring theme

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and there are silver-plated fittings all over the car

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and silk brocade upholstery around the throne itself.

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The original Rolls-Royce worksheet from the factory in Derby

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shows that this unusually ornate car cost £1,500 -

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enough to buy a sizable London house at the time.

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With just 356 miles on the clock, the car was only ever brought out

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for ceremonial purposes, and it's been lying unused since the 1930s.

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I don't think there is another automobile

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anywhere in the world which has been produced like that.

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I mean, just to call it a Throne Car itself is a very big thing.

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That it was made for the King. It's a moving throne.

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His presence was there when he was sitting in the car

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as His Royal Highness, The Nizam of Hyderabad.

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I mean, the car signifies that presence everywhere,

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whether it's parked without the Nizam sitting in it!

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It still says it's a Throne Car.

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Time hasn't been kind to this car,

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but it endures as a tattered memorial

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to the richest man in the world.

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By 1912, Rolls-Royces were gradually becoming the maharajas' car of choice.

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In some states, the sight of a Rolls-Royce

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let the people know that their ruler was doing his rounds.

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Before the advent of the car

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they would tour their estates on horseback, or in large processions,

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and set up tented camps whenever they went to the villages.

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The car speeded up things,

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but it was very useful in touring the states, meeting the people.

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And people would ride on the car and talk to the maharaja

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as the car went along at a slow speed,

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so it was a wonderful way of meeting the people.

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A Rolls-Royce was a more convenient way to travel,

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but India's roads were designed for bullock carts, not cars.

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When the car first came to India, the condition of the roads was deplorable to say the least,

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except I think the roads that were frequented by the British authorities.

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But in the princely states, they were really quite bad because until then,

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there were only using carriages, elephants and horses or camels.

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Luxury cars were soon forgotten when the First World War broke out in Europe.

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The Rolls-Royce company immediately stopped making cars,

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turning instead to aero engines

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and chassis for ambulances and armoured vehicles.

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Meanwhile, a million Indian troops

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found themselves defending the British Empire

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in the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East.

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After the First World War, I think it's fair to say

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that many Indians began to really question, I guess,

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the level of sacrifice that had been given in the cause of that conflict.

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And, indeed, it was after that that nationalist sentiment within India

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really, really began to take off.

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With nationalism came anti-British feeling,

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and sometimes violence.

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But this did nothing to stem a flood of Indian inquiries for new Rolls-Royce cars.

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The company's pre-war efforts in India were now bearing fruit.

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While Henry Royce worked on the designs for a new model,

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the car production lines were restarted.

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As the orders poured in, Rolls-Royce continued its formula

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of supplying customers with a chassis and engine, but no bodywork.

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Bear in mind that with a Rolls-Royce you only ordered your chassis,

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the mechanical part, from Rolls-Royce.

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You then had it delivered to your favoured coachbuilder,

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who would build whatever body you would like on it.

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And, therefore, the maharajas were able to order these cars

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completely tailored to what they wanted

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by their individual coachbuilders.

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There were 400 coachbuilders to choose from across Europe,

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but most customers used London-based firms

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like Barker, Hooper or Windovers.

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The process of ordering, building and delivering a tailor-made car

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took time, and some maharajas couldn't be bothered to wait.

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Rolls-Royce therefore took the unusual step

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of actually commissioning the top coachbuilders of the period

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to body a number of different cars that were then sent out to India

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so that the maharaja could walk into the showroom,

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say, "I'll have a red one, a blue one and a green one," and leave with it right away.

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That maharajas didn't have to go far for this instant gratification.

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By 1921, Rolls-Royce had opened showrooms in Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta.

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Rolls Royce, of course, in all their showrooms in India

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which were subsequently opened,

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had trained people and because they didn't want their cars,

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their lovely cars to be misused, if asked for, they would supply drivers

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who would treat the cars the way they ought to have been treated.

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Drivers trained by Rolls-Royce were sent out from Britain,

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and in some cases they stayed on in the service of a maharaja for many years.

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Quite apart from drivers, when it came to after-sales service

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no other car manufacturer came close to Rolls-Royce.

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They had a full set of workshops and any maharaja anywhere in India

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could just write them a letter and say "my car has developed such and such problems"

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and they would send in the mechanics to come and fix the car.

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And that is one of the reasons the maharajas were very happy with Rolls-Royce.

