Cars of maharaja

Car Collection of maharajas of India

It was a Maharaja who bought the very first car in India. Maharaja Rajinder Singh of Patiala took possession of a French-made De Dion-Bouton in 1892. Fittingly it had a registration number plate of “0”. Thereon, the game of one-upmanship among India’s royalty went from who had the most exquisite jewels and the largest estates, to who had the slickest, sickest set of wheels.  

This world’s most famous and a best-known brand is also associated with Punjab.When the Maharaja of Patiala was snubbed by snooty British salesmen at a Rolls Royce showroom in the U.K., he hit back by buying up the entire consignment of 50 vehicles on display and turning them into garbage trucks back home. An English paper printed a picture and the story that made company representatives scurrying to Patiala with an olive branch.

High-end American cars were as prized as European models among the rajas, as shown by this 1947 Buick Super from the Maharana of Mewar's collection.The Maharaja of Jodhpur, Gaj Singh II, and his son with the Rolls-Royce Phantom II from 1934 and a Buick convertible, in front of the Umaid Bhavan Palace.