SoCultures October 2018
3.
1933 Minerva, Type AL, Seven Passenger Laundalette de Ville
This exquisite car was the prized possession of Raja Mohammed Amir Ahmed
Khan, Mahmudabad, U.P. Thirty Three Type AL’s were produced and only nine of
these exquisite cars are known to exist today, with the largest and most expensive
Minerva chassis. All AL chassis featured gold-plated instrument bezels, switches
and trim. The King of Belgium owns three and five are owned by collectors in the
USA. This collector’s dream is one of the two produced with variable
convertibility. This car has been painstakingly restored to Concours standards by
Mr. Manvendra Singh Barwani of Classic Cars, Indore and proudly won the Best
of Show at the Cartier Concours D’Elegance held in 2015 at Delhi.
4.
1934 Rolls Royce 20/25 7 Passenger Sedan (Coach Built By Kellner,
France).
A proud collection of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda, this is a glorious
beauty. The chassis was ordered from Rolls-Royce by the Maharaja of Baroda on
July 27, 1934. Rolls-Royce records show that chassis GAE3 was delivered on
August 20, 1934 for shipping to “Kellner for Baroda – Paris Show”. GAE3 was
shipped on August 25, 1934 for Boulogne, near Paris, where Kellner had their
coach building facilities. GAE3 received an elegant Oxford blue body with dark
cherry red leather interior, but the car wasn’t shipped out to the Maharaja
immediately. It remained in Paris till it starred at the Kellner stand at the Salon de
Paris in October 1934. It went back to Kellner for a final touch-up and then the car
left for India in 1935. This car was later acquired by Mrs. Mumtaz Madhwani, the
Bollywood actress in 1978, who passed it on to me in 2007. This is the only known
Rolls Royce in India with coachwork by Kellner, France.
5.
1935 Buick, Series 90, Model 90L, Seven Passenger “Purdah”
Limousine, USA
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