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This car is an example of the new model that Henry Royce had been working on since the end of the war.

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It was launched in 1922 and it was called the 20,

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after its 20-horsepower, three-litre engine.

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20s were smaller and lighter than Rolls-Royce's only other model,

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the Silver Ghost. They were cheaper, too.

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A little over half price, at £1,100 for the chassis.

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Add another £400 for the bodywork,

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and the total is around £60,000 in today's money.

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The introduction of the baby Rolls-Royce heralded a golden age for exports.

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The Great Gatsby brought to life in India.

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During that golden period the Maharaja of Patiala,

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the Maharaja of Bharatpur, the Maharaja of Mysore,

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many of the big estates in Rajasthan bought fleets and fleets of these cars.

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But they were not just one or two sales, they were sales by the dozens in India.

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One of the most prolific Rolls-Royce buyers in India of the era

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was the Maharaja of Patiala, not a man used to doing things by halves!

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He had no fewer than 44 Rolls-Royces,

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to go with the 300 ladies in his harem.

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The other character was the Maharaja of Mysore,

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who used to buy his Rolls-Royces by the half-dozen.

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In fact, it's said that at the factory in the period,

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"Doing a Mysore" was an expression they coined

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for anybody who bought more than six cars at a time.

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With more and more cars arriving in India,

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each maharaja wanted individuality.

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Some demanded faster cars, a horrifying prospect for Rolls-Royce.

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An internal company memo warned that,

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"the serpent of speed and power has entered this company

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"and is likely to poison its existence,"

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and also stated that anyone promoting faster cars would be sacked.

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Apart from increased performance, there was an almost insatiable demand for precious materials,

0:26:140:26:19

sophisticated new equipment and every manner of in-car accessory.

0:26:190:26:26

Coachbuilders were kept busy with the clean, modern lines of the new Art Deco,

0:26:260:26:31

all the rage with India's fashion-conscious royalty.

0:26:310:26:34

But fashion didn't always dictate the style of a new Rolls-Royce.

0:26:410:26:46

Sometimes tradition was more important.

0:26:460:26:49

In the more conservative households,

0:26:490:26:52

royal women lived in a state of purdah,

0:26:520:26:55

unseen by any men apart from their maharaja.

0:26:550:26:59

The purdah ladies had traditionally travelled in covered conveyances, or palanquins,

0:27:010:27:06

but a Rolls-Royce with thick curtains to hide behind was more comfortable.

0:27:060:27:12

Leaving the car was quite a performance.

0:27:140:27:17

When a lady got down from the car,

0:27:170:27:20

there were a lot of intricate procedures.

0:27:200:27:23

All the ladies would enter a kind of square curtain contraption

0:27:230:27:29

so that nobody could see them.

0:27:290:27:31

It was a very strange way of travelling,

0:27:330:27:35

with curtains and these frames just to ensure their privacy.

0:27:350:27:40

Manvendra Singh looks after a collection of Rolls-Royces in Central India.

0:27:440:27:49

One of them is a purdah car that was made for a princess in the remote state of Darbhanga.

0:27:490:27:54

This is one of the great purdah cars, made for the Maharani of Darbhanga.

0:27:570:28:01

It's a Phantom 1, and known as the Bar Car.

0:28:010:28:05

It's called the Bar Car because it has a bar!

0:28:060:28:09

The Maharani was not allowed to drink in the palace

0:28:090:28:12

and she would go out in the evening drive in this specially built car,

0:28:120:28:16

and she would have a drink.

0:28:160:28:18

And her lady-in-waiting who would would serve the drink would be sitting there.

0:28:180:28:22

Unfortunately for the Maharani, there was only one short stretch of paved roads in Darbhanga,

0:28:220:28:27

so she was driven up and down it repeatedly while she finished her gin.

0:28:270:28:32

Hunting, or shikaar, was another royal activity

0:28:450:28:48

that opened up a big market for Rolls-Royce.

0:28:480:28:51

The cars were tough enough to cope with cross-country driving,

0:28:510:28:55

even at speed.

0:28:550:28:56

On one hunting trip, Lord Louis Mountbatten

0:29:000:29:03

described a maharaja's Rolls-Royce going "over wild, open country,

0:29:030:29:07

"smashing through holes and over boulders, heaving and rocking like a boat at sea."

