Some technologies that vintage cars of the 20s used are now being incorporated in modern vehicles. Collector Madan Mohan takes Shrabasti Mallik on a classic ride and shares that companies like Rolls Royce came up with customised designs for Indian maharajas
Remember the iconic convertible car in the 1942 classic CasablancaIJ It was a limited edition Buick model 18C Phaeton of 1940. And when we say limited edition, it means that only about a 100 of these cars were manufactured by the American company. In case you have a fetish for vintage and classic cars, 21 Gun Salute will be presenting 210 vintage cars, restored and maintained by collectors from India and abroad, at a rally to be held on February 21.
In the 1880s, only 100 to 500 cars were made of the most expensive designs and there were about a 100 brands, globally, that were manufacturing limited edition cars. “Now more than a lakh cars are produced in a limited edition,” said Madan Mohan, MD, 21 Gun Salute and owner of more than 200 vintage cars. “Till a month ago I had 200 cars but I bought a few more during my recent visit to France,” he added.
The grandeur of these cars lay in their individual designs, which were sketched manually. “It is the human mind which always wants to be different and that made scientists in Europe, especially motoring scientists, design cars in a totally different manner. Every design was independent,” he said.
Interestingly, some of the technologies that these vintage cars of the 20s used are now being incorporated in modern vehicles. The independent suspension system and the grading system, which were used by a few companies that faded out during World War II, were greatly advanced for their time. “These are now used in the manufacture of hi-end cars,” Mohan shared.
Not many would know that Indian maharajas contributed greatly to the history of motoring. Not only were they patrons and admirers of vintage cars but they were instrumental in getting companies like Rolls Royce and lincoln to manufacture custom-made cars. While one maharaja required his car to be compact, as per his short height, another wanted a car designed for specific occasions, like for hunting, and sometimes to impress his queen. This gave rise to different shapes of the car.
A vintage town car manufactured by Ford during 1927 was a seven seater where the driver’s seat did not have a top covering while the rest of the car was covered. The body manufactured by Hemmings Motor was made completely out of wood. Mohan explained, “Other cars had the outer covering of metal but woody was unique.” The other bodies that came up during that time were boat-tailed (characterised by long boat like front), tourer (the one that was used in the 2013 production of The Great Gatsby), sports and drophead coupe (which were fully convertible) and landaulette. Vintage cars were expensive in their times and it was only the royal gentry or the more economically influential people of the society who could afford the luxury. According to Mohan, since companies do not manufacture vintage models any longer, the collector has to spend more to own of them.
“The prices differ according to the model, the company and the year in which it was made. While a 1929 Buick convertible would cost somewhere around Rs22,40,148, a 1952 Dailmer DB 18 DHC would cost around Rs95,785,376,” he informed.