Vintage roadies
Nobody had turned its engine on in a hundred years. There were parts missing, or simply stolen, and what was once a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, was now two seats and a steering wheel resting on rims.
The owner, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the VII Nizam of Hyderabad, had used the car as a state limousine in 1911. The car had done just over 500 km before ending up in a garage somewhere.
And there the car waited, until Princess Esra Jah, the former wife of Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur, decided to take it, along with two other rare Napiers, to the Cartier Concours D’elegance, in Mumbai, a competition where classic cars would be judged for ‘quality of preservation’. Princess Esra summoned the one man she knew who could bring a century-old Rolls-Royce back to life. He in turn, would ask a 26-year-old for help with the ‘mechanicals’.
“I read a lot about the cars,” says Manvendra Singh, who also owns Indore Classic Cars. “Most of the suspension was gone and the paint had disappeared. We were easily looking at at least six months of work. And that was the only body.”
The Napiers (both are the incredibly rare L76 models from 1906), which accompanied the Rolls, presented bigger challenges.
“We had to rework the upholstery, the wood, the tyres. Almost every part had to be rebuilt,” adds Singh.
But after months of hard work on the body, Manvendra Singh handed the cars over to 26-year-old Christopher Rodricks (Chris).
The Goa-born management student, then grabbed a hammer and some experience to go to work on the Rolls and the Napiers. “I started work knowing full well that it was going to take us at least a year till we heard a honk from the Nizam’s Rolls-Royce,” reveals Chris.
There was also the famous half-an-hour-long ‘engine start’ process.
“That’s how long it takes to start these cars. Before the Cartier show, I spent the previous night prepping the cars for a start the next day,” says Chris.
Interestingly, he also deduces that the Nizam may have never driven the Rolls himself. “Each Rolls-Royce car, from that period, was dispatched along with a driver, who was also a mechanic of sorts. The car would only be taken out under his supervision. Also, let’s keep in mind the world’s richest man would’ve liked a driver anyway.” Chris also understands the craze for quality. “Like the Nizam, the rich paid a bomb for cars. They were few, and they were all well made. I don’t like anything hat they make now. An entire industry of ‘spare parts’ now thrives on the fact that you’ll need to replace components after five to six years. Classics, meanwhile, were built to last. They were actually inheritance.”
His boss, Manvendra Singh of Barvani, while sharing a similar disappointment, also has some tips for those wondering if they’re in the possession of a future classic.
“I suggest you hold on to that Ambassador or that Herald, or the limited-edition Zen Carbon. Then there’s the Badal (no, really) — an extremely rare car in India. These are the vehicles you could try holding on to. They should be of big value at a future concours event.”
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