0:29:070:29:13

This magnificent car was built to order for the Maharaja of Bharatpur.

0:29:200:29:25

It's a Phantom 1, which was the model Rolls-Royce introduced in 1925

0:29:270:29:32

to replace the Silver Ghost,

0:29:320:29:33

which had been in production for almost 20 years.

0:29:330:29:36

This one was specially designed

0:29:400:29:42

for long-range tiger-hunting expeditions.

0:29:420:29:45

History doesn't relate how much it was used,

0:29:450:29:47

and Bharatpur was, in fact, much more famous for duck-hunting.

0:29:470:29:52

The windscreen has fold-up grilles,

0:29:540:29:56

supposedly to stop a tiger from smashing the glass.

0:29:560:29:59

There's a sliding roof in the driver's compartment

0:29:590:30:03

that gives an elevated shooting platform.

0:30:030:30:06

The back section converts into a full-length bed for the maharaja's comfort.

0:30:070:30:12

And there are steel mesh grilles to keep the mosquitoes out,

0:30:140:30:18

but allowing air to circulate freely.

0:30:180:30:20

In Udaipur, there are still herds of chital deer

0:30:350:30:38

that were once hunted by the maharanas.

0:30:380:30:41

To reach his hunting grounds, Maharana Bhupal Singh

0:30:450:30:49

used this stripped-down Rolls-Royce shooting brake.

0:30:490:30:52

He was a keen hunter, but he was also paralysed from the waist down,

0:30:550:31:00

so he ordered a special car from Rolls-Royce.

0:31:000:31:04

This car was originally made for the Maharana

0:31:040:31:09

Bhupal Singh of Mewar, who was, I'm told, handicapped,

0:31:090:31:13

so it was specially made for him

0:31:130:31:15

so that he could drive the car with his hands alone.

0:31:150:31:18

All the foot controls can be operated by hand -

0:31:210:31:24

clutch, brakes and accelerator.

0:31:240:31:27

ENGINE REVS

0:31:270:31:29

This technology was way ahead of its time,

0:31:310:31:33

an example of Rolls-Royce's willingness to do whatever it took

0:31:330:31:36

to service their customers' every need.

0:31:360:31:39

Old photographs show the Maharana of Udaipur

0:31:410:31:44

as a passenger in his Rolls-Royces, but never behind the wheel.

0:31:440:31:49

I had never seen him drive it, somehow,

0:31:490:31:53

but at the same time Rolls-Royce was good enough to manufacture a car

0:31:530:32:00

for the challenged as far back as that,

0:32:000:32:04

which in itself makes that car very unique.

0:32:040:32:07

While this car was designed and engineered

0:32:110:32:13

at the Rolls-Royce factory back in Derby,

0:32:130:32:16

others were adapted for special purposes in India itself.

0:32:160:32:20

In 1923, a formal Thrupp & Maberly limousine

0:32:270:32:30

was shipped out from England to Udaipur.

0:32:300:32:33

Today, it looks like a Jeep,

0:32:360:32:38

after a radical redesign by the current maharana's father.

0:32:380:32:43

The whole designing was done in our own garage.

0:32:430:32:47

There was no such thing as going to a professional person

0:32:470:32:51

who was a coach, who was used to designing coaches.

0:32:510:32:56

This was something which was his passion

0:32:560:33:00

and he decided to do it.

0:33:000:33:01

It may look like a Jeep, but the car was designed for very particular purpose.

0:33:030:33:08

It's surely the world's only Rolls-Royce cricket car,

0:33:210:33:25

specially bodied to transport the Udaipur team to their fixtures.

0:33:250:33:29

From purdah to hunting and even cricket,

0:33:350:33:38

there was a Rolls-Royce for all occasions.

0:33:380:33:41

But what did these cars represent

0:33:490:33:52

in the British-ruled India of the 1920s?

0:33:520:33:55

Of course, for a prince to own a Rolls-Royce at the time

0:33:550:33:59

was a luxury accessory, part of his lifestyle.

0:33:590:34:02

But it also served an important role as a status symbol,

0:34:020:34:05

not only to remind the prince's own subjects who was in charge,

0:34:050:34:10

but also - and perhaps more importantly -

0:34:100:34:12

to remind the British that they weren't the only ones wielding power,

0:34:120:34:17

but above all wealth.

