The Hindu : Front Page : Nizam's ‘Ghost' creates quite a stir

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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2011
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Nizam's ‘Ghost' creates quite a stir

J.S. Ifthekhar

Priceless Rolls Royce is to be on display at Chowmahalla Palace

— PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

TIMELESS CLASSIC:The 1912 Rolls Royce of the sixth Nizam at the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: It may sport a bygone look, but it still sets hearts aflutter. A timeless classic that gives the present lean and mean machines a run for their money.

Ninety-nine years after it was acquired by the sixth Nizam, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, the royal Rolls Royce is making waves. In its restored form, the Silver Ghost Throne car is simply ravishing. In fact it stole the show at the Cartier Travel with Style De Elegance event held on March 12 in Delhi. It bagged the best of class prize in the Rolls Royce class and the best of show the Concourse de Elegance prize.

The priceless car, which represents an important era of Indian automotive heritage, will be showcased at the Chowmahalla Palace here on Thursday. It will be on display for the public from April 2.

How much was spent on its restoration? Mum is the word, but palace authorities admit the sum is astronomical.

Incidentally, Manvendra Singh, who restored the Rolls Royce, is himself the son of Raja Bharvani. The Rolls Royce is a Barker bodied state car with many special features. It was built to order for the Nizam on a London-Edinburgh chassis.

It is now restored in the original rich canary yellow with gold mountings with lace and silk curtains and special upholstery from France. Originally, it boasted of lights and roof dome with fleur-de-lys pattern in silver finish. In 1934, the car was modified by the Nizam railway workshop.

The Rolls Royce couldn't be repaired at the palace as it required special tools and jigs. It was taken to Manvendra Singh's workshop in Indore six months ago. The car has two seats in the back with separate seats for security guards. The driver cabin in separated by a glass panel. One can see the Nizam's ‘dastar' on the bonnet and his insignia engraved on the door.

More to follow

Chowmahalla Palace, which recently bagged the UNESCO heritage award, also boasts of old beauties such as Wolseley, Napier, Packard and Buick super convertible coupe. “They will be restored in a phased manner,” says G. Kishan Rao, director, Chowmahalla Palace.

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