THE ROYAL ROAD

SINCE SEPTEMBER 2021, DERIVAZ & IVES MAGAZINE HAS BEEN FEATURING SOME OF THE MOST EXCEPTIONAL CARS EVER IN INDIA, SEVERAL OF WHICH HAVE BEEN OWNED BY THE RAJAS AND THE MAHARAJAS OF PRINCELY INDIA. HERE'S A SELECTION OF SOME OF THE MOST EXOTIC AND RARE CARS OF INDIA'S ROYALTY

- Gautam Sen

ROLLS ROYCE 17 EX & MERCEDES BENZ SS

WITII BENTLEY winning at Le Mans and stealing all the thunder, Sir llenry Royce decided that Rolls-Royce also needed to look at acquiring a slightly sporting image, and to that extent, the task was outlined to develop a series of cars that would explore sporting possibilities. Rolls-Royce commissioned three experimental cars codenamed 15EX, 16EX and 17EX, based on their New Phantom model (later referred to as the Phantom 1). 17EX was the last and most definitive version of the “sports Phantoms. After extensive testing and development, the car was sold to the Maharaja of Kashmir, Ilari Singh, who had the car brought across to Kashmir, in India. The maharaja was a sports car enthusiast – he also had a Vauxhall 30-98 Type E, a Bugatti, and a Mercedes-Benz SS, which is also in this image.

PHANTOM IL CONTINENTAL

ORDERED BY THE Maharaja of Jodhpur, Umaid Singh, on June 5, 1935, the Phantom II Continental was shipped from Birkenhead via the ship “City of Venice'' on September 27, 1935, and it was delivered in Bombay on October 18, the same year. From 1935 to 1944, there seems to be not much on record on 62UK. It was in 1944 that the first registration of the car is to be found, whence it shows the car to be registered in the name of the Maharaja of Rewa, Martand Singh.