0:34:170:34:19

When you see old photographs of British rulers and officials

0:34:200:34:23

riding around in Rolls-Royces in India in the period,

0:34:230:34:26

you naturally assume that the British owned the cars,

0:34:260:34:29

but the Rolls-Royces in India at the time

0:34:290:34:31

were so expensive the British couldn't actually afford them.

0:34:310:34:35

Almost invariably, these are cars owned by maharajas

0:34:350:34:38

who have extended their use as a courtesy to their British visitors.

0:34:380:34:42

So when you look at the number of cars sold to the British officials

0:34:430:34:49

as compared to what's sold to the maharajas, the number of cars

0:34:490:34:52

would be just 2% to the British and 98% to the maharajas.

0:34:520:34:58

Rolls-Royces became symbols in the complex status rivalry

0:35:030:35:07

played out between the maharajas and the British officials.

0:35:070:35:11

I think the relationship between the Indian princes

0:35:140:35:18

and the British royalty as well as the authorities who were in India

0:35:180:35:23

was a very strange one, because I think

0:35:230:35:26

they were constantly playing games with each other,

0:35:260:35:29

almost like a one-upmanship game.

0:35:290:35:32

An imposing Rolls-Royce was part and parcel of these games,

0:35:320:35:36

where protocol was wielded as a subtle weapon.

0:35:360:35:40

One revealing incident involved the Maharani of Baroda,

0:35:410:35:45

who took her granddaughter

0:35:450:35:47

to call on the Viceroy's wife, Lady Willingdon.

0:35:470:35:50

The princesses arrived at exactly the appointed time, but

0:35:530:35:57

the notoriously rude Lady Willingdon kept them waiting...and waiting.

0:35:570:36:02

The granddaughter recounted the story to me.

0:36:060:36:09

The grandmother kept telling her, "Don't get down. Keep sitting."

0:36:090:36:13

And she kept asking Lady Willingdon's ADC, "Where is Lady Willingdon? "

0:36:130:36:18

and she sat in her car till Lady Willingdon actually came out to receive them and only then

0:36:180:36:24

did she tell her granddaughter, "Now we can get down."

0:36:240:36:29

Their dignity intact, the ladies could at last leave

0:36:290:36:32

the safe haven of their car and follow their formidable hostess.

0:36:320:36:37

Protocol was not an issue in the princely state of Barakpur,

0:36:420:36:45

but the extravagance of the maharaja was out of control.

0:36:450:36:50

His passion for Rolls-Royce motorcars almost bankrupted the state.

0:36:510:36:55

As a wide-eyed 12-year-old, Maharaja Kishan Singh had attended the Delhi Durbar.

0:37:000:37:07

When he was 19, his mother died and the previously well-behaved

0:37:070:37:12

young prince started spending money like water.

0:37:120:37:17

His Highness the Maharaja of Barakpur, Kishan Singh,

0:37:170:37:20

was a great spendthrift, and on one of his notable occasions

0:37:200:37:25

in the 1920s, he went England, ordered five Rolls-Royces,

0:37:250:37:32

18 Purdey guns and a number of most exotic other personal possessions to take back with him.

0:37:320:37:39

Money was no object and he had this fascination with motorcars.

0:37:390:37:44

Peter Vacher now owns one of the Barakpur Rolls-Royces and keeps it at his home in Oxfordshire.

0:37:500:37:57

It's another 20, the hugely popular baby Rolls-Royce of the 1920s.

0:37:570:38:02

This particular car was built as a dowry car.

0:38:030:38:07

In other words, it was given as a wedding present.

0:38:080:38:11

It was given as a wedding present for a wedding at Barakpur

0:38:110:38:15

to go with the bride to her new home, but it never left Barakpur, in fact.

0:38:150:38:23

Just as in grand Indian weddings today, the Barakpur dowry was huge,

0:38:290:38:33

with piles of jewellery, fine fabrics and even an elephant.

0:38:330:38:39

But it seems that the Rolls-Royce was just one gift too many, and the bridal party left it behind,

0:38:410:38:48

despite the fact that the maharaja had loaded it with fancy extras.

0:38:480:38:53

His Highness ordered so many extras to be fitted to the car.

0:38:530:38:59

For example, he was very keen on warning devices, so he had the original Rolls-Royce klaxon horn...

