21 Gun Salute Delhi’s concours brings Americans and a special Bentley to the fore
The 21 Gun Salute International Vintage Car Rally and Concours d’elegance attracted 125 entries, including a Villa d’este winner and a recently-restored Maserati that had come all the way from Belgium to take part. Sadly the coronavirus pandemic spread to India during the three-day rally, prompting a lockdown that has left some of the competing cars still stuck in the country.
It’s the first time this 1930 Cadillac – winner of Best Restoration at the 2018 Villa d’este concours – has visited India, shipped over from the USA. At the time of writing it’s still there, lockdown travel restrictions keeping it in the country for now.
The car was bought new in 1930 by Arthur Atwater Kent, the Philadelphia-based inventor who created the automotive ignition coil, and built up a radio business under his own name in the Twenties. He bought this car for $5350, the equivalent of $80,000 (£64,000) today.
Its restoration was completed in 2018, preserving the specification Atwater Kent had created 90 years ago, including dual side-mounted and covered spare wheels, twin Lorraine spotlights, steering-linked Pilot Ray driving lights, and ‘lowboy’ trunk with fitted matching three-piece luggage set.
Another specially imported Indian debutant, it’s also the first time this 1939 Buick Roadmaster Convertible Sedan has left America, although Californian owners John and Leslie Milliken have covered more than 5000 miles in it since its restoration, certified as a 100-point car by the Classic Car Club of America, in 2014.
‘It’s very rare for an American car, number 290 of just 311 built,’ explained concours organiser James Nicholls. ‘A Roadmaster 81C Convertible Sedan was the official pace car at the 1939 Indianapolis 500, and the car offered the same level of luxury as a Cadillac of the same year – extensive leather interior and a lined convertible hood, plus electric turn-signal lights and a push-button radio – for $700 less.’ That said, the lingering effects of the Great Depression meant few were sold.
Concours, whereupon it won both the Bentley Class and overall Best in Show.
Its distinctive ‘rhubarb and custard’ paintwork is all-original. Nicholls explained, ‘It was one of six Bentleys built to order for the Maharajah of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. He was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, but bought this particular car, a Light Touring Saloon by Hooper, soon after the abolition of the Monarchy.’ The design features a special Perspex panel in the roof, an early style of panorama roof
‘It’s still driven regularly,’ Nicholls continued. ‘As well as the drive from Mumbai, it navigated the busy streets from India Gate in the centre of New Delhi to the concours lawns with consummate ease. The only hold-up was the loss of one of its Royal pennants, which was retrieved from the motorway after a search by the locals!’
This 1947 Packard Clipper, in the ownership of the same Royal family since new, won the hotly contested Post-war American Closed Car Class, although its specification is uniquely Indian.
Nicholls explained, ‘This seven-seater Custom Packard Custom Super Eight is a “Jhanana car” – a car created especially for ladies. It was ordered by His Highness Thakore Saheb Pradumansinhji as a wedding car for his bride to be, Her Highness Rani Saheb Narendra Kumari Basaheb, who continued to use it extensively for daily activities. If you look carefully at the stunning interior you are still able to see the little eyelets for the hooks of the curtains that shield the aristocratic female occupants from the gaze of occupants as they were driven in purdah on the wedding day.’
The car has remained in the family, and now belongs to Prince Yuvraj Sahib Mandhata Sinhji Jadeja of Rajkot. ‘After his coronation earlier this year, the Prince showed me pictures of his mother in this car on her wedding day,’ said Nicholls.
Visiting India for the first time, this 1961 Maserati was also fresh from a recent restoration, and made the trip especially from Belgium to be exhibited.
‘It was built in 1961 by Vignale, one of just 242 3500GT Spyders made, and sold new on 23 March 1962 to Giorgio Pes of Rome with the registration plate Roma 519426,’ says Nicholls. ‘He didn’t keep it long – it went to its second owner, Alberto Marchi of Naples, in July 1964. He kept it much longer – it wasn’t until 1981 that Marchi sold it to Giuseppe Russo, who took it with him, in need of restoration, when he moved to Brescia in 1989.
‘It languished in Signor Russo’s barn until 2015 when it was rediscovered by Edoardo Bonanomi of Brescia dealer and restorer Automobile Tricolore. He sold it on to its current owner, Belgian bakery tycoon Thierry Dehaeck, who commissioned a full restoration – during which every single part required attention to keep it as original as possible. It was completed in April 2018.’
The 21 Gun Salute represented a homecoming for this globetrotting ‘baby’ 1936 Rolls-royce – the 25/30 being the smaller sibling of the enormous Phantom II – and its equally well-travelled South African owner David Cohen, who divides his time between Canada and Australia.
Cohen explained, ‘This Gurney Nutting-bodied car, chassis number GUL80, was delivered new in 1936 to the local Rolls-royce representative, Allied Motors of Hughes Road, Bombay. The car returned to England in the ownership of a Captain CN Hague, before going to the USA in the late Seventies, then Finland, before I bought it in 2017.’
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