0:38:590:39:05

KLAXON HORN BLARES

0:39:050:39:08

..a Bosch electric horn mounted in front of the radiator...

0:39:080:39:11

ELECTRIC HORN BLARES

0:39:110:39:14

..a traditional boa constrictor horn...

0:39:140:39:17

BOA CONSTRICTOR HORN RASPS

0:39:170:39:19

Those three warning devices were for clearing human riff-raff out of the way.

0:39:190:39:25

Should, however, a sacred cow block your way, it was considered much more respectful to use your bell.

0:39:250:39:32

BELL RINGS

0:39:320:39:34

On the front of the car there is a very large bumper, and I assume that

0:39:360:39:41

if the sacred cow did not move out of the way, it was given a gentle nudge.

0:39:410:39:46

All of Barakpur's flamboyant Rolls-Royces had treble bumpers

0:39:540:39:58

and horn racks mounted in front of the radiators.

0:39:580:40:01

The maharaja's passion for these cars nearly ruined his state,

0:40:050:40:09

and the British would probably have deposed him if he hadn't died young in 1929.

0:40:090:40:14

I think it's fair to say that the Maharaja of Barakpur was one of just very few who actually gave

0:40:170:40:23

the princes a bad name in the late colonial period.

0:40:230:40:27

Gandhi himself had actually expressed admiration for many of

0:40:270:40:32

the princely administrations but his disciple and successor, Nehru, was a committed republican,

0:40:320:40:40

with the effect that an India with Nehru at the helm was an India that had no place for the princes.

0:40:400:40:48

The writing was on the wall, but the maharajas ignored it and the Rolls-Royces kept on coming.

0:40:510:40:59

This streamlined Phantom II Continental is a fine example of

0:41:010:41:04

the company's increasingly sophisticated 1930s cars.

0:41:040:41:08

With underslung rear suspension, Phantom IIs could carry lower, more rakish body styles.

0:41:160:41:23

This car was delivered to one of Rajasthan's most powerful maharajas as late as 1936.

0:41:230:41:30

The Rolls-Royce archive shows that it was built for the Maharaja of Jodhpur

0:41:320:41:36

in 1935, ordered in 1935, delivered in 1936.

0:41:360:41:40

From what I hear, it was manufactured for the maharaja's mistress at the time, and by the time

0:41:400:41:47

that the car arrived, which was about a year after it was ordered,

0:41:470:41:51

he had apparently fallen out with the mistress and so the car was just parked and never really used.

0:41:510:41:57

By now, as millions of their countrymen were dreaming of an independent India,

0:41:570:42:02

the reputation of the princely rulers had been tarnished.

0:42:020:42:06

There had been a succession of scandals.

0:42:120:42:14

There was a famous case in the 1920s in which a prostitute

0:42:170:42:22

blackmailed a mysterious Mr A, but it was

0:42:220:42:26

widely known that this was the heir to the Kashmir throne, Hari Singh.

0:42:260:42:31

Meanwhile, the ruler of Alwar was variously described by British officials as "a modern Caligula"

0:42:380:42:44

and "sinister beyond belief".

0:42:440:42:49

Another story about the Maharaja of Alwar, who incidentally is said to

0:42:490:42:53

have used old ladies as tiger bait, is that he was once poorly received in a Rolls-Royce showroom in London.

0:42:530:43:00

Later that day, he sent one of his lackeys back to the showroom

0:43:000:43:04

with instructions to buy all the cars.

0:43:040:43:06

They were then shipped off to India, where they were promptly converted to dustbin trucks.

0:43:060:43:11

Is it true? Who knows?

0:43:110:43:13

But it's a good story to illustrate the kind of extravagant gestures

0:43:130:43:17

that the Indian maharajas were known for at the time.

0:43:170:43:20

While the maharajas' reputations were under scrutiny,

0:43:230:43:27

the Rolls-Royce company was facing a different threat.

0:43:270:43:30

By the time the sophisticated Phantom III model

0:43:330:43:36

was introduced in 1936, there was stiff competition from the American manufacturers.

0:43:360:43:43

Rolls-Royce, in all respects, was a heavy car

0:43:430:43:48

and at times the maharajas found that the bulkiness of the car,

0:43:480:43:52

although it outperformed a lot of other cars in a similar category, was still a heavy car.

0:43:520:43:57

When the Americans came in with the lightweight tourers, the maharajas found that

0:43:570:44:03

these cars were easier to drive, were very reliable, too, and at the same time,

0:44:030:44:09

if you bought one Rolls-Royce, you could buy four of these cars.

0:44:090:44:14

That's how these cars became popular.

0:44:140:44:16

The maharajas thought, "Why should I buy one Rolls-Royce? Let me buy four Fords."

0:44:160:44:20

But a Rolls-Royce was still a Rolls-Royce and still claimed to be the best car in the world.

0:44:230:44:29

# There's a somebody I'm longing to see

0:44:290:44:36

# I hope that he

0:44:360:44:38

# Turns out to be

0:44:380:44:41

# The one to watch over me... #

0:44:410:44:47

April 1957, and as Europe edged ever closer to war, Rolls-Royces were still being imported to India.

0:44:470:44:54

This magnificent tourer was built for an Indian prince, with its distinctive body style

0:44:550:45:00

from the fashionable Gurney Nutting coach works of Chelsea, SW3.

0:45:000:45:05

# Although he may not be the man... #

0:45:050:45:08

With spats covering the rear wheels and rich cream paintwork, it's a restrained English version of

0:45:080:45:14

Parisian and Hollywood styles of the time.

0:45:140:45:17

PEACOCK CRIES

0:45:280:45:29

PEACOCK CRIES

0:45:290:45:32

By now, the light of the British Raj was fading fast, and so was the power of the princes.

0:45:340:45:41

Too late, they realised that their world was about to change beyond all recognition.

0:45:410:45:45

As five years of war raged across the world,

0:45:510:45:55

the British Government prepared to relinquish its hold on India.

0:45:550:45:58

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny.

0:46:020:46:08

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps,

0:46:080:46:14

India will awake to life and freedom.

0:46:140:46:16

APPLAUSE

0:46:160:46:19

CHEERING

0:46:190:46:24

As Nehru's words rang out on August 15th, 1947, independent India was born and

0:46:290:46:34

the final chapters in Rolls-Royce's Indian story began.

0:46:340:46:39

Almost overnight, the rule of the maharajas was replaced by a democratic government

0:46:420:46:48

and any desire for luxury cars evaporated.

0:46:480:46:50

Rolls-Royce closed its Indian showrooms in the early 1950s

0:46:560:47:01

and sales in the sub-continent all but disappeared.

0:47:010:47:04

India's largest vintage car collection in Gujarat is

0:47:110:47:14

a microcosm of the country's rich automotive history.

0:47:140:47:18

The collection's owner, Pranlal Bhogilal,

0:47:200:47:22

bought many of them from maharajas who started to sell them off in the 1950s after independence.

0:47:220:47:29

It was a time when

0:47:290:47:32

maharajas were feeling great pressure

0:47:320:47:35

because they had really no use because the court life had ended.

0:47:350:47:39

They had really no use for these huge cars.

0:47:390:47:42

They were difficult to maintain and the privileges had gone,

0:47:420:47:46

their incomes had diminished.

0:47:460:47:51

I think they were also not in a frame of mind to use these cars.

0:47:510:47:55

It was a depressing state at the time,

0:47:550:47:59

and that's how the collection started.

0:47:590:48:02

Pranlal Bhogilal's collection is by far the largest in India, with more than 250 cars.

0:48:030:48:11

Among them are 20 of the 840 Rolls-Royces that were exported to India before independence.

0:48:110:48:17

Where are the rest?

0:48:210:48:23

Out of the 840 cars, I would say India has about 200 cars.

0:48:310:48:36

Most of the cars have been scrapped

0:48:360:48:39

and some part, I would say another 250 to 300 cars, were exported out of the country.

0:48:390:48:45

But I would say 300 plus cars got scrapped,

0:48:450:48:49

went to the junkyards.

0:48:490:48:51

In an effort to protect its motoring heritage,

0:48:530:48:56

the government of India banned the export of vintage cars in 1972.

0:48:560:49:01

But up until then it was a free-for-all.

0:49:010:49:03

The princes at that stage were not interested.

0:49:060:49:10

Some of them were, if it had belonged to

0:49:100:49:15

his grandfather, he didn't want to sell it, and that sort of thing.

0:49:150:49:19

But otherwise, a lot of them got rid of them and

0:49:190:49:23

you could buy a Rolls-Royce for 2,000 rupees, and some went for even less.

0:49:230:49:28

You could find dozens and dozens of cars all over the place for nothing.

0:49:280:49:35

2,000 rupees is about £25 in today's money.

0:49:360:49:41

European car collectors in the '60s and early '70s couldn't get enough of these inexpensive Rolls-Royces

0:49:410:49:47

coming out of India still in completely unspoilt condition.

0:49:470:49:51

But even after the ban in the early 1970s, a number of unscrupulous individuals still managed to smuggle

0:49:510:49:57

cars out of India, dismantled and labelled as machine parts.

0:49:570:50:01

This 1930 Phantom II wasn't smuggled to its present home in Wiltshire,

0:50:120:50:18

but it did have an unusual journey to get here.

0:50:180:50:20

The story begins with a honeymoon of the Honourable Patrick and Lady Annabel Lindsay

0:50:380:50:45

in Jaipur, Rajasthan in December 1955.

0:50:450:50:48

We had the most wonderful, wonderful time.

0:50:560:50:59

While we were there, my husband admired all the cars - there were

0:50:590:51:05

lots of cars - and they were in garages and all over the place.

0:51:050:51:08

Patrick's always been a car enthusiast, and the maharaja said to him, as he admired

0:51:080:51:15

this enormous great Rolls-Royce, "Well, you can have it, if you drive it back to England."

0:51:150:51:19

So, years later, he turned up on the doorstep and he said, "Fine, take it." So he took it.

0:51:190:51:27

In 1962, Patrick Lindsay and his friend, Ian Graham, arrived in Jaipur to collect the car.

0:51:300:51:37

After some routine maintenance, they set out for London, passing into Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass

0:51:390:51:46

and stopping by the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

0:51:460:51:48

I think we were extraordinarily lucky to have seen everything before it all was sent to smithereens.

0:51:520:51:58

It was the greatest trip of my life.

0:51:580:52:02

I couldn't have expected anything

0:52:020:52:04

more educative or exciting

0:52:040:52:07

or productive in getting this marvellous car back and

0:52:070:52:14

giving it a good home.

0:52:140:52:18

We gave one or two lifts to people on the way, who looked as if they weren't going to cause us any harm.

0:52:180:52:25

It was a trouble-free trip.

0:52:270:52:29

It was quite amazing. Once, we got the oil changed.

0:52:290:52:32

After that we didn't have to do anything new.

0:52:320:52:36

The car made it as far as Basra, more than 2,500 road miles from Jaipur,

0:52:380:52:44

and it was shipped back to London from there.

0:52:440:52:47

During its 80-year lifetime, this car has travelled a full circle,

0:52:520:52:58

from the works in Derby to the royal garage in Jaipur,

0:52:580:53:03

and back home again,

0:53:030:53:06

a journey that brings to a close the story of Rolls-Royce in India.

0:53:060:53:11

For the first 50 years of the 20th century, Rolls-Royce cars

0:53:250:53:29

played their part as symbols of the power of the maharajas.

0:53:290:53:33

They bore witness to the complex relationship between India and Britain.

0:53:330:53:37

Some of the cars are well looked after,

0:53:430:53:46

some have disappeared

0:53:460:53:48

and still more are yet to be discovered.

0:53:480:53:52

What's clear is that the maharajas' motor car has lost none of its timeless appeal.

0:53:560:54:02

Through all these decades, the Rolls-Royce name has endured in India, and I think it still

0:54:040:54:10

symbolises prestige and wealth as it did in the time of the maharajas.

0:54:100:54:16

When you look at one of these unspoilt Rolls-Royces, one of these

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survivors from this golden era, they really provide you with a window onto a period of glamour,

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extravagance and in many ways romance, I think the likes of which we'll never see again.

0:54:290:54:35

It makes a statement that you have arrived.

0:54:400:54:45

And that's perhaps,

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in a nutshell,

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what Rolls-Royce means to most of us.

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And it automatically provides you with an identity.

0:54:540:54:57

Across India, times are changing

0:55:030:55:07

and the reign of the maharajas is a distant memory.

0:55:070:55:10

Their surviving cars are relics of a forgotten time and place,

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when one manufacture's mechanical elephant held India in its thrall.

0:55:160:55:21

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:55:250:55:28

E-mail [email protected]

0:55:280:55:32

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